Fat Joe has been rapping since 1993, when he first emerged onto the scene with his debut album Represent. Since then, the man known as Don Cartegena has released ten studio albums, as well as two collaborative albums — the most recent of which, the Dre-assisted Family Ties, landed in 2019.
Since then, Joe has been living it up as an overseer of sorts, launching The Fat Joe on Instagram, interviewing some of his fellow emcees, and occasionally reacting to events like The LOX and Dipset’s Verzuz battle. Now, Joe has come through with another exciting announcement, teaming up with DJ Drama to deliver a new Gangsta Grillz mixtape.
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The project, titled What Would Big Do 2021? is set to be released this Friday, August 13th, with longtime Fat Joe collaborators Cool & Dre will be executive producing. “Yesterday’s title is not today’s title!!!” writes Joe, alluding to the fact that Drama originally announced the project as Summa Mon. “WHAT WOULD BIG DO 2021?! Friday the 13th.”
With a new tape from Joe mere days from release, it should be interesting to see how the legendary Terror Squad emcee holds it down on this one. The album title’s question — What Would Big Do? — might suggest a few possible answers, but all of them involve a man rapping his ass off. It would certainly be welcome to see Fat Joe tap into that New York emcee wave and bar out over grimy production, especially in light of catching The LOX’s dominant performance live at Madison Square Garden.
It also bodes well that the last we heard from DJ Drama, he was holding down on Tyler, The Creator’s Call Me If You Get Lost, an album that found the Wolf Gang artist rapping like he hasn’t rapped in years. Look for Drama to hold it down once again this Friday — the 13th, at that — when he and Fat Joe keep the Gangsta Grillz tradition alive. Are you excited for What Would Big Do 2021?