Knicks In 5
The rapper, who has new music and an album on the way, has been a Knicks superfan for decades
Throughout the Knicks’ playoff run this spring, Fat Joe has been everywhere. Maybe you’ve seen him on national television, dancing and waving his hands in an effort to make Victor Wembanyama miss free throws (he thinks it’s working). Maybe you’ve read his widely circulated quote during the NBA Finals, as his hometown Knicks sit one game away from winning their first championship since 1973: “I see Hasidic Jews break dancing with Black kids,” Joe claimed with his plainspoken absurdity. “This is the greatest unification of the city since 9/11.”
If not, you’ve likely seen him make some sort of similar, humorously hyperbolic proclamation on Joe & Jada, the fast-rising hip-hop podcast he co-hosts with Jadakiss. On the twice-weekly talk show, Fat Joe riffs on everything from hating how loud the birds are outside his home to the time, per his telling, the Taliban once “took a day off” following Michael Jackson’s death.
This summer, you’ll only be hearing much more of Fat Joe, thanks to his forthcoming album produced by Cool & Dre (it’s tentatively slated to come out in mid-July). This week, he released the first preview of the album, “Victory Lap (Him)”, an intergenerational tapestry of New York City hip-hop that weaves together a 1988 MC Lyte sample and an all-too-brief Jadakiss appearance while flipping “Victory,” the posthumous Notorious B.I.G. collaboration with Diddy. The song is a boastful homage to the rapper’s hometown: “I’m so New York,” he raps at one point. “Long shorts and fresh Timbs.”
