Fat Joe has credited his return to Hip Hop with his album The World Changed on Me to one particular Grammy-winning rapper: Killer Mike.
In an interview with Billboard published on Tuesday (January 7), the Bronx rap legend explained that Mike’s success at the 2024 Grammys — the Atlanta rapper won Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap Performance — was what inspired him to make his new LP.
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“I told him: he’s the guy who inspired me,” Joe said, of Mike. “I retired. I was gone. I had an infamous phone call with Eminem, where he was trying to talk me into not retiring: ‘Joe, we need you. You’re one of us.’
“I was super done, but I got back out because of Killer Mike. The man won that Grammy. The one thing I never got in this business is a Grammy.
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“When I seen it, I called Dre. I was like, ‘Yo, it’s possible. Let’s get back in the kitchen. Let’s cook.’ And so [Mike] inspired me to come out of retirement.”
Check it out beginning at the seven-minute mark below.
Joe is likely happy that we’re now into 2025, as he recently said he thinks 2024 may have been the worst year in Hip Hop history — but not necessarily because of the music.
Appearing on a mid-December episode of Math Hoffa’s My Expert Opinion podcast, Joey Crack was asked about the recent drama between his longtime friend Remy Ma and her estranged husband Papoose.
For Joe, he’s adding their issues on to his long-running list of why 2024 has just not been great to be a public figure in Hip Hop.
“I woke up 2024 feeling like [God dammit!] It’s been a horrible year,” Joe said. “I was just having a heated discussion with my people [about this]. This might be the worst year ever in Hip Hop history type shit. This shit bad. All our legends, all our mentors getting scrutinized. This is the worst time to be a celebrity in the history of mankind. I’m not sure you guys wanna be celebrities.”
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He continued: “Like I got friends who are filthy rich that wanna be popping and wanna be a celebrity. I don’t think they want everybody in they shit like that. This shit crazy out here. This is nuts. The fucking world done changed on me. It’s fucking nuts out here. You can’t make it up!”
