During a recent appearance on the GOAT Talk podcast, Fat Joe revealed why at one point, Hot 97 refused to play his records. According to him, the situation began at a show at Lehman High School early in his career. He tells DJ Enuff that upon arriving to the performance in the Bronx, a man at the door stopped him and his party of 100. After being denied entry, Fat Joe says he "beat up" the man. "The guy turned out to be one of the bosses of Hot 97," he shared. Unfortunately, this meant that Hot 97 later stopped playing his records. In the interview, the artist reveals the lengths he had to go to get his music playing again.
"I kept coming back," he explained, "begging him and kissing his a**." Fat Joe continued, "They'd be like, ‘Nah, I’m not ready to squash it with you.’ I used to have people tell him, ‘Yo, Joe is a good guy, he was young, he didn’t know.'” The NYC native then explains that he gifted a giant stuffed teddy bear to Tracy Cloherty, Hot 97's program director at the time. “That was part of bribing her to convince this other guy — I don’t want to say his name — to finally forgive me."
Fat Joe Reveals Hot 97 Stopped Playing His Music Following Altercation
Fat Joe explains that ultimately, they ended up forgiving him for the mix-up. “I was like, ‘I was young, I was stupid. I ain’t no better.’ So we squashed the beef," he revealed. Luckily for him, the NYC station began playing his music again, but it took a good amount of convincing.
In another recent interview, Fat Joe discussed battling depression following the death of Big Pun. He recalled telling himself, "You gotta lose weight; otherwise you outta here." "Once you snap out of [depression], you should know what brings you there and to run the other way," he told Men's Health. He went on to compare himself to Lizzo, explaining how "She’s embracing her beauty." "I used to do that, too," he says.