Fat Joe Talks Puerto Rico Relief Efforts & Performs On TRL

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Fat Joe attends VH1 Hip Hop Honors: The 90s Game Changers at Paramount Studios on September 17, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.

Fat Joe was the latest guest on TRL.

TRL just wrapped up their first week of airing this week. Each episode that aired this week had a rapper as a special guest. The opening episode of TRL had a performance from the Migos as well as a guest appearance from both DJ Khaled and his son, Asahd Khaled. It's clear that MTV has a firm understanding of hip hop's global influence. After all, hip hop has been dominating the airwaves and internet culture for the past few years and was just recently acknowledged as the dominant genre in the U.S. As they continue their week of hip hop-centric guests, they invited Fat Joe for today's episode.

Fat Joe hit up TRL today. It wasn't his first time considering his reign in hip hop stretches as far back as the 90's and appeared on the show prior to it's cancellation. While he did pop by the show to perform a medley of "All The Way Up" and "So Excited," he also had some other things to address. The rapper hit the set to discuss working on his relief efforts for Puerto Rico. 

"I was home with everybody watching the news, thinking about how we could help the people of Puerto Rico. I started harassing Desiree, who's my manager from Roc Nation. We both started harassing Jay-Z and then, we came back and they bluffed me. And they were like 'Alright, Jay-Z's gonna pay for a plane but it fills 200,000 lbs. You gotta fill it up," he said. After reaching out to all of his famous peers, he ended up saying that they not only reached their goal but exceeded it.

"Everybody got together for a joint effort and we raised two million pounds," he said, "we got five planes going out but we need to fill up another five." 

Along with discussing his relief efforts, he also ended up judging the "All The Way Up" remix competition. The competition had two rappers going off of the dome over Fat Joe's "All The Way Up." He later ended up performing the single on the show along with "So Excited."

Check the clips below:


About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.