Fat Joe says he knows the Video Music Awards aren't the right place to be exchanging salvos with 50 Cent, but he didn't plan it that way.
"I had no intentions of going to the VMAs and starting no drama," Joe said Monday in Miami. "This is
"I'm thinking, 'OK, we're about to fight.' I'm like, 'We're about to get it on right here at the VMAs?' " — Fat Joe
Photos from this story
2005 VMA Show Highlights
Joe. MTV shows me love. I come to these events to have a good time. I never had any type of incidents before. But at a certain point, what do you do?"
While introducing the acts for the reggaeton performance, Joe joked that the G-Unit brought tons of police with them. Later, during 50's set, the leader of the G-Unit retaliated by calling Joe a "pu---."
What the audience at home didn't see was that during the commercial break before the reggaeton set, 50 got up from his seat and started walking the house, going up in the stands, down to the floor, slapping five to attendees like Jay-Z and Diddy's kids and even stood several feet from Joe, leaving everyone bewildered. All this was done moments before Joe was shown on-air. The Terror Squad Don said Fif's action were blatantly meant to taunt him.
"He's up in the stands waving at me," Joe explained. "Then he's walking around, and when I'm waiting to introduce the reggaeton dudes, he gets on the stage. I'm thinking, 'OK, we're about to fight.' I'm like, 'We're about to get it on right here at the VMAs?' "
During the live broadcast, viewers could also hear members of the G-Unit yelling at Joe while he was onstage.
"I said what I said because there's only so much you can take," Joe explained. "This guy is jumping onstage and nobody said anything to him. He did 'Piggy Bank,' I made my record ['My 44'] and said I'm out of it. I'm done. Then you have Tony Yayo trying to dis me every chance he gets. 50 is making music videos about me (see "50 Mocks Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Game, Nas In 'Piggy Bank' Video"). What am I supposed to do? I have to defend myself. I was trying not to pay them no mind, until he jumped on the stage."
Joe said he anticipated there might be some friction between himself and the G-Unit, so he stayed out of the audience for most of the show — not out of fear, but to avoid the sort of confrontation that would disrespect the show.
Joe said he doesn't know what turn the beef will take next.
Ironically, Sunday afternoon at Miami's Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 50 said he was done going back and forth with Joe. But he also admitted to pushing Joe's buttons with "Piggy Bank" last winter (see "50 Cent's LP Pushed Up, Harsh 'Facts' Sound Like Disses On Leaked 'Piggy Bank'").
"Before I put out my record, I knew Fat Joe would respond first," 50 said of the song. "It's pride, Latino pride. You can't escape that.
"I made a two-bar reference on 'Piggy Bank' 'cause that's all I got for him to let him know [my feelings]," 50 added. "Then his [album All or Nothing] comes out and only sells 100,000 copies. It's obvious he doesn't generate the interest of the general public, so he doesn't generate mine either. I just had to let him know. 'Cause the kid in the schoolyard who doesn't want to fight always leaves with a black eye. It'll make a coward brave when they see you're afraid."
50 also said he was in no way afraid of being in the same venue with so many people he's had differences with — such as Game, Lil' Kim and Fat Joe — and was anticipating a phenomenal awards show. "Lil' Kim sits two rows behind me, she'll watch me win," he laughed.
50 was in Miami shooting Olivia's new video for "So Sexy" and unable to be reached for comment Wednesday (August 31). The G-Unit's Tony Yayo was on BET's "106 & Park" on Monday and told host Big Tigger that "50 was having a bad day" and that Fif's dis of Joe was a retaliatory act. Yayo also explained 50 went into the stands as a way to embrace his fans.
