Fat Joe on beefing with 50 Cent & Jay-Z, Terror Squad TS sneaker release, Big Pun’s legacy, & Organized Rhyme

The Real Report with Tony Yayo and Uncle Murda

Fat Joe joins hosts Tony Yayo and Uncle Murda on The Real Report to reflect on his legendary career in hip-hop. He recounts the transition f

Key takeaways

• Diamond D played a crucial role in convincing Fat Joe to pursue music over street life.
• Fat Joe describes the core brand of Terror Squad as being rooted in absolute loyalty to one another.

Main topics

• Hip-hop history
• Terror Squad legacy

Notable quotes

Our brand is loyalty.

Conclusion

A nostalgic and raw look at the evolution of a Bronx icon and the cult

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. Lisa, tell them about our new show. We have a new podcast. It's called Don't Lie to Me. I'm Lexi Iwano. We're two best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart. And I'm Lisa DiGiulio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions. And at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all. Now in my 30s, being the founder of New Shoes, good taste is my business. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 3 (0:35) Hi, this is Kylie Brakeman, Angela Geratana, Jeremy Speaker 6 (0:38) Colhane, Patrick McDonald, and Speaker 3 (0:40) we're the hosts of the Artists on Artists on Artists on Artists podcast, the Speaker 6 (0:43) improvised character comedy podcast, where each week a new panel of artists discuss their craft. Join us for a panel of Eurovision participants. Speaker 3 (0:52) And we do a little Halloween sometimes. Does the Pope dress up? He winks on Halloween. Speaker 6 (0:58) He gets right up next to the microphone. Speaker 3 (1:00) I hear you can almost hear the eyelashes hit each other. Speaker 6 (1:03) You've never seen Italy so quiet as when the Pope gets up to wink on Halloween. Speaker 3 (1:08) Listen to Artists on Artists on Artists on Artists every Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 7 (1:16) I'm Lacey Mosley, author, actor, stand-up comedian, creator, and host of Scam Goddess Podcast. The true crime comedy podcast all about robbery, fraud, and those who practice it. Each week I bring on an amazing guest. Speaker 5 (1:28) Ooh, I scammed him. What? I could talk to you for an hour. Speaker 7 (1:31) You're a generational yapper, like me. That's why I had to make yapping a job. And now you can catch full episodes of my show on YouTube. Start listening to Scam Goddess on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 7 (1:46) So like by age 11 or so, at least 70 % have a phone. Speaker 8 (1:50) I'm Dr. Joy, and this is Therapy for Black Girls. We spend our surviving middle school run getting into what's happening inside your kid's brain, the group chat, and their friendships, and what you can do about it. Speaker 1 (2:01) Your child is Speaker 5 (2:02) not doing this on purpose. Speaker 8 (2:04) That's the kind of perspective we've been pulling from the psychologists and psychiatrists who study this for a living. Listen to Therapy for Black Girls on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 4 (2:15) Self-care September is your reminder to slow down, check in with yourself, get off your phone, and maybe ask, why am I like this? I'm Gemma Speck, host of the Psychology of Your 20s podcast, and this month we're helping you make sense of the person that you are becoming, from setting boundaries and navigating friendships, to understanding anxiety, confidence, relationships, and attachment. Sometimes our biggest decisions, without us even realizing it, aren't driven by what we truly want, but by what will prevent us from feeling lonely or being alone. Listen to The Psychology of Your 20s on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 5 (2:58) Hey, everybody, it's me, W. Kamau Bell. This season on my podcast, Who's With Me, I speak with Bruce Lee's daughter, Brandon Lee's sister, and my friend, Shannon Lee. Speaker 4 (3:07) Back to your initial point of stewarding my father's legacy and giving my energy to that. You're lending your life to stewarding somebody else's life. Speaker 5 (3:19) Listen to Who's With Me with W. Kamau Bell on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Speaker 6 (3:27) new NFL season is here, and you should be listening to NFL Daily as we march along to Super Bowl 61. It is in the name, NFL Daily. You'll have fresh content in your feed every day, all season long. That game-winning drive. Maybe it's Herbert. Maybe it's Geno. Maybe it's Mahomes. We'll have the