Fat Joe - Loyalty

Includes the hit singles 'Crush Tonight' featuring Ginuwine and guest appearances from Scarface and Cam'ron not to mention members of Joe's Terror Squad family such as Prospect and Armageddon. Atlantic. 2002. Album Description

One of the hottest ever

First of all let me say that I'm sick of reviewers saying that Joe is just aimed on going commercial. Coming out with a few party tracks on your cd isn't bad. Biggie, and 2pac did it as well, and many reviewers put them at the top. I believe fat joe is slept on b/c he is a latino. If he was black he would probably get more props. I'm black but I've been around latinos alot. Puerto Ricans have influenced rap just as much as the blacks and the jamaicans, but they fell to give them their props. Personally my favorite fat joe cd is jealous one's envy. But this album is a great listen from beginning to end. Enough party tracks, enough deep tracks, and take a look at my life is probably on of his top three songs ever. Not only is it a hype crunk song, it is also an anthem. Compare his party songs to the party songs nowadays. Now those songs are commercial. They don't have any talent. Fat joe can still spit as hard on party tracks as well as others. BUY THIS ALBUM. May 30, 2007

Loyalty to what? (1 and 1/2 stars)

Wow! All these five star reviews for this album is kind of questionable. Let me start by saying that Don Cartegena was Fat Joe's best album. After Big Pun died Fat Joe went pop with the quickness and put out his worst album at that time J.O.S.E. Fat Joe has been in a downward spiral into hip pop hell ever since and he keeps it moving with this one. There are four standout tracks which are Take A Look At My Life, Gangsta, We Run This S*** and Prove Something. Fillers: Bust at you is unwashed butt plus anytime Birdman has a better verse than you in a song you need to retire promptly. In Born in the ghetto he tries to get deep but falls on his face. Turn me on would turn off the most skankiest broads(yes its that bad), Ts Piece is a wack club record that would clear any dance floor(even [...] ones LOL), Loyalty is wack plus the subliminal diss he threw at Cuban Link has to be the softest subliminal in rap history. Dont get me started on the slew of songs for the ladies he has on here(Crush Tonight, Turn Me On, All I Need etc. Read the chorus for Life Goes on and tell me if Fat Joe isnt guilty of statutory rape:/she was sixteen/maybe seventeen/I was eighteen/ nineteen/ maybe a little bit more/ YIKES!!! There you have it another garbage album from a rapper who made a song with Paris Hilton(WTF WAS HE THINKING?). November 29, 2006

a very hot album for joe

I really like this album.I used to think fat joe was wack but now with this album,he changrd my mind.he has hot singles such as"All I Need and Crush Tonight".The guest appearrances on this album are hot too.you need to pick this up and add it to your collection
November 13, 2006

Fat Joe's best

In a time, wherer pop-sells, alot of rappers have given into, changing they're gangsta style, to accomadate what the media wants (i.e. Ja Rule, 50 Cent etc.). Fat Joe has been known to give into this, the recent release of All Or Nothing proves that. But this album proved otherwise, a real good CD, with nothing but hard hitting, quality rap. A surprise, considering there is so much frontin' and pop going on out there. I just wish Joe could have made more records like this. Nonetheless, I definetely enjoy this record.

Track for track:

"Take a Look at My Life" A real good song, with a menacing beat, where he's saying how gangsta he is and telling all haters to shut it. Something tells me that this guy isn't frontin'.

"Bust At You" nice song, basically telling all the haters again to screw off, nice chorus sung by Terror Squad member Tony Sunshine, good verse by Scarface, and an awesome verse by Baby, Joe isn't too bad either. Nice flute as background music.

"Prove Something" Joe's awesome lyrically on this song, again just saying, don't f*ck with Terror Sqaud.

"TS Piece" nice, slower laid back song, featuring a great chorus sung again by Tony Sunshine (real good singer, i think he's way underrated)a cool verse spit by Remy Ma. Songs about the luxuries of being famous, and the relationships you get into. Real cool song

"It's Nothing" real cool song, emphasizing how loyalty from his fans paid off, and how all this fame and accesories, to him is nothing compared to loyalty. Real cool song, with great lyrics

"Turn Me On" sort of an annoying song, some chic sings an annoying chorus, Joe's good lyrically, but overall the song is sort of weak, saying how much of a ladies man he is...sort of an overplayed theme in music these days, gets old fast

"Born in the Ghetto" God i love this song, such meaningful rapping in the verses by Joe, about the struggles of life in the ghetto, and living with prejidices constantly being hurled at you. A great chorus sung, by Lamajic (who is he?), real pain in his voice i like it. Joe raps with a sort of "been there done that" approach, i like it.

