Loyalty

Loyalty is the name of the game for Fat Joe this time out, as it relates to fans still true to the Bronx’s hardest rapper despite chart success with Ashanti, his own loyalty to his hardcore past considering there’s a spate of joints for the ladies this time out, and having his loyalty to deceased partner Big Pun questioned by Pun’s widow in a highly publicized radio bout just before the album’s release. Driven by the breakout of his Ashanti duet “What’s Luv?,” Loyalty comes with hardcore-but-hot joints like the sleek single “Crush Tonight” (with Ginuwine), “Bust at You,” the Irv Gotti production “Turn Me On,” and “TS Piece” (the latter with Terror Squad’s Remy holding up the female end). Fat Joe proves he’s still got a lot of hardcore in him, though, with “Gangsta” and “Born in the Ghetto,” plus another volume in the “Sh*t Is Real” saga and a new Terror Squad anthem, “Prove Something.” – John Bush