highlights. If Fernando Mendoza or any of the rookies are balling out, we'll break down the tape. Join me, Greg Rosenthal, and an all-star cast of co-hosts as we preview and recap every game. Listen to NFL Daily. on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 2 (4:01) Murder. I'm going to tell you something that's so disrespectful. Yo, I'm sorry, guys. Y'all want me to stop? Nah, go. Go. I ran my neighborhood so much that I would sleep at night with my windows open in the car and put my chains over the window when they used to rob Benzibot. Yo. Yeah, I care. Yo, yo, yo. When the crackheads would rob you, break your car for a Benz. Remember when you had the red stick? They had to say it Speaker 5 (4:33) up the front of the car. You're not listening to me. Speaker 2 (4:35) You had the red stick. They would rob you for your Benz. I used to throw my jewelry some nights over my weird view and go upstairs and sleep, come out tomorrow, my all lit. Speaker 5 (4:50) Windows down. Yo, I kill. Yo, I can't f*** with this. He didn't get stabbed. Bro, bro, bro. Bro, Speaker 1 (5:03) bro, Speaker 5 (5:07) bro. Speaker 5 (5:15) Yeah, it's the Real Report. It's your boy, Uncle Murder, a.k.a. Lil Jet Lennie. Speaker 1 (5:19) Yeah, and it's the Talk of New York, and we have the living legend in here from the BX. Make some noise for Fat Joe. Yeah. Whoa. Whoa. You know the vibes. Yeah. Speaker 5 (5:29) Yeah, that's hot. That feel good. You know how that feel, right? You know what I mean? That feel good. What's up, y'all? And to everybody Speaker 1 (5:35) out there in the hip-hop land, you got to respect Fat Joe. Yes, we had beef with him. It was serious to me. A bunch of Spanish. With Knobz running around the city like Pistol Peak. It was crazy. Rest in peace to my man DJ Ruff Hands. He used to DJ on 160 in Queens, right on the block. We used to hustle. Whenever it's hot, he had the DJ equipment. That's what was introduced. That was my biggest introduction to music as far as going to Hot Wax on Jamaica Avenue. And he's getting every record. There's no CDJs, there's no nothing. It's just the two 1200s. And I remember the first album ever bought, like one of the first albums was Jealous One's Envy. Because I remember the beat was so hard. It was so hard that like all the DJs would cut it up because I was in every party in Queens. You know what I'm saying? Any party. Rob Markman Love hip hop. You was everywhere. Yeah, that's how hip hop was really well, you know, as a kid watching Video Music Box, of course. You know what I'm saying? And I always respect dudes like you and LL because we talking about three different eras of longevity, of success, of hit records, the 80s, the 90s, and now. So talk about Jealous One's Envy for people that don't know. That's a classic album. And I want to know, who produced Let It Flow, Joe? You Speaker 2 (6:54) doing both. So Diamond D put me on Digging in the Crates. Shout out to Diamond D. Speaker 6 (7:00) He Speaker 2 (7:00) made the beat. to Flo-Jo, we made it in his kitchen. Speaker 6 (7:03) He Speaker 2 (7:04) was like, yo, I'm gonna play this for you. Kaboom, boom, boom. I was there when he put the drums on that shit. I was like, oh my God. Diamond D talked me out of... being in the streets. He grabbed me one day, said, Joe, man, you like the rap, man. Let me, I'll pay for the beats, but out here, y'all doing too much. You're going to die. You're going to go to jail. Put down, put it down in the music. I never forget the light pole in between my building and his building where he convinced me to make a demo. You know what I'm saying? So Diamond, you know, he pretty much did my whole first album, Digging in the Crates, Lord Finesse, Big L, O.C., Buckwild, AG, Jesus Christ. Showbiz Speaker 1 (7:53) and AG, shout to them too. Showbiz and Speaker 2 (7:54) AG, like, you know, that was home team. And they were the first to inspire me to let me know I could rap. Because Finesse, he used to tell me all the time, yo, Joe, I'm going to be a rapper. I'd be like. I'm out here selling drugs. And one day I listened to Red Alert. That motherfucker played three finesse joints back to back. I was like. And it changed my life. So me, I never dealt with like jealousy. I always dealt with inspiration. So I looked at his inspiration. I said, if he could do it, I could do it. Right. Because I already knew, you know, I'm going to do whatever it take to do it. It was guys a hundred times nicer than me in my project. And they got mad at me when I got on. But they wanted like me. You know what I'm saying? They