One of hip hop’s longest-tenured stalwarts, having been in the game since way back when in 1992, South Bronx spitter Fat Joe has been to Australia previously as part of the lineup for 2011’s Supafest (RIP) but has inexplicably never been given the reins to his own headline tour.
Seemingly following in the footsteps of two of his most famous collaborators in Ashanti and Ja Rule, who themselves just wrapped up an Australian tour that had the nostalgia ramped up to 11, the CEO of Terror Squad Entertainment is embarking on a three-date debut headlining tour of Australia in just a few short weeks.
It would have been nothing short of jaw-droppingly awesome had Fat Joe been a part of the Ja Rule and Ashanti joint tour/historical reenactment of the early 00s but, alas, it was not to be. His own tour isn’t strictly a chance to grab bank on throwback vibes though, with Fat Joe reportedly gearing up to release his first new album since The Darkside Vol. 1 half a decade ago and set to play several new songs that haven’t seen a release yet.
Nonetheless, fans can still look forward to hearing him rip through 23 years of hip hop classics, including Make It Rain, Get It Poppin’, the aforementioned Lean Back and of course, the song everybody and their dog has at some point bumped and grinded to, whether at a high school disco (dear lord, the cringe) back when it was murdering its way up the charts in the turbulent summer of 2002 or at a present day dive bar drunk on nostalgia, the triple threat anthem What’s Luv. (ft. Shantaaaay)
If you want the chance to be able to say that you caught Fat Joe live and up close for his first ever headline tour of Australia then you’ll have to find yourself in one of these cities on one of these days:
ArenaEnt and Delta Bravo present: Fat Joe.
Thu, Oct 29th: HQ, Adelaide
Sun, Nov 1st: The Metro, Sydney
Mon, Nov 2nd: La Di Da, Melbourne