The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect.^[1][2] These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic, homographic, metonymic, or metaphorical language. A pun differs from a malapropism in that a malapropism uses an incorrect expression that alludes to another (usually correct) expression, but a pun uses a correct expression that alludes to another (sometimes correct but more often absurdly humorous) expression. Henri Bergson defined a pun as a sentence or utterance in which "two different sets of ideas are expressed, and we are confronted with only one series of words".^[3] Puns may be regarded as in-jokes or idiomatic constructions, given that their usage and meaning are entirely local to a particular language and its culture. For example, camping is intense (in tents).

Puns are used to create humor and sometimes require a large vocabulary to understand. Puns have long been used by comedy writers, such as William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, and George Carlin. The Roman playwright Plautus is famous for his tendency to make up and change the meaning of words to create puns in Latin.^[4]

Typology[link]

Puns can be classified in various ways:

The homophonic pun, a common type, uses word pairs which sound alike (homophones) but are not synonymous. Walter Redfern exemplified this type with his statement "To pun is to treat homonyms as synonyms".^[5] For example, in George Carlin's phrase "Atheism is a non-prophet institution", the word "prophet" is put in place of its homophone "profit", altering the common phrase "non-profit institution". Similarly, the joke "Question: Why do we still have troops in Germany? Answer: To keep the Russians in Czech" relies on the aural ambiguity of the homophones "check" and "Czech". Often, puns are not strictly homophonic, but play on words of similar, not identical, sound as in the example from the "Pinky and the Brain" cartoon film series: "I think so, Brain, but if we give peas a chance, won't the lima beans feel left out?" which plays with the similar – but not identical – sound of "peas" and "peace".^[6]

Some words are homophones only when spoken in certain accents. Here are some examples of puns that depend on being pronounced in a particular accent:

• "Caesar salad" (Scissor salad) in an Italian accent:

Customer: "I'd like a Caesar salad.

Italian waiter: "Sir! Are you sure you want the Scissor salad? You'll cut your mouth!"

• "Space" (Spice) in certain Australian accents:

Spice...The final frontier. So much flavour! — Space, on the other hand, is completely devoid of flavour and all matter.

(alternatively...)

Q: What was the name of the first group of female astronauts? A: The Space Girls.

• "The Nail River" (The Nile River) in certain Australian accents:

Never take your raft down the nail river. It'll pop instantly.

A homographic pun exploits words which are spelled the same (homographs) but possess different meanings and sounds. Because of their nature, they rely on sight more than hearing, contrary to homophonic puns. They are also known as heteronymic puns. Examples in which the punned words typically exist in two different parts of speech often rely on unusual sentence construction, as in the anecdote: "When asked to explain his large number of children, the pig answered simply: 'The wild oats of my sow gave us many piglets.' " An example which combines homophonic and homographic punning is Douglas Adams's line "You can tune a guitar, but you can't tuna fish. Unless of course, you play bass." The phrase uses the homophonic qualities of "tune a" and "tuna", as well as the homographic pun on "bass", in which ambiguity is reached through the identical spellings of /ˈbeɪs/ (a string instrument), and /ˈbæs/ (a kind of fish).

Homonymic puns, another common type, arise from the exploitation of words which are both homographs and homophones. The statement "Being in politics is just like playing golf: you are trapped in one bad lie after another" puns on the two meanings of the word lie as "a deliberate untruth" and as "the position in which something rests". An adaptation of a joke repeated by Isaac Asimov gives us "Did you hear about the little moron who strained himself while running into the screen door?", playing on 'strained' as "to give much effort" and "to filter".^[7] A homonymic pun may also be polysemic, in which the words must be homonymic and also possess related meanings, a condition which is often subjective. However, lexicographers define polysemes as listed under a single dictionary lemma (a unique numbered meaning) while homonyms are treated in separate lemmata.

A compound pun is a statement that contains two or more puns. For example, a complex statement by Richard Whately includes four puns: "Why can a man never starve in the Great Desert? Because he can eat the sand which is there. But what brought the sandwiches there? Why, Noah sent Ham, and his descendants mustered and bred."^[8] This pun uses "sand which is there/sandwiches there, "Ham/ham", "mustered/mustard", and "bred/bread". Compound puns may also combine two phrases that share a word. For example, "Where do mathematicians go on weekends? To a Möbius strip club!" puns on Möbius strip and strip club.

A recursive pun is one in which the second aspect of a pun relies on the understanding of an element in the first. For example the statement "π is only half a pie." (π radians is 180 degrees, or half a circle, and a pie is a complete circle). Another example is "Infinity is not in finity," which means infinity is not in finite range. Another example is "A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother."^[9] Finally, we are given "Immanuel doesn't pun, he Kant" by Oscar Wilde. Visual puns are used in many logos, emblems, insignia, and other graphic symbols, in which one or more of the pun aspects are replaced by a picture. In European heraldry, this technique is called canting arms. Visual and other puns and word games are also common in Dutch gable stones as well as in some cartoons, such as Lost Consonants and The Far Side.

Another type of visual pun exists in languages which use non-phonetic writing. For example, in Chinese, a pun may be based on a similarity in shape of the written character, despite a complete lack of phonetic similarity in the words punned upon.^[10] Mark Elvin describes how this "peculiarly Chinese form of visual punning involved comparing written characters to objects."^[11]

Richard J. Alexander notes two additional forms which puns may take: graphological puns, such as concrete poetry; and morphological puns, such as portmanteaus.^[12]

Use[link]

Comedy and jokes[link]

Puns are a common source of humour in jokes and comedy shows. They are often used in the punch line of a joke, where they typically give a humorous meaning to a rather perplexing story. These are also known as feghoots. The following example comes from the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, though the punchline stems from far older Vaudeville roots.^[13] The final line puns on the stock phrase "the lesser of two evils".

