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Emerging from the South Bronx with his formidable crew, the Terror Squad, Fat Joe first hit the mainstream in the 1990s as one of hip-hop’s leading Latino MCs and quickly began to dominate the airwaves of the East Coast. The ‘John Blaze’ rhymer came onto the scene in a deadly decade, and from Big L to 2Pac, many hip-hop legends faced untimely deaths.

As such, the lyricist saw a wealth of talent lost to gun violence and the sorrow has stayed with him to this day. Some of the acts that died during the ’90s, like Eazy-E, have since become legends and are praised for their impact on the culture.

However, during an appearance on Jada Pinkett-Smith’s talk show Red Table Talk, Fat Joe selected the two MCs he would resurrect from the dead if he had the opportunity.

When making his decision, Joe emphasised that he wasn’t deciding based on their legendary status but instead their musicality. Unsurprisingly, he chose two New York legends that perished within years of each other, Biggie Smalls and his close friend Big Pun.

Providing an explanation for his choices, Fat Joe told Smith, “If it’s just music, it would be Biggie and Big Pun. Oh my God, these guys died so young. And they were my good friends, my brothers.”

The South Bronx native revealed that some of the highest moments of his life came after he ran across Big Pun in Morrisania, telling the host, “My best time in life was when I discovered Pun, and we went through everything.”

To the surprise of many, Fat Joe admitted that he was also close to Biggie Smalls, stating, “Biggie was my brother since day one, too! Such a beautiful guy. He didn’t have to pass away. It’s really sad.” Although Pun and Biggie’s causes of death were vastly different, as one was murdered while the other was not, both demises hit Joe just as hard.

Fat Joe and Biggie Smalls’ friendship wasn’t well-documented. However, in an interview with DJ Vlad for VladTV, the ‘Lean Back’ rhymer unveiled that he and Biggie had recorded a joint album before he passed.

Opening up about the project for the first time, Joe detailed, “I talked to Biggie almost every day. We did record, but it never came out, we were doing an album! We did like four songs. I don’t think you’ll ever hear them.”

Joe even insisted that after Diggin’ In The Crates and before the Terror Squad, he was in talks with Diddy about joining Bad Boy, recalling, “I was gonna sign to Puffy! Me and Big were gonna do an album together. So I’m the Puerto Rican don. He’s the black don. It was Biggie! Biggie brought me there and was like, ‘Let’s do an album together!'”