Fat Joe Interview
By InsideHoops.com / Aug
12, 2004
Fat
Joe, the famous New York rapper, owns and runs a street basketball team named
Terror Squad that plays in the EBC at Rucker Park in Harlem,
New York. InsideHoops.com met with Fat Joe during the EBC playoffs for an exclusive
interview.
InsideHoops.com: Catch us up on what you've been up to over the last year, with work, play, everything.
Fat Joe: Working, got a Terror Squad album in stores right now, True Story.
Just been working on Remy Martin's album, Tony Sunshine's album, writing some
movies, and getting my (EBC Rucker Park) team together.
InsideHoops.com: Talk about the team then, your squad.
Fat Joe: You got my basic team, the main guys, Kareem Reid, DP, my man
Rob, BJ the Beast, Richie Parker, we're ready to do it with what got us here.
InsideHoops.com: How do you feel about the way last season's EBC ended (Fat Joe's Terror Squad team won the EBC championship game by default over Jay-Z's S. Carter team, because S. Carter was missing lots of players and the game got called. But the original date of the championship game had to be changed because of the New York City blackout, and on that day, S. Carter had an incredibly stacked EBC roster of NBA players, including LeBron James.)
Fat Joe: No, other than that, we came out here to play. We come out here
to play. It's all about playing the game. The excitement is in the game. It's
all about basketball. So I'm here as a owner, and as a f*ckin fan, of the competition.
Competitiveness. I'm just excited to be here, and got a lot to prove right now.
I think we could go down as the most historic team in the EBC, let alone EBC Rucker
altogether history, if we win three trips again. If we win three trips in a row,
I don't think any team has ever won three. This is what I'm trying to get my guys
ready for.
InsideHoops.com: The Knicks and Nets, your local teams.
Fat Joe: Don't f*ck with Starbury, the New York Knicks. That's my team.
I love the Knicks and I love the Miami Heat. I live in both places. I love em
both.
InsideHoops.com: How much time do you spend living in New York vs. Miami.
Fat Joe: Eight months in New York, four months in Miami.
InsideHoops.com: The winter months in Miami?
Fat Joe: Sh*t like that. So that's what I do... I love em both, but I'm
a Knick fan right now, and I think they're getting Vince Carter. That's the rumor.
That's a good rumor, too.
InsideHoops.com: I hope they can do it without losing Marbury, though, because I heard the only way the Raptors would consider doing it is if they got Marbury.
Fat Joe: Oh, man, that's not good... I heard they got Jamal Crawford, right?
InsideHoops.com: Yeah.
Fat Joe: Who did they get rid of for Jamal Crawford?
InsideHoops.com: Nobody really, Othella Harrington, Dikembe Mutombo, Frank
Williams and Cezary Trybanski, the big white guy.
Fat Joe: The big white guy.
InsideHoops.com: The Bulls weren't going to keep Jamal Crawford, so they traded him for expiring contracts.
Fat Joe: Yeah, yeah that's right.
InsideHoops.com: So the Knicks basically got Jamal Crawford for free, though now he's signed for a long time.
Fat Joe: It's a beautiful thing, and if we get Vince... don't look like
it's going to happen.
InsideHoops.com: Switching over to hip-hop, talk about how it's changed, either for you personally or the whole thing in general, over the years.
Fat Joe: Well there used to be a lot more love in it, a lot more of the
artists working together. Now it's more financially driven, more egotistical,
still in all I love it. It takes guys off the street that normally wouldn't have
no chance at living an honorable, clean life. It helps support families. It's
a beautiful thing.
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