want to go down to where it was that I went, you know, Speaker 2 (8:48) Nowadays, they really saying, watch what you say, but this is over 37 years ago. We sold real drugs, not regular drugs. Real drugs. Big time. We own 47 cars at one time. Benz's, Beamer's, Pathfinder's, this, this. Nobody, any old school nigga you know from the Bronx or Harlem, they not going to lie to you. They're going to tell you, yo. The nigga was coming down in a white McLaren, all white out, in your fat Joe, no shirt on, jewels on. They popped so many bots, so we really did this shit. And then, so I already knew, when I told niggas, I was embarrassed at first. I told niggas, yo, I'm going to Apollo Theater, I want to rap. I'm telling Kingpin niggas, I don't talk. I'm dealing with kingpins. They all respect me as a Speaker 5 (9:42) - Speaker 2 (9:42) And they looking at Speaker 5 (9:42) you like, get the fuck out of here with that rap shit. Man, all them Speaker 2 (9:45) niggas wound up doing 30 years, man. They all came home. It was like, yo, Joe, we sorry. We didn't know you were serious about it, this and this and that. I was like, yo, man, they all laughed in my face. But guess what? I came out of an Apollo theater. And I stepped, I tried to think about it. Like, Speaker 1 (10:02) how did I win? You scared? You was scared. No, I'm just saying, the first time I was in Apollo Theater. Yo. Speaker 2 (10:08) So Apollo was one of them shows like. I won the Apollo four nights in a row. Oh. Four weeks in a row. I came in first place. The whole place just went crazy. They couldn't even understand one of my raps. They was just going nuts. Right. Like, you know what I'm saying? So, and that's how I met Red Alert. And that's how I got on and started playing my promo. And then I got to deal with Chris Lighty. Chris Lighty comes to my spot. Chris Lighty. But what year was Jealous One's Envy? Was it 19? Jealous One's Envy was after, that's the second album. The first album where Flojo was on was Represent. That was in 92. Speaker 2 (10:45) And then Jealous One's Envy is my second album. Wow. And that album, I had to step it up because I'm over there doing Flo-Jo, bust it, check it, watch how I wreck it. And them motherfucking Illmatic boys realizing the realism of life. And I thought it was over. I was ready to throw the towel in. I said, oh my God. As much as I love this, my favorite album of all time, well, one of them. Speaker 2 (11:15) When I heard that, I was scared to death. I had to lock myself in the dungeon and study and just step my lyrics up and all that. That shit wasn't easy, man. Summertime when everybody was outside, I was in the fucking crib listening, writing this, this, and then Jealous One's Envy is when I stepped my shit up. I seen Biggie, Rest in Peace, maybe like two, three days after that shit came out. And I seen him and he had a hundred people around. It was like, yo, crack. I was like. I walked over there, he said, what we been pumping? He told Little Kim and Caesar. They was like, yo, your new album. He was like, that shit is crazy. You stepped your shit up. Speaker 1 (11:52) See, this is why I love this show. Notorious B.I.G., yes. That's what I'm saying. He said, you Speaker 2 (11:56) stepped your shit up. We've been playing your shit all day. Speaker 1 (12:00) That was the album, Jealous Ones. Speaker 2 (12:03) It's my favorite album ever. But Speaker 1 (12:05) Flojo, I ain't gonna lie, I'm trying to remember the album was represent because I remember that one though. Like that's the one they was cutting up because Diamond D had a hard beat. So DJs was just cutting that shit up all day. Like I said, my man got... Yeah, Speaker 2 (12:20) Flojo went number one in the country, my first single. Went number one in the country, Billboard rap singles. Went number one off-rep. You feel like that Speaker 1 (12:28) was one of the best eras of hip-hop, I think. When the DJs still had to bring crates. The only reason why it wasn't the best era of hip Speaker 2 (12:34) -hop is because I was getting $500 a show. Right now, you be a reggae tone nigga, and you drop one song that's $300,000 a show. It was abuse. Speaker 2 (12:47) I was doing three shows a day trying to get 1,500 with Flo. Speaker 1 (12:52) Oh, okay. I Speaker 2 (12:54) did from Boston to North Carolina. But, I mean, like, they had a thing in Queens. They had a thing in Queens. It was a van winter. It was called Van-tastic to where the back lays down. You could sleep. All the artists, before we had money for tour bus. We didn't have money for no tour bus. So people would rent the Van-tastic and drive to Virginia, fucking D.C. Shout out to P. Stew and all them. They took care of me. D.C., the Cuban cigar. I mean, that whole East Coast right there. And that's also a regional. Problem for a lot of New York rappers and East Coast rappers, because a lot of them don't get past that North Carolina, from Boston to North Carolina. So when you put out a record that's playing in Arizona, some shit like that, you feel like, oh, shit. I've seen Speaker 5 (13:45) you performing in Romania, so you ain't got that problem. 