All Or Nothing

They say good things come to those who wait. For over 10 years, Fat Joe has patiently waited for his opportunity to be among the greats in his field of music. Through years of hard work and dedication, Fat Joe made his mark on hip-hop music, film, clothing and the culture as a whole. From his humble beginnings in the bullet-riddled streets of the Bronx to orchestrating the rise of the late, great Big Pun to making a whole nation Lean Back in 2004, Fat Joe has run the gamut of hard work in the music business and will enjoy the fruits of his labor with the release of his 6th album, All Or Nothing, Fat Joe's first in name since 2002's Loyalty.

Looking slimmer, Fat Joe enlisted production help from the likes of Just Blaze, Cool and Dre, Swizz Beats, Scott Scorch, DJ Khaled, Streetrunner, Lil Jon, Nasty Beatmakers and Timbaland. My Fofo presents a vivid, convincing portrait of 50 Cent as a paranoid, reclusive, out-of-touch mega-star running his mouth in the studio while protected by a small army of bodyguards, feds, and rent-a-cops. Needless to say, that doesn't fit Fat Joe's perception of "gangsta." Of course, the irony is that All Or Nothing shares many of the strengths and weaknesses (not to mention producers) of 50 Cent's The Massacre, another solid major-label gangsta-rap album similarly hindered by too many commercial concessions. Like 50, Fat Joe boasts a dark charisma, malevolent wit, and infectious street swagger that make it easy to root for the bad guy on standout tracks like the NY street anthem Rock Ya Body, a sequel to New York, New York that shares that single's dirty, chilly electro atmosphere. On early songs like Safe 2 Say (The Incredible) and Does Anybody Know, Fat Joe spits over the ultra-trendy hyper-soul sped-up production style, with impressive results. Listen Baby featuring Mashonda offers a nice R&B smooth fantasy cut to show how Fat Joe can "lean back" and allow himself to just "be" on a cut without the prostrating and proof of bad-assness. The single So Much More has been bombing video and radio and is probably one of the most recognizable tracks for this summer. Hardcore tracks like Temptation Pt. 1 and Temptation Pt. 2 maintain the street vibe, but the album stumbles on blatant bids for radio play like the inane Scott Storch collaboration Get It Poppin' (Feat. Nelly) and the saccharine Jennifer Lopez duet Hold U Down. The only thing keeping the otherwise fierce All Or Nothing from being a killer album is a few watered-down dance tracks and anemic pop songs. Fat Joe is more convincing when laying out general boasts and talking about street life. While Fat Joe has yet to come up with a landmark album, he also hasn't released a dud since his 1993 debut.

Latino rapper Fat Joe (aka Fat Joe da Gangsta, Joey Crack, and his real name Joe Cartagena) was raised in the South Bronx area of New York. It was through an older brother that Cartagena learned the ways of the street, as well as discovering rap music via the sounds of such groundbreaking artists as Theodore, Funky 4 + 1, and the Furious Five. Eventually going by the name of Fat Joe, the rapper secured a recording contract with the Relativity label in the early '90s, resulting in the release of his full-length debut, Represent, in 1993. Two years later, Fat Joe issued his sophomore effort, Jealous One's Envy. By the late '90s, Fat Joe had switched record labels (signing on with Atlantic) and tried his hand at other non-musical career ventures such as opening a clothing store called Fat Joe's Halftime, a barber shop, and a fashion line, FJ560. 1998 saw the release of Fat Joe's debut for Atlantic, Don Cartagena, which featured cameo appearances by the likes of Puff Daddy, Nas, Raekwon, Big Pun, and Jadakiss (L.O.X.), following it up in 2001 with Jealous Ones Still Envy(J.O.S.E.), which included contributions from Ludacris, Petey Pablo, M.O.P, R. Kelly, and Remy. Loyalty followed in 2002, and All Or Nothing arrived three years after that.