CRACK HOUSE: FAT JOE DEMANDS RESPECT
Words by Randy Roper
W
ith monikers like Joey Crack, Coca and Don Cartegena, it’s safe to assume Fat Joe knows a thing or two about the drug game. Not to get anyone indicted, but with a new street single entitled “Crackhouse,” what else could he be insinuating? It’s been 15 years since he left the street hustle for the rap grind. And after eight solo albums and more hit records under his belt than your favorite rappers, he’s still relevant in today’s fickle rap game. Luckily for the rap game, he chose to spit crack instead of selling it. In the movie that is Joe’s career, the gangsta didn’t die, he got chubby and moved to Miami. You go by the nickname Joey Crack. Is that a drug reference or how did you 60 // OZONE MAG
get that name? The way I really got that name, was when I was younger and I was in junior high school, the teacher would ask me to write on the chalkboard or something and my pants were always baggy, so the crack of my ass would show. So the girls would tease me and call me Joey Crack. That name’s still with me, [after] all these years. When people hear “Joey Crack,” they think of drugs. I’m spitting that crack, you know. I’m what the streets call me. I’m what the streets made me. The streets call me Joey Crack. That’s cause I got that addictive flow. I love [the name]. I have police niggas stop the police car and