Fat Joe is back with another “hip hip story.”
On his Instagram series, The Fat Joe Show, he would often tell rare/exclusive stories from the past.
Fat Joe was interviewed by Talib Kweli on his show, People’s Party, and reminisced about an old feud. During the show, Joe said he never thought he’d squash his beef with 50 Cent. Joe said, “I’m the real deal. If we [had] bumped heads somewhere, it would have [gone] down physically 100 percent. So when Chris Lighty died, I went to the funeral by myself. Where I come from, the morals I have is I gotta pay respects and show love to the family.” Fat Joe went on to talk about how he ended up talking to Fif at a time when they had beef.
“I show up, and 50 Cent is there. He’s on the other side; I don’t see him.” Joe said he received a phone call from Stephen Hill from BET as he [left], with an invitation to participate in a Chris Lighty tribute during the BET Awards. 50 would also be participating. Joe continued, “When I show up to the BET Awards, we on point. We super focused. That’s the only way I can explain it legally. They say rehearsal. I perform ‘Lean Back’ and then 50 Cent comes out. He ends up right by where I’m at. And when the music stops, he puts his hands out and says ‘Peace for Chris Lighty.’ Chris Lighty wanted peace.” Joe went on to explain how he felt in that moment. He was stuck between being shocked and wanting to move forward. He said,
“So I’m looking at him like peace?!” All the sh*t this guy done said about me, it’s like a fun*in movie going on right here…I shook his hand, and said peace. He said, ‘peace man, Terror Squad G-Unit for Chris Lighty. That was it. I remember when I did that, people started dancing in the audience; people started running. There wasn’t Instagram in that time, but it went viral. When we did the actual performance, people went crazy.”
Fat Joe said it was important for the younger generation to see them squashing beef. He said, “It doesn’t have to result in us killing each other. The rap beef doesn’t have to turn violent in the streets. I hope everybody sees that and says ‘the shit they were saying to each other, and now they’re friends? It can happen.”
Take a look:
50 Cent and Fat Joe’s feud is complicated, and it dates back to 2004. Around this time, 50 was in a very public beef with Ja Rule, but no one was safe from Fif’s wrath. Fat Joe and Jadakiss were targeted in 50 Cent’s beef after being featured on Ja Rule’s song “New York. In the track, Ja took a direct shot at Fif when he rapped,
“Apprentice, you’re fired, you’re no longer desired/So take off them silly chains, put back on your wire/I’m on fire.”
50 responded with a dis track called “Piggy Ban,” which took shots at Fat Joe and Jadakiss. Fat Joe responded with “My Fofo.” In February 2005, Fat Joe called Hot 97 while DJ Kay Slay was on, and called 50 Cent a coward/accused him of being on steroids. The two would clap back at each other for almost a decade until they finally put their pride aside and made amends in 2013.
Hopefully, we keep this energy going in 2021!