Captain Aubrey: "Do you see those two weevils, Doctor?...Which would you choose?"

Dr. Maturin: "Neither. There's not a scrap of difference between them. They're the same species of Curculio."

Captain Aubrey: "If you had to choose. If you were forced to make a choice. If there were no other option."

Dr. Maturin: "Well, then, if you're going to push me. I would choose the right-hand weevil. It has significant advantage in both length and breadth."

Captain Aubrey: "There, I have you!...Do you not know that in the Service, one must always choose the lesser of two weevils?"

Puns often are used in the titles of comedic parodies. A parody of a popular song, movie, etc., may be given a title that hints at the title of the work being parodied, substituting some of the words with ones that sound or look similar. Such a title can immediately communicate both that what follows is a parody and also which work is about to be parodied, making any further "setup" (introductory explanation) unnecessary.

Literature[link]

Non-humorous puns were and are a standard rhetorical and poetic device in English literature. Puns and other forms of word play have been used by many famous writers, such as Alexander Pope, James Joyce, Vladimir Nabokov, Robert Bloch, Lewis Carroll, John Donne, and William Shakespeare, who is estimated to have used over 3,000 puns in his plays.^{[citation needed]} Some promoters of the Shakespeare Authorship theory believe that the name Will Shake-spear was itself a pun, chosen to hide the true author's name while revealing it as a mask.

Here is an example from Shakespeare's Richard III:

"Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of York" (Son/sun)

Shakespeare was also noted for his frequent play with less serious puns, the "quibbles" of the sort that made Samuel Johnson complain, "A quibble is to Shakespeare what luminous vapours are to the traveller! He follows it to all adventures; it is sure to lead him out of his way, sure to engulf him in the mire. It has some malignant power over his mind, and its fascinations are irresistible."^[14] Elsewhere, Johnson disparagingly referred to punning as "the lowest form of humour".^{[citation needed]}

In the poem A Hymn to God the Father, John Donne, married to Anne More, reportedly puns repeatedly: "Son/sun" in the second quoted line, and two compound puns on "Donne/done" and "More/more". All three are homophonic, with the puns on "more" being both homographic and capitonymic. The ambiguities serve to introduce several possible meanings into the verses.

"When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done / For I have more.

that at my death Thy Son / Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore

And having done that, Thou hast done; / I fear no more."

Designation[link]

Like other forms of wordplay, paronomasia is occasionally used for its attention-getting or mnemonic qualities, making it common in titles and the names of places, characters, and organizations, and in advertising and slogans.^[15][16]

Many restaurant and shop names use puns: Cane & Able mobility healthcare, Tiecoon tie shop, Planet of the Grapes wine and spirits,^[17] as do books, such as Pies and Prejudice, comics (YU+ME: dream) and films (Good Will Hunting). The Japanese anime Speed Racer's original title, Mach GoGoGo! refers to the English word itself, the Japanese word for five (the Mach 5's car number), and the name of the show's main character, Go Mifune.

Names of characters also often carry puns, such as Ash Ketchum and Goku ("kakarot"), the protagonists of the anime series Pokémon and Dragonball, respectively, both franchises which are known for including second meanings in the names of many of their characters. A recurring motif in the Austin Powers films repeatedly puns on names which suggest male genitalia. In the science fiction television series Star Trek, "B-4" is used as the name of one of four androids models constructed "before" the android Data, a main character.

The parallel sequel The Lion King 1½ advertised with the phrase "You haven't seen the 1/2 of it!". Wyborowa Vodka employed the slogan "Enjoyed for centuries straight", while Northern Telecom used "Technology the world calls on."^[15]

Confusion and alternate uses[link]

There exist subtle differences between paronomasia and other literary techniques, such as the double entendre. While puns are often simple wordplay for comedic or rhetorical effect, a double entendre alludes to a second meaning which is not contained within the statement or phrase itself, often one which purposefully disguises the second meaning. As both exploit the use of intentional double meanings, puns can sometimes be double entendres, and vice versa. Puns also bear similarities with paraprosdokian, syllepsis and eggcorns. In addition, homographic puns are sometimes compared to the stylistic device antanaclasis, and homophonic puns to polyptoton.

Science and computing[link]

Scientific puns rely on the contrast between precise technical and imprecise informal definitions of the same word. In statistical contexts, for example, the word significant is usually assumed to mean "statistically significant", which has a precisely defined technical meaning. Using significant with the layperson meaning "of practical significance" in such contexts would qualify as punning, such as the webcomic xkcd's double pun "statistically significant other".^[18]

In formal linguistics, puns can often be found embedded within the etymological meaning or usage of words, which in turn may be buried over time and unknown to native speakers. Puns may also be found in syntax, where morphological constructions have derived from what may have originally been humorous word play, slang, or otherwise idiosyncratic word usage.

In computing, esoteric programming languages (EPLs) are based in or contain what may be regarded as conceptual puns, as they typically misuse common programming concepts in ways which are absurd, or functionally useless. Some EPL puns may be obvious, such as in the usage of text images, while other puns are highly conceptual and understandable to experts only.

In computer science, the term type punning refers to a programming technique that subverts or circumvents the type system of a programming language, by allowing a value of a certain type to be manipulated as a value of a different type.