"Crush Tonight" Awesome party song, with a beatt, sure to make clubs go wild. memorable chorus sung by Ginuwine and good rapping by Joe.

"Gangsta" Deep song explaining the process of how he turned to the life of a gangster, claiming it was because he saw his father live like that.

"All I Need" Awesome song, Joe and Armagedon (Terror Squad member) explain how their wives assume they are cheating just because they are always on tour, this song is dedicated to explaining that just cause they are on tour that doesn't mean that they are cheating. Joe and Armagedon claim that they're wives are the greatest things in their life, and that they'd be stupid to give that up.Great chorus by Tony Sunshine again.

"Life Goes On" Another meaningful song, about how he had gotten a girl pregnant once, and how he is telling her that he is sorry, but how he can't let that and other mistakes hold him down because life goes on.

"Loyalty" This is a song, with a killer beat, and impressive verses by all Terror Squad members (Armagedon, Prospect, Remy Ma) except Tony Sunshine. All of them claim they're loyalty to Terror Squad, and they'll f*ck anyone up if they mess with the Squad. All they're rhyming is phenominal, especially Armagedon and Prospect. Fat Joe, is rather average in this song...

"We Run This Sh*t" Sort of annoying, all it is is Joe repping the Terror Squad, saying that they run this sh*t. Skippable.

"Sh*t Is Real Part III" Real deep track, adressing, the pain Joe felt after Big Pun's death, the overwehlming amount of disloyalty he has experienced in his life, and the struggle of ghetto life. Memorable chorus but Joe, awesome way to end an awesome album.


This album is really a classic in my book, the genious way in which the tracks where made, how they each had a story to tell, unlike the bull sh*t you see on MTV today, was just amazing. Joe raps with such an amazing "Been there, done that" scheme, it 's hard to believe he's fronting. After hearing this amazing record, i thought to myself, are you people friggin' blind? how on earth could anyone like 50 Cent or G-Unit more than this sh*t. I guess, pop sells, but in my book Joe will always be one of the realest rappers, that didn't give into all this media sh*t until the very end.

Check my reviews on Ja Rule's R.U.L.E., Blood In My Eye, and Last Temptatio, and Mike Jones' album, c ya





December 7, 2005

5th solo is on point once again - 4.5 stars

After just one year since his 4 star "J.O.S.E." album Fat Joe is back with another 4.5 star album and my favorite of his (tied with "Don Cartagena" & "All or Nothing" - I don't have his first 2 albums). As with his previous 2 albums it has 14 songs, and a bunch of producers who do a good job (9 different ones, and basically the same ones he always uses). Cool & Dre do 5 songs, Buckwild, Alchemist, Irv Gotti & Chink Santana, Ty Fyffe, Precision, Armageddon, Ron Browz, and Teflon all do 1 track. Guests are on a good deal of the songs (4 have guest rappers and 5 have guests on the hooks). It has some gangsta songs, some about hustling and some good deep ones he always therows in there, as well as a dirtier one. It has 1 classic, 1 near classic, 2 ok songs, and the rest are mostly great and a few good ones. A must have album for fans of Joey Crack.

#1 - 9 (good beat)
#2 - 9.5 (f/ baby, Scarface, Tony Sunshine -- another good beat)
#3 - 9 (good beat)
#4 - 7.5 (f/ remy martin & tony sunshine)
#5 - 8 (f/ Tony Sunshine)
#6 - 8.5 (f/ Ronda Blackwell -- good beat)
#7 - 8 (f/ Lamajic)
#8 - 7 (f/ Ginuwine)
#9 - 8.5
#10 - 9.5 (deeper song w/ good beat -- F/ Armageddon & Tony Sunshine)
#11 - 10 (CLASSIC deep song)
#12 - 9 (f/ Remy Martin, Prospect, Armageddon - another good beat)
#13 - 9 (f/ Charliue Rock LD)
#14 - 9 (another deep song)

Joseph Cartegena -- b. 8/17/72 --- Bronx, NY

Check all my reviews June 23, 2005

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