Fat Joe

Bronx-born MC Fat Joe Da Gangsta parlayed his notoriety as a graffiti writer into a lucrative and influential career as an MC and hip-hop impresario. One of the first east coast MCs to rhyme unapologetically about the harsh realities of the hustla's life, Fat Joe gained a considerable amount of underground respect in the mid-1990s. But mega-success would come later as leader of the Terror Squad--featuring his equally stout protégé the late Big Pun--and again via his smash duet with Ashanti, 2002's "What's Love?" Representing the Puerto Rican voice in hip-hop, Fat Joe has been a major supporter of that community's reggaeton movement, which broke into the mainstream in the early 2000s.

• pop
• hip hop/rap