History[link]

Puns were found in ancient Egypt, where they were heavily used in development of myths and interpretation of dreams.^[19]

In China, Shen Tao (ca. 300 BC) used "shih", meaning "power", and "shih", meaning "position" to say that a king has power because of his position as king.^[20]

In ancient Iraq, about 2500 BC, punning was used by scribes to represent words in cuneiform.^[21]

The Maya are known for having used puns in their hieroglyphic writing, and for using them in their modern languages.^[22]

In Japan, "graphomania" was one type of pun.^[23]

See also[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Alexander, Richard J. Aspects of Verbal Humour in English. 1997. Narr, Tübingen
• Augarde, Tony. The Oxford Guide to Word Games. 1984. Oxford University Press, London
• Fontaine, Michael. Funny Words in Plautine Comedy. 2010. Oxford University Press.
• Hempelmann, Christian F. "Script opposition and logical mechanism in punning". In :- Humor – International Journal of Humor Research, Volume 17, Issue 4. Sept 2004. pp. 381–392. (Access restricted.)
• Smyth, Herbert Weir. Greek Grammar. 1920. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
• Tartakovsky, Joseph. "Pun for the Ages". The New York Times, March 28, 2009.

Further reading[link]

• Pollack, John, The Pun Also Rises: How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More Than Some Antics, Penguin, 2011

External links[link]

• There's a Sewer in the Sewer: a primer for heteronymphiles

Christopher Lee Rios^[1] (November 10, 1971 – February 7, 2000), better known by his stage name Big Pun (short for Big Punisher), was a Puerto-Rican American rapper who emerged from the underground rap scene in The Bronx in the late 1990s. He first appeared on albums from The Beatnuts, on the track "Off the Books" in 1997, and on Fat Joe's second album Jealous One's Envy in 1995, on the track "Watch Out", prior to signing to Loud Records as a solo artist. Pun's lyrics are notable for technical efficiency, having minimal pauses to take a breath, heavy use of alliteration as well as internal and multi-syllabic rhyming schemes. Big Pun died of a heart attack at age 28. About.com ranked him #25 on its list of the 50 Greatest MCs of Our Time (1987 - 2007),^[2] while MTV2 ranked him #11 on its list of the "22 Greatest MCs."^[3]

Early life[link]

Big Pun grew up in New York City's South Bronx neighborhood.^[4][5] At the age of 5 young Rios broke his leg while playing in a New York park, which would later lead to a large settlement from the city. ^[6] By all accounts from Pun's family, his early years were very difficult, including witnessing his mother's drug abuse, his father's death,^[7] and a stepfather who was very hard on Pun. According to his grandmother, Pun would become angry and self-destructive, punching holes in the walls of his family's apartment. Rios dropped out of high school and for some time was homeless staying in abandoned buildings or at friends' homes.^[8]

Music career[link]

Sometime during the '90s, he began to write rap lyrics, forming the Full-A-Clips crew with Triple Seis, and Cuban Link who was at the time named "Lyrical Assassin". At this point Big Pun was operating under the alias Big Moon Dawg. Rios met fellow Puerto Rican and Bronx rapper Fat Joe in 1992 and made his commercial debut on Joe's second album, Jealous One's Envy, in addition to appearing on a b-side to Joe's "Envy" single, "Fire Water."

Later, "I'm Not a Player" (featuring an O'Jays sample) was supported by a significant advertising campaign and became an underground hit.

Capital Punishment

In 1997, producer Knobody's production partner Sean C took advantage of his new role as A&R at Loud Records to play Knobody's tracks to Big Pun.^[9] Suitably impressed the rapper hired Knobody to remix "I'm Not a Player".^[9] The remixed song, featuring Joe and titled "Still Not a Player," became Big Pun's first major mainstream hit and major breakthrough for Knobody.^[9] The full-length debut Capital Punishment followed in 1998, and became the first album by a solo Latino rapper to go platinum,^[10] peaking at #5 on the Billboard 200. Capital Punishment was also nominated for a Grammy. Pun's second album " Yeeeah Baby", although not as successful as his first also went platinum producing two solid hits in "it's So Hard" and "100%".

Big Pun became a member of Terror Squad, a New York-based group of rappers founded by Fat Joe, with most of the roster supplied by the now-defunct Full a Clips Crew who released their debut album The Album in 1999. The album didn't fare well commercially but it was well received critically and the album was meant to start the foundation for all other terror squad members to release their solo projects.

Death[link]

Excluding his adolescence, Big Pun struggled with his weight for most of his life; his weight fluctuated in the early 1990s between obese and morbidly obese. Big Pun partook in a weight-loss program in North Carolina, in which he lost 80 pounds (36 kg), but he eventually quit the program before completing it, returning to New York and gaining back the weight he had lost.^[5] On February 7, 2000, Big Pun suffered a fatal heart attack and respiratory failure while temporarily staying with family at a Crowne Plaza Hotel in White Plains, New York during a home renovation. Pun was pronounced dead at the hospital after paramedics could not revive him. Big Pun was at his highest weight at the time of his death, being 698 pounds.^[11] He was cremated a few days later. His second album, Yeeeah Baby, was released two months later.

Legacy[link]

[edit] Big Pun: The Legacy documentary

An authorized documentary "Big Pun: The Legacy" was released on September 15, 2009. The film contains multiple interviews with artists, actors, close friends and others whose lives were touched by Big Pun, as well as rare exclusive performances and scene interviews with Big Pun himself. The film also features appearances by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Snoop Dogg, DMX, Method Man, U-God, Liza Rios, Xzibit, Cuban Link, Swizz Beatz, DJ Skribble, Chino XL and many more. The film was directed by Vlad Yudin and was distributed through Vivendi/Universal. ^[12]

A different version of the DVD "Big Pun: The Legacy," was released called "Big Pun: The Legacy (Special Collector's Edition)" a little over a year later on September 28, 2010 through EMI Label Group. This film includes never-before-seen footage and the “Lost Files” archive. ^[13]

The soundtrack to the film, "The Legacy: The Best of Big Pun" was released through Legacy/Columbia Records/Sony Music on September 15, 2009. ^[14]

Legal issues[link]

On September 8, 1998, Fat Joe and Big Pun were arrested on assault charges for hitting a man with a baseball bat and stealing the man's gold chain on June 14 that year.^[15]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• 1998: Capital Punishment
• 2000: Yeeeah Baby

