Fat Joe has folks in their feelings after claiming he’s Black while defending his N-word usage during a recent interview, and Dr. Marc Lamont Hill shared his thoughts amid the backlash.
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Fat Joe, whose real name is Joseph Antonio Cartagena, sparked an online debate after appearing on a recent episode of ‘The Joe Budden Podcast.’ The recording artist, who grew up in New York City’s Bronx neighborhood, expressed his views that he is Black.
Live Bitez shared the video on Instagram on Monday, September 7.
“I grew up in hip-hop, where they invented hip-hop,” said Cartagena.
The artist went on to say that he grew up around Grand Master Flash and Melle Mel, and the Puerto Rican-Cuban rapper has long maintained that he grew up around Black culture. Furthermore, he called himself “Black.”
“I am Black! Fat Joe is the Blackest n*gga you ever seen in your life,” exclaimed the rapper. “That’s, go look it up!”
Marc Lamont Hill reacted to the clip, and he said he did not want to police folks’ ethnicity or race.
“He’s saying he is Black,” Hill said. “I am not trying to police anybody’s ethnicity…. but what I will say is that Fat Joe seems to be using Black ironically. Or he’s using it metaphorically.”
He added that while he loves Fat Joe, he does not think he should use the N-word.
“But Fat Joe is not Black,” continued Hill. “So while I love Fat Joe and I admire Fat Joe, and I appreciate Fat Joe, I don’t share his position that he can use the N-word by virtue of his proximity to the culture or his love for the culture. I don’t think that that’s enough.”
Fat Joe Sparks Online Debate
Fans reacted to the video on Instagram, and folks debated his comments about Blackness and N-word usage.
User @joanclaiton wrote, “Everyone wants to be black, until it’s time to be black. They’re obsessed with black culture.”
@gwap0_ replied. “If anybody get a pass it is definitely Fat Joe.”
@quintenzor joked, “Let’s chop this conversation up, and ask that he shows us his driver’s license.”
User @mynx019 added, “Ladies and gentlemen, the blackest 🥷 you ever met…”
@darrica_mars wrote, “I beg to differ!!!! I have never heard or seen him speak 🗣️ on ‘black peoples’ issues ever !!! He is culture vulture too.”
User @amillio_thegreat added, “Fat Joe is not Black and he should’ve never been allowed to get this comfortable using the n word especially after Black ppl expressed concerns about it.”
User @wandabbw1 added, “No 1 should say the N word. What are we talking about here. Smh. Stop disrespecting ourselves and our ancestors.”
Fat Joe Defended N-Word Usage In 2022
Fat Joe defended his N-word usage back in 2022 during an interview with ‘The Breakfast Club.’ Not only that, but the rapper claimed that although he knew he was Latino, he also thought he was Black.
“My grandmother’s projects is 99.9 percent Black, to be clear,” he said. “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 blond hair, green eyes. This sh*t crazy, right? She brings me there, the first thing is they go, ‘Oh, look at this little n*gga Joey. He got green eyes.’ The minute I’m walking, the guys in the building is like, ‘Yo, look at that little n*gga Joe, little Fat Joe.’ That’s all I knew my whole life before even elementary.”
Furthermore, he said he would not stop using the word because someone tells him to.
“No one’s going to pressure Fat Joe into feeling or saying anything that he loves or believes in…. 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,” he said.
