When I first started, I thought I was wack. Lyrically, I thought I was wack. The thing I had over everybody was that I was the realest rapper.

When I came up in hip hop, there was no such thing as a Puerto Rican rapper doing hip hop for many mainstream people, so I was the ship, the captain, and the crew.

Fat Joe ain't out here trying to battle-rap everybody in the world. That's not what I'm about.

I started out in the Apollo Theater. That's where I got my start. I won Amateur Night four weeks in a row.

Yeah, I had gay friends. The first thing I realized was that everybody's different, and it becomes obvious that all of the gay stereotypes are ridiculous.

If I had to do it over, I wouldn't change a thing.