Posthumous albums[link]

• 2001: Endangered Species

Filmography[link]

• Moesha (1998) – Himself (as Big Punisher)
• Thicker Than Water (1999) – Punny
• Urban Menace (1999) – Crow
• Whiteboyz (1999) – Don Flip Crew (uncredited)
• Boricua's Bond (2000) – Himself (as Big Punisher)
• Still Not a Player (2002) – Himself (archive footage)
• Big Pun Live (2002) – Himself (archive footage)
• Big Pun: The Legacy (2009) – Himself (archive footage)
• Big Pun: The Legacy (Special Collector's Edition) (2010) - Himself (archive footage)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Big Pun Forever Tribute site founded 2001
• Big Pun at the Internet Movie Database
• Big Pun at Find a Grave

Fat Joe
Joe performing in April 2011
Background information
Birth name	Joseph Antonio Cartagena[1]
Born	(1970-08-19) August 19, 1970 (age 41)[1][2][3] New York City, New York, U.S.
Genres	East Coast hip hop, mafioso rap, hardcore hip hop
Occupations	Rapper
Years active	1992–present
Labels	Terror Squad Entertainment, Relativity, Atlantic, Imperial, E1
Associated acts	Big Punisher, Terror Squad, D.I.T.C., DJ Premier, Kool G Rap, Apache, Grand Puba, R. Kelly, KRS-One, Raekwon, Jadakiss, Big L, N.O.R.E., DJ Khaled, Kill All Rats
Website	www.myspace.com/fatjoe

Joseph Antonio Cartagena (born August 19, 1970), better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper, CEO of Terror Squad Entertainment, and member of musical groups D.I.T.C. and Terror Squad.

Fat Joe's first album was Represent, released in 1993, followed by Jealous One's Envy in 1995. From 1998 to 2006, he was signed to Atlantic Records, releasing four albums under the label, Don Cartagena in 1998, Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.) in 2001, Loyalty in 2002, and All or Nothing in 2005.^[1] Around the release of All or Nothing, Fat Joe became involved in a highly publicized feud with another New York City-based rapper 50 Cent, who attacked Fat Joe in his song "Piggy Bank". His most popular song in which he performed was his Remy Ma duet "Lean Back" with Terror Squad. The song was a number-one hit in the summer of 2004.

Starting in 2006, when his album Me, Myself, & I was released, Fat Joe was signed to Imperial Records, which distributes through Terror Squad Entertainment. His follow up album wasThe Elephant in the Room, which was released in 2008; Jealous Ones Still Envy 2 (J.O.S.E. 2), the sequel to Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.), was released in October 2009. His tenth album The Darkside Vol. 1 was released on July 27, 2010.

Early life[link]

Fat Joe was born on August 19, 1970 in the southern Bronx area of New York City, where he was raised by parents of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent.^[1][4] He lived in public housing and began stealing at a young age to support his family.^[5] He also states that he was a bully in his childhood.^[5] His brother introduced him to rap music. As a teenager, he was highly influenced by fellow Latino rapper Big Pun. Fat Joe explained the rapper's influence on him by saying "Latinos before us who had the opportunity to do it just didn't know how to do it. They came in trying to do this black music, waving flags. [But] we're trying to kick in the doors for other Latinos and represent our people, and it shows."^[6]

Music career[link]

1992–1995: Early years[link]

Under stage name Fat Joe da Gangsta and part of the Diggin' in the Crates (D.I.T.C.) rap group, Cartagena was signed to Relativity Records in the early 1990s, recording material and working with many artists who he would later sign to his own label. In 1993, his debut album, Represent, was released, featuring production from The Beatnuts, Diamond D, Lord Finess, and others. Its lead single, "Flow Joe" peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart; other minor singles from the album included "Watch the Sound" and "This Shit is Real".^[1]

In 1995, Fat Joe released his second studio album, Jealous One's Envy, which peaked at #71 on The Billboard 200 and at #7 on Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums. The album featured a guest appearance from KRS-One and production from Diamond D. The lead single was Success, which did not chart, but his second single, "Envy" peaked at #8 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart. The success of this album led Fat Joe to be featured on the remix of LL Cool J's single "I Shot Ya" along with Foxy Brown, Keith Murray and Prodigy of Mobb Deep.^[1]

1998–2005: Signing to Atlantic Records, Terror Squad, feud with 50 Cent[link]

Released in 1998, Don Cartagena was Joe's third album and his first for Atlantic Records. It peaked on The Billboard 200 at #7 and #2 on Top R&B/Hip Hop albums, eventually being certified gold by the RIAA.^[7]

The album featured two hit singles "Bet Ya Man Can't Triz", and "Don Cartagena". Guest appearances included Nas, Diddy, Big Pun, Raekwon, Jadakiss, and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Within the album, Fat Joe debuted his own group Terror Squad that consisted of the late Big Pun, as well as Cuban Link, Triple Seis, Prospect, Armageddon and later Remy Ma.^[8] Joe himself acknowledged, in an interview with HipHopGame.com, that he has received criticism for releasing only one solo album by a former Terror Squad member, Remy Ma, as well as barely featuring original members Prospect and Armageddon on "True Story." Terror Squad singer Tony Sunshine has had possible album release dates pushed back over three years, and Joe had stated that artists Prospect and Armageddon have not released solo albums yet as the result of them being "really lazy".^[9] Former Terror Squad member Triple Seis also went on record when asked who had written Fat Joe's lyrics, stating that he and Pun were Joe's ghostwriters, and asserts that Joe continues to hire ghostwriters.^[10] In 1999, he appeared on Jennifer Lopez's single "Feelin' So Good" from her On the 6 album with late rapper Big Pun.

