Fat Joe claimed he took on a grown man with a machete when he was 10 and says the woman he protected confirmed the story decades later.
A clip of Fat Joe is making rounds after The Breakfast Club reposted an older interview with the Bronx legend, sharing a story about a 7-foot foe from his childhood.
So here’s the setup: Joe was 10 at home in the projects, trying to cook up some food, even though he admitted he had zero clue how to cook.
Out of nowhere, he hears a girl scream. He grabs a machete—because apparently that was just lying around—and opens the door to chaos.
“She has a dress on. She’s covering her private parts like a movie,” Fat Joe said, describing the girl he recognized from his building. “Apples, oranges on the floor, the bread—and it’s a dude standing over her, like seven feet tall, fresh out of jail.”
According to Joe, the guy looked like he was about to do something awful. So 10-year-old Joey, all chubby and fearless, ran up on him with the machete.
“I run down on the guy. I give it to him. 10 years old,” he said. “If you’re a coward, you don’t believe this story.”
Joe says he sliced the man’s arm, chased him into a stairwell and hit him again before the man realized who he was dealing with. Once the attacker figured out it was a kid swinging the blade, he bolted.
The girl, whom Joe described as “the most decent girl probably in my whole project,” begged him not to say a word. Her family was strict and she didn’t want the story out. So Joe kept it quiet for decades.
He almost put the story in his book, but pulled it at the last minute.
“Because I haven’t seen her in 30 some years, 40 years. I said, ‘You know what? She might be alive with her family and I’m violating.’ So I took it out the book.”
Then, at his brother’s funeral, she showed up and told everyone the truth.
“Joey saved my life. He saved my life. A guy was trying to rape me. Joey came out with the machete. He saved my life,” she told mourners.
Even Joe seemed shocked hearing her say it out loud after all these years. Whether you think it’s exaggerated or not, Joe’s sticking to it.
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