100,000 Speaker 2 (13:49) or some shit. Speaker 5 (13:49) Yeah, you ain't got that problem. You good on that note. I'm good everywhere. Yeah, you good on Speaker 2 (13:53) that note. Speaker 5 (13:53) I'm good in Speaker 2 (13:53) Africa, Jamaica, wherever you name. I'm good. We already know that. Rob Markman, We bumped into y'all. I bumped into y'all. Where the fuck we was at? Yugoslavia? Rob Markman, Germany or something. Rob Markman, We was in Germany. We had breakfast. Speaker 5 (14:09) Rob Markman, And that's how this whole podcast actually came Speaker 2 (14:11) together. Rob Markman, Speaker 5 (14:11) The thing about you, Joe, is Speaker 1 (14:12) I always want to know what's your process in the studio because you work with some of the best producers in the world. Kool and Dre, which is the new album. Rob Speaker 2 (14:19) Markman, Yes, Kool Speaker 1 (14:19) and Dre. Rob Speaker 2 (14:20) Markman, Speaker 1 (14:20) And Scott and Storch. And you've been around Dr. Dre. And you're a legend in the game where everybody respects you from Slick Rick. to Big Daddy Kane, to 50, to everybody. What is your process? How did you navigate in the game? And you know you're Spanish. Your dad is Cuban and black, and I believe your mom's is Puerto Rican. But he was the first Spanish guy in the game, coming in the game to make his name. And New York City is kind of big too. Because there is no other Spanish rapper, is there? I just think it's the way you Speaker 2 (14:50) look at it. It was other Spanish rappers. It was just... Man, they were Spanish rappers since the beginning of hip-hop. It was Ruby Dee. It was Tito from the Fearless Four. Whippy Whip. And then later on, in my era, the first Spanish dude to get hip-hopping was Curious George. And then the Beatnuts out of Queens. They were out just before me. Speaker 1 (15:16) I remember the Beatnuts. Speaker 2 (15:17) John Wayne couldn't even feel the rain or the tech. I was in that video. And so... They actually, the Beatnuts, mixed my first album because I ran out of money. Speaker 1 (15:28) Shout out to the Beatnuts. They legends, too. When Speaker 2 (15:30) I got money, and of course, Cypher Cell. They Dominican. Speaker 1 (15:33) Oh, they Dominican. Speaker 2 (15:34) Dominican and Colombian. Psycho Lester's Colombian. But I ran out of money because my mom's had core cancer and she was fighting cancer. And so I had to pay for a registered nurse. In them times, it was like $2,000 a night. Speaker 2 (15:52) 2009 at them times was a big... So I ran out of money. And the Beatnuts came and mixed my old album. I owe them everything. Every time I see them, I keep saying, yo, whatever y'all want. My brother Juju. Juju also a super real nigga. Like, real. You know, I just told you, it's hard to find real guys in hip-hop. Like, real niggas. Like, one time I was about to get fucked up by 300 niggas. And Juju said, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me. And jumped in with me. Now it's four of us. Me, Big Pun, Juju, and the other guy. I said, oh my God, why did you come here? I don't even want you to. We can't win. We ain't got no wins. There's no wins. That's why I always loved you. Because I seen you stand by your people no matter what. And I said, man, this nigga's a love. Because T.S. I mean, you never forget to turn the lights on. You turn the lights on for a lot of people. T Speaker 1 (16:48) .S. is Speaker 2 (16:48) always. Our brand is loyalty. Even when my niggas is wrong. You know how many times Pistol Pete was wrong? You know how many times Khaled was wrong? You know how many times Remy is wrong? Speaker 5 (16:59) And Speaker 2 (16:59) I got to stand on that shit. Just like you. I could be the boss, but I'm still the nigga got to stand. I'm like, damn. They said what? Damn. I guess. I guess they're right. Speaker 5 (17:13) Whatever Speaker 2 (17:14) it is, we don't give a fuck. We're standing on this shit. You guys are like, you know, so that's the brand of Terror Squad. We loyal to each other. We're