Marc Lamont Hill does not agree with Fat Joe’s recent defense of his use of the N-word during an appearance on The Joe Budden Podcast.
Lamont Hill, who is a co-host of the Joe Budden Podcast but wasn’t present for the episode featuring Fat Joe, recently addressed the controversy on his YouTube channel and made it clear that he doesn’t think Fat Joe’s relation to the culture is enough to justify his use of the racial slur. He said that a lot of people were “mad” about Fat Joe’s explanation, as well as the way the co-hosts of The Joe Budden Podcast handled the situation. “I wasn’t there, so I’m not going to Monday morning quarterback that,” he said. “Would I have said something different? Of course.”
He added that he spoke about the situation on an upcoming episode of the podcast, which is due to arrive on Monday (Aug. 7), and addressed an old tweet he shared in which he said nobody should use the N-word unless they’re Black.
“I did say it. And I do believe it. If you use the N -word, you should be Black,” he continued. “That's my position. That's my belief. Now, Fat Joe is making a claim here that he didn't make before, which is, ‘I'm the blackest person.’ You know, he's saying he is Black. I am not trying to police anybody's ethnicity. I am not trying to police anybody's racial identity. But what I will say is. Fat Joe seems to be using Black here, ironically, or he's using it metaphorically. … We know his ethnic roots. And we know that there's no reason to believe, based on that, that he is Black. Also, Fat Joe has talked about his support of the Black community, his love of the Black community, his solidarity with the Black community.”
He said that he believes Fat Joe has a lot of love for the Black community, and that he’s not racist, but reiterated that “Fat Joe is not Black.”
“Fat Joe was basically saying, ‘I grew up around Black people. I grew up in hip-hop. I'm a part of the culture,’” he said. “I agree with all of that. But Fat Joe is not Black. I agree with all of that. So while I love Fat Joe and I admire Fat Joe, and I appreciate Fat Joe, I don't share his position that he can use the N-word by virtue of his proximity to the culture or his love for the culture. I don't think that that's enough.”
During his recent appearance on The Joe Budden Podcast, Fat Joe discussed his identity and said that, although he’s Puerto Rican and Cuban, he considers himself Black. Fat Joe also turned his attention to Joe Budden, who he said previously spoke about Joe's relationship to Blackness. "Fat Joe is the Blackest n***a you ever seen in your life," he said. "Go look it up."
He previously defended his use of the N-word on Talib Kweli's podcast in June 2023. “Explaining it to people at this point is like, mind-boggling to me, 'cause it's been like, 'What’s up, Fat Joe? You my n***a!' since I was 2 years old,” he said. “You taking it offensive, then what do I look like, a slave owner to you? Or do I look like the cop who killed George Floyd?”
