When we think of '80s drug-dealer cars, our minds race to BMW 3 series with gold BBS rims. Or, maybe for the elite hustlers, something with the three-pointed star up front. That's not how Fat Joe remembers it, though. When he thinks back to his early hustlin' days, he recalls that the dude that was really putting in work was pushing not one, but two, Rolls-Royce Phantoms around Harlem and the South Bronx. Wild style, for real. Even though Joe's claimed to have owned "10 Bimmers and 10 Benzes" before his first record deal in '93, a younger Cartagena had dreams of rolling in a Rolls—dreams that he later fulfilled. Peep the realness as Terror Squad's general shares his true story...
As told to Jaeki Cho
Fat Joe: "Look, when I was 14 years old I left my mother's house and I was getting money. Picture your little brother 14 years old, or picture yourself 14 years old; I already had workers on the block. I was always a boss since the day I walked in. I never been a worker, I never been a pitcher. I brought it back from Broadway, chopped it up, and had my little niggas, who were 13 or 14 years old, pumping for me. I used to pay this guy named Tucker. He's a former Harlem, Bronx hustler who owned two Rolls-Royce Phantoms. I used to give that nigga a couple dollars to come pick me up at school so I could front for niggas. True story. Early '80s, I had a nigga picking me up in a Rolls-Royce Phantom. He had a gray one and a white one. And I had Dapper Dan suits on, which were like $2,000 outfits that only rappers wore. I had gold chains down to my dick. No lie. We'll do a documentary, ask niggas my age in the Bronx and they'll tell you. Straight up. When I finally got some real, real money I went to buy a sky-blue Phantom, which is my favorite color. We had the white interior, the floor was white mink rug, and I got this just before "Lean Back" came out. That was my miracle whip."
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