Fat Joe released his fourth album Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.) in 2001, featuring production from the then-popular Irv Gotti. The album featured a star-studded line up from the likes of Ashanti, Ja Rule, N.O.R.E., Busta Rhymes, Petey Pablo, M.O.P., Ludacris, R. Kelly, Buju Banton, and artists from his Terror Squad label. The lead single "We Thuggin'" featuring R. Kelly was a big hit in late 2001, but would not reach the level of the Irv Gotti-produced "What's Luv?" which was a massive hit in early 2002 and featured The Inc. superstars Ja Rule and Ashanti. The album was Fat Joe's biggest hit as it was successful from its January release all the way into May, being certified platinum.^[7] However, Fat Joe's fifth album Loyalty, released later in 2002 and featuring production from Irv Gotti, was not as successful.

In 2003, Fat Joe was featured in the pop single "I Want You" by Mexican singer Thalía. The same year, he and Tony Sunshine performed the single "Crush Tonight" from Loyalty on the Comedy Central program Chappelle's Show, hosted by comedian Dave Chappelle.^[11]

Despite the setback, Fat Joe scored a number-one hit in 2004 with his group Terror Squad, collaborating with Remy Ma on the Scott Storch production "Lean Back" from the album True Story.^[8] The song was criticized twice by conservative columnist L. Brent Bozell III for its extensive use of obscenity.^[12][13] However, Jason Birchmeier of Allmusic called the song "a perfect club-ready duet between Joe and Remy Ma that boasts a trademark Scott Storch beat and a memorable singalong hook and dance-along step".^[14]

A year later, in 2005, Fat Joe released his sixth album All or Nothing, noted for featuring the popular diss track "My Fofo", aimed at fellow New York rapper 50 Cent, who had dissed Joe for recording with Ja Rule.^[15] All or Nothing spawned the singles "So Much More" and "Get It Poppin" featuring Nelly, also with guest appearances from Eminem, Mase, Remy Ma, Mashonda, and R. Kelly. Responding to "My Fofo", 50 Cent attacked Fat Joe in his song "Piggy Bank" from his best-selling 2005 album The Massacre.^[16][17][18] Fat Joe subsequently attacked 50's street credibility and called him a "coward" on a phone interview with Kay Slay of New York City hip-hop radio station WQHT.^[19] The conflict carried on at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, while Fat Joe introduced the reggaeton act featuring Daddy Yankee, Joe remarked, "I feel safe with all the police protection—courtesy of G-Unit."^[20] Shortly after, when MTV switched to a commercial break, 50 Cent directed an obscenity at Joe, and 50 Cent jumped on stage as Fat Joe was leaving.^[21]

[edit] 2006–2008: Me, Myself & I, The Elephant in the Room, the 50 Cent feud continued, and more

Fat Joe performing in Portugal in 2006

Me, Myself & I, released in 2006, is Fat Joe's seventh album. It was his first album released on his new deal with Virgin Records. It featured the hit single "Make It Rain" with southern rapper Lil Wayne, followed by "No Drama (Clap and Revolve)". Fat Joe did a freestyle cipher segment for VH1's "Freestyle 59" competition in October 2006 prior to the VH1 Hip Hop Honors featuring New Jersey emcee Neuse.^[22]

In June 2007, the Reverend Michael Pfleger targeted Fat Joe as among several rappers he believed promoted misogyny in his billboard campaign "Stop Listening to Trash", which was launched June 18, 2007 throughout Chicago, Illinois, where Pfleger preaches.^[23] Also that month, Fat Joe was featured in the DJ Khaled singles "We Takin' Over" alongside Akon, T.I., Rick Ross, Birdman, and Lil Wayne and the remix to Khaled's "I'm So Hood" with Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, Ludacris, and Birdman. Verbal disputes between Fat Joe and 50 Cent continued during this time period: in September 2007, on the BET program Rap City, 50 Cent accused Fat Joe of being cowardly for not willing to confront him, but Fat Joe dismissed this claim as nonsense.^[24] Later in January, 50 Cent released another Fat Joe diss, called "Southside Nigga (I'm Leaving)". At the end of January 2008, Fat Joe and his longtime accountant Brian Dittrich both denied rumors spreading on the Internet that Fat Joe owed the IRS in taxes.^[25]

Fat Joe's eighth solo studio album The Elephant in the Room was distributed by Imperial Records, a division of Capitol Records and Terror Squad Entertainment,^[26][27] and released on March 11, 2008; its lead single was "I Won't Tell" featuring singer J. Holiday.^[28] The album debuted at the sixth position on the Billboard Hot 100.^[29] "Ain't Sayin' Nuthin'" followed and featured Plies.

On March 20, 2008, shortly after record sales were released for Fat Joe's new album The Elephant in the Room, 50 Cent released a video via his YouTube account, which features the "funeral" of Fat Joe, which shows 50 Cent crying in the fake footage. 50 Cent then talks about Fat Joe's record sales, and states that he ended Fat Joe's career (like he says he did to Ja Rule's) and that his mixtape blew out Fat Joe's album.^[30]

[edit] 2009: Jealous Ones Still Envy 2

Fat Joe's ninth solo studio album, J.O.S.E. 2, was released towards the end of June 2009.^[31] The project reprises the title of Joe’s 2002 RIAA-Certified Platinum release, Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.), and marked Joe’s third release since bringing his Terror Squad imprint to the EMI family in 2006. For this album, Joe has reached out to many artists, landing assists from Ron Browz, Fabolous, Lil' Kim, T-Pain, Lil Wayne, and Akon. Producers include Jim Jonsin, The Inkredibles, and frequent collaborator StreetRunner.^[32] "One", featuring Akon, was the first single. The album was released on October 6, 2009 and sold 11,000 copies in its first week. It debuted on The Billboard 200 at #73.^[33]

[edit] 2010: Signing to E1 Music and The Darkside

In January 2010, Fat Joe announced that he was working on a new album, The Darkside Vol. 1. MTV News reported that Fat Joe intended "all the material...to be much harsher" than his previous album. Production comes from The Alchemist, Cool & Dre, Streetrunner, DJ Premier, Scoop DeVille, Just Blaze, Scram Jones, Raw Uncut and DJ Infamous with guest appearances by Busta Rhymes, Trey Songz, Lil Wayne, R Kelly, Clipse, Cam'ron, Rico Love, Too $hort, TA and Young Jeezy.^[34] The first single from The Darkside Vol. 1 is "(Ha Ha) Slow Down," which features Young Jeezy. The second single off the album is "If It Ain't About Money" and features Trey Songz.

