Fat Joe was raised in a traditional Latino family in the South Bronx, in a neighborhood not unlike the one depicted in Empire. Introduced to rap music by his older brother Angel and to business by his father, Fat Joe used the knowledge gained from his family in the development of his own music label, Mystic Entertainment, and production company, Terror Squad Productions. With his 1993 single Flow Joe (a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart), Fat Joe became one of the first Puerto Rican emcees to achieve mass success. That same year his debut album, Represent, was released on Relativity Records. In 1995, he released Jealous One's Envy, introducing listeners to the late lyricist Big Punisher. In 1997, he signed with Atlantic Records and formed his own Mystic Entertainment imprint. Fat Joe's third LP, Don Cartagena, was released in 1998, and he followed that with a fourth album, Terror Squad ? The Album, in 1999.

On the acting front, Fat Joe appeared in New Line Cinema's Prison Song. He played a double-crossing record company executive in Mack 10's 1999 movie, Thicker Than Water. He also appears in Blazin', a Romeo and Juliet story set in the underground drug world.