Fat Joe On Bridging Hip-Hop and Reggaéton: ‘I Just Love Making Music For Everybody’

Two decades ago, while hip-hop maintained its cultural dominance, reggaetón began to carve out a niche in the global music scene, and Fat Joe — deeply connected to his Puerto Rican and Cuban heritage and known for his unmistakable New York swagger — bridged the two genres. As both have evolved, so has he: His involvement in Don Omar’s 2005 “Reggaetón Latino (Chosen Few Remix),” alongside N.O.R.E. and LDA, marked a pivotal moment in bringing reggaetón and rap closer together.

Since then, he has consistently fused Latin influences with hip-hop, from his 2019 salsa-infused track “Yes” with Cardi B and Anuel AA (which samples Héctor Lavoe and Willie Colón’s “Aguanile”) to the more recent single “Paradise” with Anitta and DJ Khaled. Fat Joe spoke with Billboard ahead of his conversation with N.O.R.E. during Latin Music Week about the intersection of hip-hop and reggaetón.

How has your Latin heritage influenced your music?

Man, I just love making music for everybody. But every time we can tap the Latino market — because I’m Puerto Rican and Cuban, my wife’s Colombian — we do it for everybody. And you know, nobody knows how to celebrate like Latinos. It’s about time we teamed up with Anitta from Brazil and then DJ Khaled [with “Paradise,” which premiered at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards] and make a Latino national anthem.

Since “Reggaetón Latino,” how have you seen the relationship between these two styles evolve?

I’m just proud of reggaetón and everywhere [those artists have] gone because when we started out, they were the little guys. Now they’re killing the whole game — Don Omar, Tego Calderón, Daddy Yankee, Wisin & Yandel, all the guys who pioneered the game and brought it over to America and then the world.

In your view, how have hip-hop and reggaetón supported or influenced each other’s wider cultural acceptance over the years?

Hip-hop is the blueprint. It’s the foundation of everything. Reggaetón came after and just took it to another level in the Latino space and the global space. Even people who aren’t Latinos love reggaetón, but hip-hop is always the blueprint. It started everything when you talk about the flow, the music, the fashion… It just runs neck and neck.

This story appears in the Sept. 28, 2024, issue of Billboard.