Getting rap fans to agree on the greatest rapper of all time is difficult enough, but picking the greatest rap lyric ever? That’s a conversation that solely comes down to personal preference.
Fat Joe had little trouble naming his selection when the topic cropped up during his recent appearance on the I Am Athlete podcast, hosted by former NFL stars Brandon Marshall, Chad Ochocinco Johnson, LeSean McCoy and D.J. Williams.
The Bronx bomber went with a line from JAY-Z‘s Reasonable Doubt. Yet for all the slick wordplay, clever double entendres and confidence-boosting braggadocio found on Hov’s 1996 debut album, the lyric that resonates most with Joey Crack is one that’s simpler but no less profound.
“The hardest lyric in Hip Hop is on JAY-Z’s first album when he said, ‘Something something and we will be each other’s crutches,” he declared, referencing Hov’s jewels-packed “Feelin’ It.”
(“If every n-gga in your clique is rich, your clique is rugged/Nobody will fall ’cause everyone will be each other’s crutches,” the full bar goes.)
JAY-Z Was Denied A Verse On KRS-One & Fat Joe's '1, 2 Pass It' Posse Cut - Says DJ Premier
Fat Joe went onto break down the meaning behind the line, saying, “So the point is this: everybody wanna be the man, everybody wanna be the guy everybody looks up to; there’s no real strength in that. The strength is everybody eating so if one of us falls, we can lift them up and put them back in the game. You have to understand that mentality.
“Whether your friend is a barber, we want him to be the best barber in the world. Your friend’s a mechanic? Best mechanic in the world. Your friend is in acquisitions and mergers? We want him to be the best. We need to be the best so that when we need each other, somebody’s there for us. We all there to cover all aspects.
“That’s the true power, the people power. There’s nothing more powerful than people power!”
Fat Joe hasn’t always had such love for JAY-Z, though. Later in the interview, the Terror Squad rapper touched on his past beef with Hov and the 2003 Rucker Park basketball tournament in Harlem that ignited the feud.
“There’s a little bit of jealousy involved,” he said. “The man was always winning. I might have been a little jealous if I’m gonna be a man about it. He won at everything. He had the baddest chick in the world. He was just winning.
“I always had the streets, no matter who I had beef with. And so The Rucker is part of the streets. That was the streets in the summertime, and out of nowhere here comes this guy after I win five chips in a row, he wants a team!”
Fat Joe also gave JAY-Z’s Watch The Throne partner-in-rhyme Kanye West his flowers on the I Am Athlete podcast, calling the Chicago native his “favorite rapper in the world.”
“I love him to death,” he said. “I won’t turn my back on him, no matter what he do. He’s a genius, he’s incredible and I fuck with him. A lot of people we cool with, they don’t vote like us or they don’t agree with everything, but we gotta fuck with him; he made ‘Jesus Walks’!”
Watch Fat Joe’s full I Am Athlete interview below.
Didn’t some in Jay Z’s clique fall and decide to become a DEA Informant? Didn’t Jay still make her the CEO of his company despite all those lyrics about not snitching?
Yup…OG Juan’s wife testified against cartels for a lighter sentence.She’s now president of Roc Nation..smh
Ask those State Property dudes about that line, see where they at today? LOL…
Can’t stop Won’t stop Rockafella records baby! Young Chris and Neef willin to be a kickstand much less a crutch LOL
Every time Fat Joe open his mouth it’s embarrassing. Dude talking about best lyric he don’t even know the whole line, ” something something we everyone crutches ” Lmao just stop dude!
He be kickin’ stupid dope moves with stupid juice tho! Like my mans Chuckie used to, #rip
They too young 4that…lol
I’d love for fruity Fat Joseph and his booty bois to come through and see how many hotdogs they can fit in my mouth at the same time, fam. Pull up!
Wow Joey Crakkk at least know the full bar…
It would have been easier for you to pull out Pun’s rhyme book and recite a lyric from there.
Apparently Fat Joe has never listened to “All Black” or “Danger Zone” by Big L, which are arguably the two hardest tracks ever. “A beef with me/you better prevent it/cause in a minute/I’ll jump out a tinted rented/and leave a ni**a body dented” “Every Sunday/a nun lay/from my gun spray/F*ck Carlito we doin’ sh*t the Devil’s son’s way” “I’m on some Satanic sh*t strictly/little kids be wakin’ up cryin’ yellin’ ‘Mommy, Big L is comin’ ta get me'”. “I’m breakin’ hottie hearts/ni**as drop when my shotty sparks/It ain’t no food in my fridge/just body parts”. That’s just a few, every line in Danger Zone is some of the hardest and most fearless bars ever written. All Black is no different. Bars like these is why old heads today are scared to give L the credit he deserves as one of the greatest lyricists of all-time, and certainly one of the hardest.