On March 28, 2010 Fat Joe signed a record deal with E1 Music.^[35][36] The Darkside Vol. 1 was released on July 27, 2010 and sold approximately 12,000 copies in the first week and entered the Billboard 200 at #27.

On August 6, 2010 Fat Joe was interviewed on MTV RapFix Live by Sway. Fat Joe announced in the interview that he planned to record 2 more volumes of The Darkside and then retire.^[37]

[edit] 2011–present: Darkside Vol. 2 mixtape & TBA

Joe was featured on a remix to DJ Khaled's song "Welcome to My Hood", which also features Ludacris, T-Pain, Bust Rhymes, Twista, Mavado, Birdman, Ace Hood, Game, Jadakiss, Bun B and Waka Flocka Flame. It is included as the final track on Khaled's fifth studio album We the Best Forever.

In an interview with XXL Magazine on September 21, 2011 Fat Joe stated Darkside Vol. 2 is going to be his first ever official mixtape and will feature the Mark Henry produced songs "Massacre on Madison" and "Drop a Body", both of which were released earlier in the year. Joe went on to say he is also working on an album which is yet to be named but the first single is called "Another Round" produced by Cool and Dre and Young Lad and features Chris Brown.^[38]
On October 19, 2011 Another Round the first single off Joe's yet to be named eleventh studio album was released on iTunes^[39]

Personal life[link]

Fat Joe in July 2005

Family[link]

Fat Joe currently lives in Miami and is married with three children.^[40]

Community work[link]

Fat Joe has been back to his old school in the Bronx, New York to donate computers for the students.

In 2008 He attended the grand opening of the Hip Hop Soda Shop in Miami which was community outreach project set up by Ben Chavis for the youth to hang out and do things such as record music, use the computers and play on Xbox 360s.^[41]

At a "School is Cool" assembly in Public School 5 in Jersey City, New Jersey on June 11, 2009, Fat Joe was a speaker.^[42]

Weight loss[link]

By 1996, he weighed 300 pounds.^[2] In 2005, Stuff magazine^[43] and ContactMusic.com^[44] profiled Fat Joe's weight loss efforts.

In 2011, Fat Joe unveiled his latest weight loss efforts in the video for his song "Drop a Body"^[45] after shedding 88 pounds off his previous weight of 350 pounds. He has said although he loves to eat KFC, McDonald’s and other less healthy foods he had to stop due to losing several friends, including former Terror Squad member Big Pun to obesity and he wanted to stay alive to see his children grow up. He lost the weight without the help of supplements and fad diets by combining 2 hour cardio and weight lifting sessions with proper eating habits. Instead of Burger King, KFC, and McDonald’s, he opted for smaller portioned meals of fruit, vegetables, and lean meats.^[46] Furthermore he follows a low-carb approach, eating some sweet potatoes but not eating bread, rice and pasta.^[47]

Basketball[link]

Fat Joe is a huge fan of the New York Knicks and was involved in convincing Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony to sign with them.^[48]

Legal issues[link]

On September 8, 1998, Fat Joe and Big Pun were arrested on assault charges for hitting a man with a baseball bat and stealing the man's gold chain on June 14 that year.^[3]

Joe was arrested again on May 12, 2002 for allegedly fighting with another man at B.B. King's Blues Club in Times Square, but the charges were dropped on January 10, 2003.^[49]

In two murder cases, Fat Joe has been named a witness:

Joe's former bodyguard, Jose Mulero (also known as Sing Sing), was arrested on September 17, 2004 for the April 15, 1994 shooting death of 16-year-old Ernesto Rivera at a Bronx nightclub. Responding to a subpoena, Fat Joe claimed to have heard the shooting and seen people fleeing the scene, but investigators argued that he was standing closer to Mulero, by a door.^[50]

Miami Beach police also named Fat Joe as a witness in a Memorial Day double homicide outside David's Cafe II in South Beach. Jermaine Wufgang Chamberline of Miami Gardens was accused of shooting Lessli Paz and Joey Navarro to death on that morning; Fat Joe and the two victims were sitting in a rented Cadillac Escalade parked outside the restaurant when a fight broke out between passengers and another man.^[51]

LGBT people[link]

During an interview with Vlad TV, Joe stated that while not gay himself, gay people should not hide their sexuality and stand by what they are. He mentioned that it's possible that he has done songs with gay rappers and that there are likely several gay people besides just rappers in the Hip Hop industry who are in the closet, describing it as a "Gay Mafia".^[52]

His comments came after being asked to comment on Mister Cee being arrested for public lewdness with a transgender.^[53]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• Represent (1993, as Fat Joe da Gangsta)
• Jealous One's Envy (1995)
• Don Cartagena (1998)
• Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.) (2001)
• Loyalty (2002)
• All or Nothing (2005)
• Me, Myself & I (2006)
• The Elephant in the Room (2008)
• Jealous Ones Still Envy 2 (J.O.S.E. 2) (2009)
• The Darkside Vol. 1 (2010)^[36]
• TBA^[38] (2012)

Filmography[link]

• Thicker Than Water (1999) - Lonzo Medina
• Prison Song (2001)
• Empire (2002)
• Scary Movie 3 (2003) - As Himself
• Happy Feet (2006) - voice of Seymour