going to stand there for each other. And that's what it's about. So, you know, I respect guys like that at that time, you know, who step up when you had a great disadvantage. You know, you're about to get your ass whooped. and they jump in like, yo, fuck that. We getting our ass whipped together. Those are rare ones. Speaker 5 (17:44) You ain't lying. Speaker 2 (17:44) You ain't lying. You got to keep them next to you. Speaker 5 (17:46) Because it's easy for a nigga to just back Speaker 2 (17:47) up. Joe, what's the thought process in this? I seen a lot of them back up. Oh, Speaker 5 (17:50) you better believe it. You better believe it. That same Speaker 2 (17:52) day that Juju walked in, I don't want to tell you, all of our favorite rappers, tough guys, gangster rappers, they was out there, nigga. They Speaker 5 (18:00) act like Speaker 2 (18:00) they ain't see nothing. Speaker 5 (18:01) They act like they ain't see it. Walking away Speaker 2 (18:03) like, no, no. The greatest, I want you to think of the greatest gangster rappers in New York's history. Besides y'all, y'all wasn't out yet. All of them was out there. And they all was like, I'm over here arguing with the whole entire West Coast. It's around the East Coast, West Coast. I'm in the middle of the street. What's up? What we doing? And Juju jumped in. But the rest of the hip hop? Oh, man. They was going to let me get torched out there. Speaker 2 (18:33) And I told them, I turned around and looked at all of them. I said, yo, New York, what's up? Let's go. Because they had us. There was probably like 300 of them. But. Speaker 2 (18:45) We the four in Voltron, we had a good 50. Facts, we could've been alright. Nah, let's go! Not 50 against three, you know, it's, it's, you got 50. We Speaker 5 (18:53) still Speaker 2 (18:53) gonna lose, but we gonna make some, we Speaker 5 (18:54) gonna make some work. Speaker 1 (18:56) Yo, Joe, keep it real, when you tell a story, what do you want me to do, lie to you? I'm at some shit. I'm at a, how can I be down to some, hold on, hold on, when he tell a story, nah, cause people will think you capping, right? Like how you robbed the whole school. But I'm going to talk about like, he'll be like a crazy number. I'm Speaker 2 (19:15) in Speaker 1 (19:15) the process of getting the proof to Marvin Jones. Nobody tried to get up at that school, man. What do you want me to say? Speaker 2 (19:22) No, what I'm saying is, look, see, this is what I'm talking about. The same nigga who say, my realest beef was with Fat Joe. Now he's like, Speaker 5 (19:31) yo, Speaker 2 (19:31) Joe, Speaker 1 (19:32) I'm telling you the truth. Joe, Speaker 5 (19:33) Joe, Speaker 1 (19:33) Joe. Joe Speaker 2 (19:34) would Speaker 1 (19:34) tell a story like at the beginning, instead of saying like 10 cars. You'd be like 47 cars. No, we on 47 cars. Five cars. Five cars. Five floors. Got you. Some people, some people, when they tell a story, people would think it's cap. Like, all right, Joe, you went to school in the Bronx. Speaker 3 (19:52) Lisa, we should tell them about our new show. Oh my God, Lexi. We have a new podcast. It's called Don't Lie to Me. I'm Lexi Iwanyu. We're two best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart. And I'm Lisa DiGiulio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions. And at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all. I'm not going to get anywhere fighting. That is wild. I learned that about you today. Now in my 30s, being the founder of New Shoes, good taste is my business. And I've always got something to say. If men were just honest about this, there would be so much more peace in the world. We're going to talk about dating, relationships, beauty, getting older. And a little wiser. We're best friends, but we don't always agree. Because you told us how accommodating you are. Obviously, I would do what I think I could do to fight the fight. But there's only so much fight I can fight. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Liar. