The Elephant is in the Room

Fat Joe Album Review

Fat Joe is an anomaly in hip-hop. While he seems to face endless and unwarranted hate, he has managed to remain a staple in the industry for the past 15 years. Just when you think Joey Crack is done for, he busts out with a top ten single to reclaim his spot amongst hip-hop’s elite. The bottom line is, Joe always has been a relevant hip-hop artist and has done a lot for the culture, and it’s all in the facts.

Fact, the man was in D.I.T.C with Lord Finesse and Big L. Fact, with the exception of Pun, no Latino has done as much for hip-hop. Fact, very few rappers have showed their love for the music on such a constant basis as Joe. With those few facts alone, Fat Joe can call himself credible and relevant, he can even call himself a legend. 

While this week has been more about Papoose scrappin’ and 50 goin’ in on Joe every chance he gets, and Joe having to explain and defend himself, there is actually an album being released, and if you people would stop watching videos of rappers dissing each other, you might be able to enjoy it, and realize that not only is this Fat Joe’s eighth solo album, but it’s a damn good album at that. Yeah, I said it; Elephant In The Room is a damn good album. '

Besides Joey switching up flows and displaying his lyricism, this album’s production is also top notch.  “The Crack House”, featuring everybody’s favorite feature, Lil Wayne and produced by Cool and Dre is bonkers. While Weezy delivers as usual and Joe spits witty lines like “Even Reverend Al be like Joe’s that nigga”, their chemistry together is excellent and the bigger than life beat makes the pair’s flows all the much better. “Cocababy” is another standout track produced by Timbaland’s right hand man, Danja. Danja is a known beast behind the boards and Joe Crack it at his best lyrically, truly a bangin’ track overall.

“Drop” is Fat Joe rippin’ up a vintage Swizzy beat, can you ask for more? “I Won’t Tell”, the mandatory song for the ladies and Billboard charts alike is actually dope. Joe’s flow is on point and the assist from J. Holiday was a good look. Another standout for Joe and The Hitman is the movie score sounding “300”, where Joe verbally assaults the beat with reckless abandon. On “That White” produced by DJ Premier, Joe does his thing and shows he’s come a long way since his first days in the hip-hop game and the beat, c’mon, it’s Premier, has he ever done anything wack? 

While the album is overall a great effort it does lack in a few areas. As of late, Joe has been using mostly “Southern sounding” beats, which aren’t necessarily the best look for his style. While most of the time it makes for a unique sound, sometimes it just sounds off. “Get It For Life”, produced by DJ Khaled is a lackluster track with both Joe and Khaled leaving much to be desired as it sounds like pretty much everything they’ve done together, only worse.

“K.A.R. (Kill All Rats), Joe’s obligatory track to all the snitches out there does not come off well at all. While Street Runner did his thing, it almost seems as if Joe phoned this one in as he delivers lines that you feel like you’ve heard a thousand times before from a thousand other rappers.

Overall, The Elephant In The Room is like I said before, damn good and most definitely worth copping. While it won’t stop the haters from hating, any true hip-hop head will know Joey Crack’s spot in the hip-hop pecking order. While Joe will never get the respect that Jay-Z gets for some reason, this album takes him one step closer to solidifying his spot as a consistent artist and a legend in the game.