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Aug.19th – Fat Joe was born Joseph Antonio Cartagena in The Bronx , New York , on this day in 1970. Joe released his debut album in 1993 called “Represent” on Relativity Records as Fat Joe Tha Gangsta. The album’s lead-off single “Flow Joe” earned him a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song. Joe released his 2nd album in 1995 called “Jealous One’s Envy”.

The album was produced by D.I.T.C.’s Diamond D. and featured KRS-One as a guest as well as Big Pun who had now joined Joe’s Terror Squad click along with Remy ma , Tony Sunshine , Cuban Link , Triple Seis , Prospect and Armageddon. Big Pun would die tragically from a heart attack in 2000. Joe scored with the hit single “Envy” off the album.

During this time he was also featured on the remix to the LL Cool J single “I Shot Ya” ,along with Prodigy of Mobb Deep , Foxy Brown and Keith Murray. In 1998 Joe switched labels and went to Atlantic Records and released the hugely successful “Don Cartegena” album. In 2001 Fat Joe released “Jealous One’s Envy”(J.O.S.E.) , not to be confused with Joe’s sophomore album of the same name. The album included a slew of guest appearances from N.O.R.E. , R. Kelly , Busta Rhymes , M.O.P. , Ludacris , Petey Pablo and reggae singer Buju Banton.

The album was produced by Irv Gotti and spawned the smash-hit “What’s Luv” , featuring Ja Rule and Ashanti. In 2004 , Joe and the Terror Squad scored with the smash-hit anthem “Lean Back” , produced by Scott Storch from their album “True Story”. Joe would release five more albums since then ; 2005’s “All Or Nothing” , 2006’s ”Me , Myself And I” , 2008’s “The Elephant In The Room” , 2009’s “Jealous Ones Envy 2”(J.O.S.E. 2) and 2010’s “The Darkside” – Vol-1. Joe has also been involved in several business enterprises , opening a clothing store called “Halftime” , a barbershop and launching a clothing line called FJ560.