Fat Joe Says He Passed on Signing Eminem

Fat Joe is reliving his “biggest mistake.”

During an interview with Miami’s 99 JAMZ, the Bronx veteran revealed that he missed the opportunity to sign one of rap’s greatest MCs. According to Joe, he passed on Eminem’s demo—not once, but six times.

“What happened was Eminem out here in Miami, he gave me his demo like six different times,” said the Terror Squad boss. “And everywhere I went there was this little white boy and he kept giving me his demo. He was like, ‘Yo, listen to my music. I’m telling you, I’m nice, I’m nice, I’m nice.’ And I never really, I didn’t do it, and now he’s the biggest guy in the universe.”

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During #JAMZLive, Fat Joe tells @supacindy and @dj_entice about the time Eminem tried to give Joe his demo tape. Joe says that he never listened to it back then. Now, he reflects on passing on one of the biggest rap artists in the world. Watch the entire interview on our YouTube channel now! #JAMZLiveFatJoe #FamilyTies #WEDR #99JAMZ

A post shared by 99JAMZ (@99jamzmiami) on Oct 21, 2019 at 5:05am PDT

Joe later took to Twitter to call it the “biggest mistake of my life.” Em ultimately signed with Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Records.

But there was no love lost. Many years later in 2004, Fat Joe and Em collaborated on the remix to Terror Squad’s “Lean Back.”

While he missed his opportunity with Em, he did help another successful rapper, Pitbull, land a record deal. “I took Pitbull’s demo to New York City and got him signed to TVT [Records]. That’s a fact,” added Joe.

He is now gearing up to release his new album Family Ties featuring his new single “YES” with Cardi B and Anuel AA.