Fat Joe performs during V101 Heart of Hip Hop Holiday Jam at Golden 1 Center on December 11, 2021 in Sacramento, California.
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Fat Joe Speaks On Childhood Betrayal: "The Day My Heart Turned Black"

Fat Joe Speaks On Childhood Betrayal: "The Day My Heart Turned Black"

Published Thu, May 26, 2022 at 7:00 PM EDT

On an upcoming episode of A&E’s Origins of Hip-Hop, Fat Joe speaks about incidents from his childhood that birthed “Joey Crack”. The “Lean Back” MC reflects on his youth on Trinity Ave in the Bronx and how a friend's betrayal forever scarred him.

“When I was in junior high, they would bully me every day," the Terror Squad founder explains. "You know, I’m not gonna lie, it’s scary looking out the classroom window knowing that there’s 20 guys waiting to beat my ass. They never fought me fair. They would always jump me."

Joe later spoke of his former best friend Leonard, who he hung out with, eating and playing video games.

"The guys that were bullying me asked Leonard 'Yo why you be with this guy', and he was like 'He's my friend' and they said 'If you don't jump him with us, we're gonna beat you up everyday too.' And my friend Leonard jumped me with them." Joe describes this as the day that he "lost it."

"I went home, and I cried for so many hours," Joe added. "I had a black hoodie on, black jeans and black Timberland chukkas. I just kept tyin' my chukkas over and over, and I was like 'I swear to God I don't give a fuck. Im givin' it to everybody.' That was the birth of Joey Crack. My heart just turned black that day."

Origins of Hip Hop premieres on Memorial Day on A&E. See the clip below.

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