In 'The Book of Jose,' Fat Joe remembers his rise in hip-hop

NPR's Book of the Day

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 21 November 2022

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

Fat Joe's career spans three decades – but before he was performing on stages around the world, he was a little kid getting bullied in the Bronx. His new memoir, The Book of Jose, goes back to his childhood in New York and his early days rapping in the Diggin' in the Crates Crew. In this episode, he opens up to NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about why he's committed to his community and how becoming a "big boy, financially" might mean putting a pause on new music.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Okay, so picture this. It's early
0:07.5	aughts and little preteen Andrew is sitting in the back of dad's Mitsubishi Montero on the way to church,
0:13.9	screaming along to the radio, reciting the lines, I want a chick with thick hips that licks her
0:19.6	lips. She can be the office type or
0:22.0	like to strip. For this real life scenario, we have to thank our guest on the pod today,
0:27.4	the one and only fat Joe. He was a major figure in rap, particularly in New York where I'm from,
0:32.5	but, you know, I mean, everyone knows lean back, right? He just wrote a memoir called The Book of
0:37.2	Jose.
0:37.8	And in this interview with NPR's Aisha Roscoe, he's willing to drop his sort of tough guy bravado persona and get kind of vulnerable, particularly when talking about his childhood.
0:49.0	You know, I have to ask.
0:51.6	With this endless stream of sellable content,
0:57.3	do you think Taylor Swift is exploiting her fans?
0:58.1	No.
1:01.7	I'm going to say yes with an asterisk.
1:05.1	Every pop star exploits their fans.
1:07.8	Is Taylor Swift exploiting her fans?
1:09.4	Or is she feeding them?
1:14.2	Listen to It's Been a Minute on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:23.2	In hip-hop, authenticity is currency. If people think you're fake, that could kill your career.
1:27.2	Legendary rapper Fat Joe has never had that problem. With a career
1:29.3	With a career spanning
1:41.3	Joe has been able to parlay his street
	...

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