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I don't really care. Speaker 7 (21:02) I'm Lacey Mosley, author, actor, stand-up comedian, creator, and host of Scam Goddess Podcast. The true crime comedy podcast all about robbery, fraud, and those who practice it. Each week I bring on incredible guests like Conan O'Brien, Iowa Debris, Lamorne Morris, and Nicole Byer. Ooh, I scammed them. What? I could talk to you for an hour. You're a generational yapper, like me. That's Speaker 5 (21:24) why I had to make yapping Speaker 7 (21:25) a job. And the scams run the gamut. I'm talking about scams from the 1800s all the way up. to today. I also warn you and keep you safe against scammers. Call your grandparents. Tell your parents to stop clicking on links, please. And now you can catch full episodes of my show on YouTube. If there's a scam, I'm here to protect you. And I'm also here to laugh with you. So if you like fun, if you like comedy, and you like learning and protecting yourself from criminals, start listening to Scam Goddess on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 3 (22:02) Hi, this is Kylie Brakeman. Angela Geratana. Speaker 6 (22:05) Jeremy Colhane. Patrick McDonald. Speaker 3 (22:07) And we're the hosts of the Artists on Artists on Artists on Artists podcast. The Speaker 6 (22:11) improvised character comedy podcast where each week a new panel of artists discuss their craft. Join us for a panel of wellness influencers. What I try to do is faux journal. I don't know. Have you guys heard of faux journaling? Yeah, it's reading. It's called reading. So we don't like to use that word anymore. Okay. A panel of New Yorker cartoonists. Have you guys done Terry Gross' Peloton class yet? No! Speaker 3 (22:34) I've been Speaker 6 (22:35) dying to. I'm so sorry. I'm seeing a reading of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Audra McDonald at the Wonderland Bookstore on 14th. Speaker 3 (22:44) That's crazy. I went to the Wonderland Bookstore yesterday and I heard Nora Jones do a reading of Zero Dark Thirty. No way. You'll have to come to the last bookstore, though. Kim Cattrall is reading the guitar tabs of yesterday. Speaker 6 (22:57) A panel of Eurovision participants. Speaker 3 (22:59) And we do a little. Halloween sometimes. Does the Pope dress up? He winks on Halloween. Speaker 6 (23:05) He gets right up next to the microphone. Speaker 3 (23:07) I hear you can almost hear the eyelashes hit each other. Speaker 6 (23:10) You've never seen Italy so quiet as when the Pope gets up to wink on Halloween. Speaker 3 (23:15) Listen to Artists on Artists on Artists on Artists on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 7 (23:22) By age 11 or so, at least 70 % Speaker 8 (23:25) have Speaker 7 (23:25) a phone. Speaker 8 (23:25) Middle school is a different world than the one we grew up in. I'm Dr. Joy, and this is Therapy for Black Girls. We spent real time on it in our surviving middle school run, bringing in a child psychologist and a psychiatrist who's raising two Black girls of his own to talk about what's really going on with our kids right now. Speaker 5 (23:43) So it's literally physiological and neurological and psychological chaos happening all at the same time. We Speaker 8 (23:49) got into group chats and gaming, friendships and bullying, and how to tell the difference between healthy monitoring and the kind of surveillance that erodes trust. Speaker 5 (23:58) There's belonging. You could think of belonging as I can be myself and I can still be accepted. And then there's fitting in. Fitting in says I have to change who I am in order to avoid rejection. Speaker 8 (24:09) Then we turn the conversation toward the fathers. Sitting down with therapist Keir Gaines on Black fatherhood and what it means to raise a daughter through this stage. Speaker 5 (24:18) You don't have on shorts, so you can't do flips. You have on a dress, so you have to cross your legs. Speaker 8 (24:22) That's the range of this run, from screen time to identity to the fathers doing the work at home. You Speaker 7 (24:27) have to get off your device. But the reality is there's a lot of life out there that we don't want you as your adults in your life to miss out on. Speaker 8 (24:35) This has been our Surviving Middle School Run, brought to you by the people who spend their careers thinking about exactly this. I'm Dr. Joy. Listen to Therapy for Black Girls on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever Speaker 4 (24:47) you get your podcasts. Self-care September is here, which means it's time to rethink what self-care actually means. Yes, self-care can be a long walk. It can be an everything shower. It can be putting your phone on do not disturb. But sometimes it's actually about sitting with the uncomfortable stuff and understanding your patterns, your boundaries, finally figuring out why you keep doing things that you swore you would never do again. I'm Gemma Spegg, the host of the Psychology of Your 20s podcast, and each week we unpack the psychology behind the experiences that shape your 20s, from relationships and friendships