Fat Joe and Uncle Luke have cleared the air after a brief social media spat over the career origins of Miami rappers Pitbull and Trick Daddy.
Luke welcomed Fat Joe during an Instagram Live session on Friday (December 9), during which the Terror Squad boss clarified the claim he made about the role he played in getting both artists signed to their respective record deals
He originally made the comments during an appearance on the My Expert Opinion podcast, which Luke posted to Instagram, along with a caption refuting what Fat Joe said.
“I love Joe but i find this very interesting because i discovered @trickdaddydollars he did his first song with me as soon as he got of the lock up and by he stayed with me,” Luke wrote. “I also discovered signed @pitbull to the platinum selling Luke records label he did his first song’s with me.
Maybe I’m missing something here I do have the receipts,” the Miami legend added. “By the way because you don’t see me all in the videos at the birthday partys [sic] yes @djkhaled i found him on underground radio mix 96 brought him to main stream, radio @99jamzmiami The Luke Show.”
Before expounding on the interview comments, Fat Joe kicked off the Live conversation by giving Uncle Luke his flowers. “Like I told you Luke is an Icon, living legend,” Joe said. “He created the sound of Miami. He put everybody on.”
He recounted how he first came to know of Trick Daddy during a trip to Miami for Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999.
“Trick Daddy shit was playing all over the Carol Mart [flea market], all over the parties,” Fat Joe explained. “I went back up to New York, I sat in the office with Craig Kallman, who’s still the boss of Atlantic. I don’t fuck with him no more, but I took the demo of Trick Daddy, I put it on his desk and said, ‘You need to sign this guy, he’s the next guy.’”
He continued: “I know you discovered Trick Daddy, you discovered Pitbull. I never said I discovered them, Luke. I took his demo, out of love for Hip Hop. And Craig Kallman called me two days later and said, ‘I signed the guy Trick from Miami.’
Similarly, Fat Joe stated that he introduced Pitbull’s music to TVT Records founder Steve Gottlieb and the label’s VP of A&R, Brian Leach, after his own success had the label searching for a Hispanic artist.
When Big Pun’s double platinum, Fat Joe’s platinum, the Spanish n-ggas is rockin’,TVT is begging me for any Spanish artist in the universe,” he said. “Robby Rob steps to me and says, ‘Joe, I need this favor.’ I walk in TVT to Brian Leach, Steve Gottlieb and I said, ‘This is the guy, this is the next one.’ Now they signed him.”
The two veteran artists ended on a peaceful note, with Uncle Luke recognizing the role Fat Joe has played in Miami since relocating there and admitting that Terror Squad’s success sparked the search that led him to sign Pitbull to Luke Records in 2001.
I wanted a Cuban artist because I was from Miami,” Luke told his followers after Fat Joe left the Live. “I told Jullian Boothe, he was my A&R guy, Big Teach, Jeff Sanchez, ‘We need to find a Cuban artist. I don’t give a fuck what y’all do. Go find me a God damn Cuban artist because I will not be complete in Miami unless I have a Cuban artist. Them dudes got Big Pun and Fat Joe outta New York, we gotta compete.”
Meanwhile, Fat Joe recently expressed that he believes he was robbed of what would’ve been his first Grammy Award by Chance The Rapper in 2017.
Joey Crack and Remy Ma’s “All the Way Up” collaboration with French Montana was nominated for Best Rap Performance at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, but lost out to Chance’s Coloring Book hit “No Problem” featuring Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz.
“I should have won the Grammy for Best Rap Performance 2017,” Joe told GQ. “Chance is a cool guy. But the Grammy should have come my way. ‘All the Way Up’ was bigger. Not only that, if people understood the culture, Remy and I were like Robin Hood and Cinderella. They could have done the ‘hood a favor and given ‘All the Way Up,’ the fuckin’ Grammy. You understand?
They gave it to Chance the Rapper — and for what? I’m not going to be disrespectful, but they gave it to him for a record I don’t even know no more. This is my point. I don’t even know what he beat us with. Do you understand?”