Either that or Joe’s definition of “hard” is wayyyyyyy different from mine.
That shit u said…
You know what’s even sadder? Fat Joe and Big L were both on the same crew during the 90s, DITC. And also, L destroyed Jay-Z on that 95 Freestyle. Jay was so laughably bad on that, especially his second verse. But that’s y’all’s GOAT, huh?
L was hard but you can tell his was written…Jay’s sounded more natural…
Well, maybe Jay should’ve came with some writtens then, because the end result of him “sounding natural” was one decent at best verse followed by whatever the fuck that was for the second. Was that the Batman theme he was humming midway through? Hahaha!
Not really…although I respect ur opinion, L was nice in mine(crisp)
Okay, seriously. Why is everybody on Jay-Z’s dick all of a sudden? For the past year or two, it’s been nothing but Jay-Z this, Jay-Z that and constant shitting on Nas when he’s been making great power moves and dropping some of his best music in recent years. Like say something nice about Jay and he’ll throw you a few million or some shit. “Something something, be each other’s crutches”? Really, Joe?
Bar wouldve been dope if he actually followed through on it 30 years later. Lmao. Still wouldnt be the hardest though. Not in Jays catalog and dont even get me started on other rappers. Theres plenty of cats with better bar work than Jay. How about “I bomb atomically…” I dont even gotta say the rest. You know a classic when it hits you.
Real shit fam, couldn’t have said it any better myself homie ?✊? Right when you said “I bomb atomically…” I started reciting that entire verse in my head and that’s a HARD ass verse for real for real ? I mean don’t get me wrong, that’s a cold bar from Jay on what is arguably his best album and/or work to date in my humble opinion, but as far as best bar, lyric, and/or verse ever said in Hip-Hop period, yeah I definitely don’t think so, like at all. Joe’s ridiculously trippin’ on that ish…Smfh ???♂️ And there’s FAR better bars on that entire record than that that are SO much more influential and meaningful than that one. Joe’s so unbelievably “Hollywood” so to speak now it’s damn near shameful if you ask me. And Hov’s work since his “Kingdom Come” record has been so far past mediocre at best in my opinion it’s just sad. That was his last good joint once again in my humble opinion. It’s literally like every time Jay does absolutely anything anymore mf’s just assume he deserves all this praise and respect even if it’s straight garbage and I honestly don’t understand it whatsoever. Just because he’s got an unbelievable amount of money and his chick is Beyoncé doesn’t mean in any way whatsoever that everything he touches lyrically is gold anymore. Unfortunately those days have come and gone a very long time ago sadly ?
Sounds good for the whole hustler mentally crap…but as far as bars that isn’t the hardest bar on Reasonable Doubt.
There are a couple on D’Evils, especially that third verse that stand out. As far as hustler bars…”No Regrets” has far better bars than “Feeling it”
Sorry Joe…u missed.
So this is why u sided with Nas on the Made You Look video? I guess J.O.S.E.
Joe hat evolved to the “go-to-guy”. Chart-Plays, Wendy Williams Show, Verzuz, etc. good ventures, high class blah. BUT he is getting on my nerves. I used to like, Joe but now I start to believe he is a douche bag in real life. He probably really fucked over Puns family at least. He is a goon and now hollywood is on his nuts until……..well, god bless the “real”. Fuck Jay-Z too.
As far as hustle bars goes. “my seeds, grow up, marry his seeds. Thats how we keep the dough in the family”. Thats some real 500 year dynasty thinking.
how is it the hardest bar when you couldn’t even recite the entire thing,a hard bar should come to your mind like your moms phone number
lol I can tell you’re not in your 50s and in your 4th decade of smoking blunts like myself and Joe because we can forget anything even mom’s phone number
Fat joe talks the worst shite ever witnessed
The most recent bar to stand out to me was from Roc Marciano’s verse on Photographic Memories from the Boldy James’ “Bo Jackson” album. Roc said “Broke generational curses with my cursive, I understand the game and all the inner workings.” There’s so many layers there, and if you know about those generational curses this line is HEAVY. I don’t know if I can go back and pick the hardest bar of all time, but this one from Roc is resonating heavy with me.