Terror Squad is an American hip hop collective that was first established in 1998. Based in The Bronx borough of New York City, the members of Terror Squad collectively debuted on a song in member Fat Joe's album Don Cartagena. Terror Squad released its debut, The Album, in 1999, with its first major hit "Whatcha Gon' Do", credited mostly to Big Pun, who died of a heart attack in 2000. After Big Pun's death, his longtime partners Cuban Link and Triple Seis left the group and were subsequently replaced by Remy Martin (later known as Remy Ma) and Tony Sunshine.

In 1998, the members of Terror Squad debuted as a group on Fat Joe's album Don Cartagena. Terror Squad, in its debut album The Album, consisted of rappers Fat Joe, Big Pun, Cuban Link, Prospect, Armageddon, and Triple Seis.

As the group was on hiatus following Pun's death, most of its former members fell into obscurity, with Fat Joe having the most successful solo career among all the former members. The group reunited and released their second album, True Story, in 2004. It included the summer club hit "Lean Back," produced by Scott Storch, which peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and 24 in the UK. A remix to "Lean Back" featured Lil Jon, Mase and Eminem was released on Fat Joe's 2005 album All or Nothing. Although the album failed to spawn other hit singles, Fat Joe and Remy, who contributed the vocals to "Lean Back," went on to release high-selling solo albums in 2006. Fat Joe commented in a 2006 interview that Armageddon and Prospect had become lazy.

Terror Squad Records is a hip hop record label founded by Fat Joe in The Bronx, New York. The label has been distributed by Atlantic Records, and Imperial Records and now E1 Music (formerly Koch Records).

Fat Joe decided to form Terror Squad Entertainment after he began to associate himself with Big Pun, which was around 1992. Early on, Fat Joe used the label for mixtape releases until he struck up a distribution deal with Relativity Records in 1993. The deal with Relativity led to the release of Fat Joe's debut album Represent in 1993. The label got plenty of exposure in New York with the release of Joe's hit single "Flow Joe". In 1994, he signed Big Pun, Prospect, and Cuban Link to the label. In 1995, Terror Squad would release Fat Joe's second album Jealous One's Envy. Soon after Fat Joe would begin his search for a new distributing label.

After seeing the success of the Terror Squad label and Fat Joe being disappointed with the album sales at Relativity, Fat Joe would move the label into the Atlantic Records umbrella. In 1998, Terror Squad debuted as a group on the track "The Hidden Hand" from Fat Joe's album Don Cartagena. In 1998, Big Pun's debut album Capital Punishment was released through Loud Records, and Fat Joe released Don Cartagena, which debuted at number 7 on the Billboard 200 chart. In 1999, Terror Squad released its debut album The Album. The album was somewhat successful and made a legit name for the group and the label. In 2000, Big Pun died, and his album Yeeeah Baby was released posthumously that year.

Christopher Lee Rios (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), while MTV2 ranked him #11 on its list of the "22 Greatest MCs."

Big Pun grew up in New York City's South Bronx neighborhood. 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. By all accounts from Pun's family, his early years were very difficult, including witnessing his mother's drug abuse, his father's death, 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.

Lamont Coleman (May 30, 1974 – February 15, 1999), better known by his stage name Big L, was an American rapper. Coleman was born and raised in Harlem, New York, where he started his rap career with Three the Hard Way. He founded the group Children of the Corn and was a member of the Diggin' in the Crates Crew before pursuing a solo career. His first professional appearance came on Lord Finesse's "Yes You May (Remix)". He released his debut album, Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous in 1995, and significantly contributed to the underground hip hop scene. He created his own independent label, Flamboyant Entertainment, in 1998 where he released one of his best known singles "Ebonics" (1998).

On February 15, 1999, Coleman was killed by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in his hometown of Harlem. Suspects, including the main suspect Gerald Woodley, were brought in for questioning, but no one was found guilty. His second studio album, The Big Picture was put together by Coleman's manager, Rich King. It was released the following year and certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

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. 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.