See also[link]

• List of famous Puerto Ricans
• Latin hip hop
• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

References[link]

External links[link]

• Fat Joe on Myspace
• Official website (archived from 2009)
• Fat Joe on Twitter
• Fat Joe at the Internet Movie Database

The-Dream
The-Dream performing on September 10, 2008 in New York City.
Background information
Birth name	Terius Youngdell Nash
Born	(1977-09-20) September 20, 1977 (age 34) Rockingham, North Carolina, U.S.
Genres	R&B, pop, hip hop
Occupations	singer-songwriter, record producer
Years active	1998–Present
Labels	Def Jam, Radio Killa
Associated acts	Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Los Da Mystro, Jennifer Lopez, Electrik Red, Rihanna, Kanye West, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Drake Fabolous, Jamie Foxx
Website	the-dreammusic.com

Terius Youngdell Nash (Born September 20, 1977), better known by his stage name The-Dream, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. He is known for co-writing chart topping hits such as "Baby" for Justin Bieber, "Umbrella" for Rihanna and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" for Beyoncé, as well as for his three solo albums, Love Hate, Love vs. Money, and Love King.

Early life[link]

Terius Nash was born in Rockingham, North Carolina and moved with his mother, Reva Nash, to Atlanta at the age of 3. He played trumpet, drums, and guitar as a child.^[1] His mother died in 1992 when Nash was fifteen years old, an event which would inspire him to write songs.^[2] He states that the death of his mother gave him a "soft spot" for women, which he credits to his desire to write songs about female empowerment such as Rihanna's "Umbrella".^[2] He moved in with his grandfather, a concrete mason who instilled a strong work ethic in young Nash. Of his grandfather, Nash recalls "He came out of a bad time for blacks in the South, but even though we lived in the hood, we had a boat, some cars and a house that was paid for. So I’ve always had a different outlook on life. There’s nothing I can’t do."^[3]

Music career[link]

Background[link]

Nash met R&B producer Laney Stewart in 2001; Stewart helped him get a publishing deal after writing "Everything" for B2K's album Pandemonium!.^[1] Under the pen name "The-Dream", Nash began writing lyrics for many popular artists. He spent two years working on Nivea's second album Complicated, which he executive produced, and continued to write and produce with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Laney's brother, which led to Rihanna's 2007 smash hit "Umbrella". The success of "Umbrella" boosted Dream's music career, and in 2007, he signed a deal with Def Jam Records.^[4]

Solo[link]

Following the deal with Def Jam Records, The-Dream began working on his debut studio album Love Hate.^[4] The album was produced by The-Dream's production partner Tricky Stewart, and Carlos "LOS Da Maestro" McKinney, and featured Fabolous and Rihanna.^[5] The album was written and recorded in eight days with twelve tracks making the final cut. Some of the tracks were written in regards to The-Dream's personal life, most notably "Nikki," written about his ex-wife Nivea and how he has moved on since their divorce.^[6] The-Dream explained the title, Love Hate, as short for, "Love me all summer, hate me all winter, because they love you when you hot and when you're cold they don't... I'm hot right now and they love me, but I was cold and they wasn't fuckin' with me."^[6] Released December 11, 2007 on The-Dream's Def Jam-imprint Radio Killa Records,^[7] Love Hate moved 59,000 copies and debuted at number 30 on the Billboard 200.^[8] Love Hate also peaked at #5 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.^[9] The album received generally positive reviews from critics, as Rolling Stone called it "one of the most likable R&B records of the year" and UrbanMusicReviews.com said that the singer has "hit a home run."^[10]

On March 10, 2009 The-Dream released his second album Love vs. Money.^[11] He re-teamed with his production partner Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, who produced most of the tracks on the album, and Los Da Maestro.^[12] He also enlisted the help of Lil Jon for the song "Let Me See the Booty".^[8] Love vs. Money debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 151,000 copies in its first week.^[13] It also entered at number one on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and at number three on its Top Digital Albums chart in March 2009.^[14][15] Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 83/100 from Metacritic.^[16]

During the making of Love King, he recorded a song with T-Pain and expressed that he would like to make a collaborative album with Kanye West in the future.^[17] In January 2010, The-Dream officially stated he was finished recording the album and he called it the best of his three albums.^[18] The first single, "Love King", was released on March 16, 2010 for digital download. The album was released on June 29, 2010.^[19]

Before the album's release, the-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album.^[8][20] When Love King was released, the lyrics to the song "Sex Intelligent Remix" announced plans to release a new solo album called Love Affair and even gave the specific release date of June 7, 2011. In February 2011, The-Dream announced that the album is not titled "Love Affair" anymore, he stated that it is now titled "The Love, IV" and that he scrapped the June 7, 2011 release date and has set a new release date of August 2011.^[21] One week after anouncing that August release date, he said the he is pushing the album up and is hoping to release it on June 7 as promised.^[22] In June 2011, the album's title was changed yet again, this time to "Love IV: Diary of a Madman", it was also announced that it will released on September 20, 2011.^[23] On June 7, 2011; he released double promotional singles titled "Body Work" and "Fuck My Brains Out" to the internet.^[24] The Dream was not able to release "The Love, IV (Diary of a Mad Man)" on September 20, 2011 as planned and it was announced that the album got pushed back indefinitely due to "contract talks" with Def Jam Records.^[25] The-Dream then released a free 10-track album to the internet entitled 1977 on August 31, 2011.^[26][27] The-Dream also plans to release a 13-track studio album entitled Nikki: The Chronicles, which will follow his infatuation with the woman he sang about on 2007’s Love Hate and 2010’s Love King.^[28] In October 2011, Dream announced that he is personally pushing back the release of The Love; IV (Diary of A Madman) and that it will now be released in 2012. Dream also announced his plans to release his first international album, titled 1984: Persona of Love, it is set for release sometime in 2012, the album is a "persona album" and is inspired by his recent trip overseas.^[29] In February 2012, it was announced that the "The Love; IV (Diary of A Madman)" will be released on April 17, 2012.^[30] In March 2012, it was announced that "The Love; IV (Diary of A Madman)" has been re-titled "Love IV MMXII" and that its release date been pushed back to Summer 2012.^[31] In May 2012, it was announced that the album will be released on August 14, 2012.^[32]

