Fat Joe recently sat down with XXL for an interview that touched on his early days in music, to his current legend status, and what that means in terms of giving back to the community.

Joe, who is always full of interesting stories (as evidenced by his 2022 memoir, The Book of Jose) shared his thoughts about his beginning days in Hip-Hop, and how the early 90s helped shape the culture and music as we know it today.

"When I first started in the Bronx, doing Club 2000, the Fever, it was the class of ’92, ’93," he recalled. "So, you had everybody from Diggin in the Crates, Lord Finesse, Diamond D to Gang Starr, to Craig Mack, Biggie, early Jay-Z, early, early Nas. This was the era that would change the whole game."

He continued on, explaining how at that time, it was more about the culture than the money. "There was nothing like it," he said. "It was just such a vibe, man. It was just, everybody trying to help each other. Everybody trying to succeed. Everybody trying to push this culture forward. And it was pretty much about the culture. Less about finances and making money and stuff like that. It was about getting your name out there. Getting your props. We call that clout now. Collaborating, you know, just lifting the hip-hop culture to another level."