Fat Joe Avoided Being a "Shock Jock" on His New Talk Show: "I'm Not Looking for Clout" (EXCLUSIVE)

Whether you know him as Joey Crack, his government name, Joseph Antonio Cardenas, or by his more well-known pseudonym, Fat Joe, the Bronx-born and raised rapper has made sure he keeps himself on pop culture's radar. He continues debuting new music, including his Summer 2024 single, "Outta Control," with Remy Ma. The single's release also resulted in Joe confirming an album is in the works, his first since his 2021 project, "What Would Big Do?"

Joe's stamp on the music industry contributed to his eye for a hit song and a good story. In August 2024, he announced he was taking his storytelling and conversational skills to his Starz talk show, Fat Joe Talkz. His new venture allows him to, "use my voice in a new way" by speaking to many of his friends and industry peers he believes are "shifting the culture" like Method Man, Hakeem Jeffries, T.I., and more.

Distractify spoke to Joe about hosting his talk show and how he ensured the show didn't look like anything fans have seen from him, or any other talk show hosts who came before him — except for one of the greatest.

While it seems many talk shows and podcasts want the added attention that comes with their interview blowing up, Joe has been there, done that, and wants to get real. He said he wanted his show to skip the celebrity gossip format and focus on genuine conversations with some of his oldest friends.

"The whole premise of the show is being a fly on the wall, privy to conversations you would have never heard because it's coming amongst two friends," he explained. "I'm not a shock jock. I'm not looking for the clout or attention. I'm about getting to the meat of the story and inspiring people, that's what this is all about."

Some in-depth conversations include him visiting Method Man's hometown and discussing their decades-long friendship, his group, Wu-Tang Clan's legacy, and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. He also interviewed his other longtime friend, Mary J. Blige, for the show and told us the interview allowed him to challenge himself as a host by taking "the perspective of a female like I was a female interviewer."

He added that fans will see those conversations more as the show continues and discover something new in each episode.

"Every episode has a different approach, it ain't the same thing, the same old conversation," he said. "Of course, the whole thing is about turning the negative to a positive, and telling everybody's story from where we came from. From humble beginnings, the trials and tribulations and how we got past that."

When Joe decided to launch his own show after years of podcasting, guest hosting The Wendy Williams Show, and eventually auditioning to replace Wendy Williams with Remy Ma, he only had one person in mind when thinking about his competition.

"Now that I'm in the talk game, there's only one person I can compete with, and that's Oprah Winfrey," he told Distractify. "And so that's where I'm at with it, with that's the type of level that I want to compete with."

"And if I fall short, at least, you know, I knew I was going for the stars," he added. "So everything with me is grand slam or nothing."

Joe also admitted that to compare himself to the daytime queen confidently, he needed a hint of delulu, which he picked up early in his career.

"I personally am delusional," he quips. "Every artist has a little bit of narcissism in them. When you go on stage and tell 40,000 people, 'look at me, look at me,' There's a little narcissism in there."

Fat Joe Talkz airs on Starz on Fridays at 9 p.m. EST.