Fat Joe Responds To Criticism Of His Use Of The N-Word

Fat Joe, who is of Puerto Rican descent, is under scrutiny once again. The South Bronx rapper says that he will continue to say the N-word despite some fans asking him not to. In a recent interview, the New York rapper explained why he won’t stop using it.

"First of all, my projects is 90 percent– I’ll give you 80 percent, Black still," Joe said in the interview per HotNewHipHop. "My grandmother’s projects is 99.9 percent Black, to be clear. So I’m Spanish. I knew I was Latino, but the whole time I thought I was Black anyway. So, my mom lives there 40 years before I was born, in this project, and I’m born with blond hair, green eyes. This s--- crazy, right? She brings me there, the first thing is they go, ‘Oh, look at this little n---- Joey. He got green eyes.’ The minute I’m walking, the guys in the building is like, ‘Yo, look at that little n---- Joe, little Fat Joe.’ That’s all I knew my whole life before even elementary."

Although Joe says he has tried to calm down on the use of the word and recognizes it as a negative term, he says that it is in his "DNA" since hearing it throughout his childhood. The rapper also blamed social media “woke culture” for attempting to bully him out of not saying it.

He continued: "I guess they don’t understand where I come from, where I was born or how I was raised or how I lived my whole entire life. Now we know, we use it as love. We know that the record states that this is a negative word and I wish we never used it, you know? And I try my best … I been saying this thing … in my DNA. It’s hard. Really, seriously I been trying to stop, but I been saying this since I was born. I tried the greatest level I can to try to understand if I’m offending anybody and that’s cool."

"No one’s going to pressure Fat Joe into [not] feeling or saying anything that he loves or believes in," he added. "No one’s ever going to do that. You get one life and nobody gonna try to tell me what to say, tell me do, tell me what to think."

This is not the first time social media has come for Fat Joe due to something controversial he has said.

Last month, Fat Joe was criticized for saying that Latinos and Black people created hip-hop. The rapper stood ten toes down on his stance addressing fans via Instagram Live.

"Lately, they've been talking about, 'Latinos wasn't in rap.' These guys are f---ing delusional," the rapper previously said.

"When hip-hop started, it's Latinos and blacks-- half and half," Joe added. The father of three then spoke on the remarks he'd gotten from naysayers. "'F--- that... Latinos wasn't there, you were invited... You're a specimen," he restated.

This news follows Joe hosting the BET Hip Hop Awards that aired on Tuesday night (Oct. 4). Check out his performance with Remy Ma, Lil’ Kim, Wu-Tang Clan, and more below:

The 2022 BET Hip Hop Awards was taped at Atlanta’s Cobb Energy Centre on Friday, Sept. 30, and aired Tuesday, Oct. 4, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on BET.

The night was filled with firey cyphers, BET Hip Hop Awards debuts, and performances from your favorite artists. Check out the red carpet and winners list as well as all of the performances below: