Why Are People Mad That Fat Joe Said Both Black & Latino People Created Hip-Hop?

Black Twitter is criticizing Fat Joe because of his comments about who created hip-hop and it needs to stop.

On Friday, Joey Crack shared a harmless video on Instagram that celebrated the Latino pioneers of hip-hop. The caption read, “Thank you Thank you Thank you for your contribution to HIP HOP.”

The next day on IG live, Joe took an opportunity to give props to DJ Khaled for his new album GOD DID and also reveal that he was receiving some blowback for his post that was only meant to show gratitude to the Latino pioneers of hip-hop.

Around the 52-minute mark of the video, Joe said, “I tell you I never really fuck with Twitter, but I go on there to see they always hating on me and shit. Lately, they’ve been talking about, ‘Latinos wasn’t in rap.’ These guys are fucking delusional. We’re from the Bronx, New York. Shit happens. This is where Hip Hop started. It’s Latino and Black, half and half.”

He continued, “But they going at me ‘cause I’m like the only Spanish dude with a big voice. Like, ‘Fuck that. Latinos wasn’t there. You was invited. You are a specimen.’ I don’t know what the fuck is up with these people that don’t know their facts.”

Why yall mad at Fat Joe for including Latinos as rap pioneers? He’s not wrong.

Do people know where hip-hop started? Have people ever been to the Bronx? Do they know the kind of people that are from there?

I understand that Black people hold on tight to our culture. Not only because hip-hop is a major part of it, but because there are many vultures out there that take away from it. But Black people would also be ignorant to say that Latino people are not a significant part of creating, fostering, and elevating hip-hop.

Hip-hop historians have written and discussed at length that the genre originated from Black and Latino youth who were having fun at Block parties in the 1970s. In many cases, those same youth were Afro-Latin or Afro-Caribbean.

Award-winning Hip-Hop historian Nelson George once wrote in Latina, “[If] you talk to Grandmaster Flash, Kool Herc or Afrika Bambaataa or any of the early DJs they all talk about the breakers, who in the ‘70s and ‘80s were mainly Latinos, and keeping them happy on the dance floor.”

He continued, “If you talk about some of the famous break crews who really broke through and got known by the early ‘80s, the majority were Latino dancers like Rock Steady Crew’s Crazy Legs. So if the idea of the Hip Hop DJ is predicated on keeping dancers dancing, then the Latino aspect is crucial. Their aesthetic, their taste, their ability to dance, all affected what was played and how it was played.”

So leave Fat Joe alone, because he did nothing wrong and most of what he said was correct. He’s just making sure that the Latinx community gets their props and is remembered for the contributions they made to hip-hop, and I see nothing wrong with that.