Production[link]

In addition to working with Nivea and Rihanna, The-Dream also began writing for numerous artists, most notably J. Holiday's "Bed", Usher's "Moving Mountains", Yung Joc's "Coffee Shop" and Jesse McCartney's "Leavin'". He also co-wrote Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body", Ciara's "High Price," and took part in co-writing a majority of Mary J. Blige's 2007 Growing Pains album, including the smash hit "Just Fine". Recently^[when?] he featured in Drake (entertainer)'s album Thank Me Later the song "Shut It Down".

In December 2007, The-Dream was nominated for Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "Umbrella", but lost to Amy Winehouse's "Rehab". However, in June 2008, The-Dream won the award for Best New Artist at the 2008 BET Awards. Throughout 2008, The-Dream appeared on a number of records including Plies' "Please Excuse My Hands" with Jamie Foxx, LL Cool J's "Baby", Gym Class Heroes' "Cookie Jar" and Kardinal Offishall's "Gimme Some". In addition, The-Dream signed female R&B girl-group Electrik Red to Radio Killa Records and they released their debut album, How to Be a Lady: Volume 1, under the label.^[33] The-Dream and production partner Christopher "Tricky" Stewart produced "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" off Beyoncé's album I Am… Sasha Fierce, co-produced two tracks ("Just Like Me" & "Digital Girl") and was featured on Jamie Foxx's album Intuition, and worked with Mario and Lionel Richie.^[8] He will also be featured on a number of upcoming albums from; Phyzikal, Ciara, Sterling Simms, Young Chris, Dear Jayne, Brandy and Cassie.

In early 2009, The-Dream began working with Christina Milian on her fourth studio album Elope,^[34] which led to her signing a joint-deal with Radio Killa Records.^[35] The-Dream said that when he was building his label, he went looking for Milian because he believed she was a talented singer.^[36] The singer confirmed that her second single would be a duet with The-Dream called "Supersonic".^[37]

Throughout 2009, The-Dream has also been working on new material for Mariah Carey, Brandy, and Diddy. Diddy's song "Change" is described by The-Dream as, "probably one of the best male records I've ever written...the best record I've written besides 'Umbrella'. The-Dream also worked on Jennifer Lopez's single Louboutins from her 7th album Love? by Sony Music. The song did not chart at the Billboard Hot 100 but charted at number 1 on the Hot/Dance Club Chart. He keep working on more tracks for her album which was released in Spring 2011 by Def Jam.^{[dated info][8][dated info]} He also collaborated on, produced and wrote Snoop Dogg's "Gangsta Luv", which is on the 2009 album Malice n Wonderland.

The-Dream and Tricky Stewart have worked on Ciara's fourth studio album titled "Basic Instinct", which was released on December 14, 2010, and was executive produced by the trio. He co-wrote her lead single titled "Ride", which was released in April 2010, and went on to become a R&B smash hit and her twelfth top ten hit on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.^[38]

The-Dream received a fair amount of backlash for his cover of singer Aaliyah's song "One in a Million". Upon the release of the song, fans of Aaliyah bombarded radio shows and blog sites with distaste for The-Dream's rendition.^[39]

He also worked alongside Tricky Stewart on Jessica Simpson's Christmas album titled Happy Christmas, released on November 22, 2010, and also working on Simpson's upcoming pop album, to be released in 2011.^{[dated info]}

The-Dream produced a music single for Kim Kardashian, "Jam (Turn It Up)", released in March 2, 2011 and then worked on Beyoncé's album titled 4, released on June 28, 2011.

On March 16, 2012, Billboard posted an interview with The-Dream, where he talked about having been given the opportunity to go in to the studio in a few weeks to work with Shakira, and how excited he is for the track.^[40]

Personal life[link]

The-Dream married girlfriend Nivea in 2004, whom he had been dating for one year. Together they had three children, daughter Navy Talia (on May 10, 2005); and twin sons London and Christian (April 2006). They had been married for three years when Nivea filed for legal separation in December 2007. The-Dream said that although he was in love with Nivea, his lack of experience in a family growing up meant he was "not taught how much more than love does it take to run a relationship. Like, 'cause love isn't just where it's gonna end. It can't start and stop with love. There has to be a certain amount of knowledge and patience that's acquired in order to keep it going and keep it straight, and I found out the hard way".^[41]

The-Dream began dating Christina Milian in early 2009; she became pregnant. The Daily Mail reported that "the pregnancy was a surprise, but they were getting married regardless".^[42] They then became engaged in June 2009.^[43] In August, it was reported that they had applied for a marriage license in Los Angeles. On September 4, 2009, The-Dream married Christina Milian at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas.^[44] The-Dream said in an interview that Nivea was still a good friend of his, and that she was also friends with Milian.^[45] Milian gave birth to their daughter Violet Madison Nash on February 26, 2010.^[46] Milian and The-Dream announced their separation on July 12, 2010 ^[47] after photos surfaced of The-Dream vacationing with his assistant.^[48]

In addition to music, The-Dream revealed he is currently working on a TV reality series for MTV where he will scout aspiring singers,^[8] and plans to release a clothing line called Millionaire Love Affair.^[33]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Love Hate (2007)
• Love vs. Money (2009)
• Love King (2010)
• Love IV MMXII (2012)

Free album

• 1977 (2011)

Awards and nominations[link]