The story is well-known to Uptown locals, but Fat Joe and JAY-Z's past beef arose in a conversation with Angie Martinez for her new WE TV series, Untold Stories of Hip-Hop. Bygones have since become bygones, as the two have become cordial in recent years, even collaborating on the "All The Way Up" remix in 2016.
The beef stemmed from a few incidents, including a brawl between crews in Club Carbon (now Terminal 5), as well as a lyric on Joe's biggest hit, 2004's "Lean Back." Joe and Jay's sponsored EBC basketball teams were slated to face off at Rucker Park, but the game was postponed due to a blackout. Joe's team won via forfeit, and the scheduled rematch never happened. ("Kay keep tellin' me to speak about the Rucker. Matter of fact, I don't wanna speak about the Rucker.")
"I remember riding in an elevator in Madison Square Garden with Jay-Z and he ain't say nothing to me," Joe says in a preview posted on the Untold Stories YouTube channel. "That's when I knew it was bad. I was like 'oh alright, this touched a nerve.'
Joe went into detail about the prior conflict and resolution in an interview with HotNewHipHop in 2018, saying the two exchange Christmas and New Year's messages every year.