to money, anxiety, confidence, attachment, just becoming more comfortable with who you are. Unlike the quarter-life crisis, which is depicted as the collapse, the quarter-life reinvention is the expansion and growth of something. When we develop the ability to be happy by ourselves, nobody else can take that from you. So this self-care September, don't just take care of yourself, get to know yourself as well. Listen to The Psychology of Your 20s on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 5 (25:52) Hey, everybody. It's me, W. Kamau Bell. This season of my podcast, who's with me, I speak with two-time Emmy winner and weirdly one of my best friends, Kevin Avery. Everything up to that point, Bill G was a comic. Us going on the road, doing Battle Mountain and Ely and all this Speaker 6 (26:07) shit. Speaker 5 (26:07) Yeah, Speaker 6 (26:07) you Speaker 5 (26:07) took me. You were one of the first people who took me on the road, which is funny because at the time I was like, I don't know if I like this guy. With rapper, actor, Daveed Diggs. The jump off for me was Hamilton, and it was the most popular thing. In a very long time. But it was still, for me, it was me and my friends making something dumb. Bruce Lee's daughter and Brandon Lee's sister, Shannon Lee. Speaker 4 (26:30) Back to your initial point of stewarding my father's legacy and giving my energy to that. You're lending your life to stewarding somebody else's life. Speaker 5 (26:42) Listen to Who's With Me with Debbie Quambelle on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 6 (26:50) The new NFL season is here, and you should be listening to NFL Daily as we march along to Super Bowl 61. Last year, we had Mike McDonald, Sam Darnold on the field after the game, but that was last year. If you're a football sicko like me, NFL Daily is your kind of show. It is in the name, NFL Daily, fresh content in your feed every day, all season long. Matthew Stafford coming off his MVP season. Are they dazzling? from Matthew Stafford. Big time trades that shake up the NFL. A.J. Brown is loose. And of course, those Seahawks trying to run it back and win another Lombardi trophy. The Seahawks win Super Bowl 60. They are bringing the Lombardi back to the Northwest. If it's happening on a football field, NFL Daily will cover it. Listen to NFL Daily on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 1 (27:50) Rob Markman Now, the Bronx is the toughest borough in New York City. One of the toughest places to live from back in the days to now. You know what I'm saying? Right? You mean to tell me you robbed your whole school and ain't nobody- Rob Speaker 5 (28:03) Markman You Speaker 1 (28:03) trying to say there's other tough niggas in the Bronx too, right? Rob Speaker 5 (28:05) Markman Speaker 1 (28:05) I need people from your school to tell you how worse Speaker 2 (28:07) it gets. Rob Markman Well, you ain't never hear them say they didn't get robbed. They got robbed. Somebody's going to come up here Speaker 5 (28:15) and Speaker 2 (28:15) tell Speaker 5 (28:15) me. Speaker 2 (28:15) Where they at? He ain't lying. Where they at? The whole gym. Nobody said no. I'm in the process of getting proof. I want the proof. No, no. Certified proof. Of that. I figured out a way. There wasn't no cameras back then, Joe. I'm about to get y'all to proof. Just relax. I don't want to tell people what I'm up to. You robbed your whole gym, murder. In the Bronx. I never robbed. I robbed a Speaker 5 (28:39) lot Speaker 2 (28:39) of people Speaker 5 (28:39) before, but I never robbed the whole gym. Can I say something? Speaker 2 (28:42) It was just beyond. All right. So I'm in junior high school. All right. Speaker 2 (28:51) I grew up in the projects. I just wanted to, I don't, but this just, I don't know. Y'all heard this story a million times. My mother and my uncles lived in that project for 40 years. The project was 90 % black. This is where I'm birthed. This is where they bring me in the hospital. From the hospital, my first day, this is where I'm at. I'm not in another community. I'm not from Speaker 5 (29:18) another land. I'm in the project. This is where, Speaker 2 (29:22) this is my, see. It's the black community is the only community I know. Right. Later on, I got to get in roots with my Latino people. But I'm Latino, but I grew up anyway. Speaker 4 (29:37) My Speaker 2 (29:37) grandmother's from a ninety nine point nine percent black community. Well, to this day, no Spanish niggas got used there. Speaker 5 (29:46) They Speaker 2 (29:47) not holding no type