Fat Joe, who is of Puerto Rican descent, addressed the backlash to his use of the n-word during an interview with Talib Kweli for the People’s Party podcast. In doing so, he explained that he grew up around the use of the word in New York City and described the controversy as "mind-boggling."
The conversation kicked off with Talib Kweli explaining the situation. “For those of us that grew up in New York City – Latino people who grew up in Black neighborhoods, they say n***a just like Black people do," he said.
Read More: Fat Joe Responds To Criticism Of His Use Of The N-Word
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From there, Joe responded: “Explaining it to people at this point is like, mind-boggling to me, ’cause it’s been like, ‘What’s up Fat Joe? You my n***a!’ since I’m 2 years old. You taking it offensive, then what do I look like a slave owner to you? Or I look like the cop who killed George Floyd? I gotta think about you. ‘Cause you obviously know that you just said I’m the most important piece of Hip Hop. You obviously know I’m wit Black people all day. I fight for Black people, I fight for Latinos every day of my life.”
He continued: “I don’t try to let people make me second guess what I do because that’s not what Hip Hop was founded on. The origin of the word is foul anyway. I don’t know how we made it cool. If I’m driving right down the block and somebody’s doing something to the blackest lady in the world – I’m jumping out. I’m dying! So it’s offensive to me when people say, ‘Yo, why do you even say that?’ Like, don’t you know?!”
Fat Joe Speaks With Talib Kweli
It's far from the first time Joe has addressed the controversy. He also spoke about using the word while appearing on The Breakfast Club back in 2022. Additionally, he had to defend himself from users on social media after criticizing Joe Rogan for using the n-word.
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