of weight over there. You hear of Chico and his brother. None of them. Fat Joe about the only one that can still diddy-bop through there on the strength Speaker 1 (29:57) of yo, that's Joe Crack. It's still like that. Close shot. I mean, we know you for being the first Spanish kind of rap to me. The first Spanish rapper in the game. Speaker 2 (30:08) So I'm over there getting my ass whooped every day. They beating the brakes off of me. 20 deep jumping me every day, every day, every day, get my ass whipped because I've never been pussy. So you can't come to me and say. Suck my dick, you pussy. I'm going. Like I'm a numbskull. Like a dumb nigga that you would... I really was a dumb nigga. Like, would you just bring me for the drama? Like, yo, call Joey. And just hear what happened. Speaker 1 (30:37) Joe, you was the size of a linebacker, man. What you want me to do? I'm just telling you to... Of course they're going to jump you. My people used Speaker 2 (30:44) to wake me up out my sleep. You know, that's the worst thing you could do is wake your man up. For what fight? Anything. Speaker 5 (30:52) Niggas, I ain't even thinking. We just waking nigga up. Yo, come on. Speaker 2 (30:55) You used to wake me up. Anyway, so I come from getting bullied. And then I had it. I said, yo, I'm going to give it to everybody. Now, here's the trick. But you don't have to understand. I'm from Forrest Project. You was getting bullied? You was like the size of a rock? I got beat up every day. I just told you. Man, what's Speaker 1 (31:11) that Speaker 2 (31:11) kid movie? Can't beat 20 guys. Yo, hold on. What's the movie? What's the movie? I kept telling them. Yeah, yo. I'm not pussy. Every time they came up to me, I said, yo, I don't know what y'all think. I'm not pussy. I don't know if y'all understand. All right. Beat me up. Let's fight. You know, nobody ever punched me in the face and I ain't fight. Listen to what I'm saying. I finally say that summer where I graduated junior high, I said. I'm giving it to everybody. I really don't care. So I start robbing everybody in the jams, this, this, that. You start hearing about Joey Crack, Terror Squad. The problem is with my school, for you to get to understand, from Forrest's projects, across the street, this is what people don't hear in this story, across the street was Morris High School. Morris High School is the last stop. More was projects. Morris High School, I'm talking about. My projects is across the street from there. In that project, if you Jamaican, Dominican, Puerto Rican, uptown, left town, this town, that's the last stop before you go to Rikers Island. I'm sure Queens got a school like that where all the pieces of shits go. I'm keeping it real. I don't know if Morris is a good school now, but when I was there, it was where every piece of shit. Drug dealer, kingpin, whatever. One of the bad kids was there. I'm across the street. I got 100 niggas with me. I don't know how to explain it to you. So first day of school, when you in the homeroom, you dip fresh, you ready to go in, you a tough guy. There was tough guys from all over there. And the first time you ever seen Fat Joe was a Spanish nigga turned in a corner with like a hundred black dudes. And you like, where did this happen? Like, how does this happen? And we got it popping. First day of school, started beating niggas up, robbing niggas. First day of school, the first time the Bronx, uptown, crosstown, this, the 5%, I don't give a fuck who it was. The first time you laid eyes on him, he was putting in that work. And every day after that, we was just. Being very abusive. Because I got bullied and I was in a circumstance of becoming to hurt people, hurt people. So I start hurting dudes. What you don't understand about the school is, everybody I robbed in there knew I had a hundred niggas outside. Speaker 1 (33:45) I Speaker 2 (33:46) am the leader. Speaker 1 (33:47) Yeah, because your project's right across the street. You had a reputation already. Speaker 2 (33:50) They know. Speaker 1 (33:51) So one Speaker 2 (33:52) day I'm bored to death. Like just bored out of... You know how many... Robbed the whole gym. Man, my projects would have a party and there's a thousand people in the party and I would just take the equipment and break the shit and say, party over. Niggas, oh, crack, why? Yo, it's over, nigga. Speaker 5 (34:12) Party's over. Done deal. But why would you do that? Speaker 2 (34:17) I Speaker 1 (34:18) was Speaker 2 (34:19) bad. Speaker 1 (34:20) Because he was the size of a linebacker at that point.