Fat Joe is one the glossiest veterans in rap. Tracks like 2005's “Lean Back” or his new single “Make It Rain” are tailor-made for radio, but don't get it twisted; Joe knows where he's from. The early 90s saw Joe as a member of New York's legendary Diggin' In The Crates crew, which consisted of fellow legends like Buckwild, Diamond D, and the late Big L, and was also best friends with the late Big Pun, whom many consider as one of the best lyricists of all time.

This year, Joey Crack seems to be taking it back to his roots. His upcoming album, Me, Myself & I is an independent release, and he vows that the aforementioned LP is filled with more street bangers instead of pop tarts (writer's note: from the six songs I've heard from the album, he's stuck to his word). In an interview with HipHopDX, Fat Joe talks about shifting toward a mainstream-friendly direction, calls for a Diggin' In The Crates reunion, and battles accusations about not taking care of the late Big Pun's family.

HipHopDX: The past few years—specifically since “Lean Back”—have really seen you come out into the limelight as a superstar, with instant recognition. How has life been different for you since then?

Fat Joe: It's great. I get to go different direction with everything I do now, and get more of a priority when I come out and put something together. That's why I put out this album independently: I was popular enough, and enough of a celebrity, and enough niggas feel me, so that I could do something like this and be successful at it.

HipHopDX: Talk about the album a bit.

Fat Joe: The album is called Me, Myself & I, in stores November 14. The single “Make It Rain” is with Lil Wayne, we just shot the video. Puff, Rick Ross, Scott Storch, Dre, Weezy Baby, everybody's up in there. The album is called Me, Myself & I because it's a personal album for me. I locked myself in the room, called my favorite producers and told them to send me tracks, and just wrote away. None of my crew heard the album, I didn't really take no creative input on the album. I did it exactly how I wanted to do it, it's real personal.

(For example) I've got a song called “Maria,” dedicated to my mother that's real personal. Talking about our struggles as a family, how strong she was to help us survive in the severe. It's a deep song, and when you hear it, you feel like you're there. I know I feel like I'm there.

HipHopDX: It's an independent album, but you're also with Virgin. How does that work?

Fat Joe: They're actually distributing the album. I just felt like partnering up with a place that has the capabilities, that if we put out a record and it's going to a certain place where maybe an independent can't chase it like that, we have can have the big boys kick in and help us out. That was important to me.

HipHopDX: It seems like your last album, critics loved it, but it seemed slept on pretty badly.

Fat Joe: Fat Joe's albums are always slept on. I'm the most slept on MC. And then what happens is, it's sad, because a fucking year later, people who sleep on the album put in the album and figure out the shit was hot. Fuckers start coming up to me a year later, like, “You know what? I just copped the album, and that shit is crazy!” I'm like, “Yeah, all right. Why didn't you cop it the first week?” That happens to me a lot. I just feel like 20 years from now, nobody's biased, nobody's got their favorites, and people just start studying music and bodies of work, they're going to realize that Fat Joe is really, really bringing it.

HipHopDX: On the new album, you have two songs with Lil Wayne. How did you guys initially hook up?

Fat Joe: Lil Wayne is my favorite rapper out right now. DJ Khaled in Miami, he put us together. And the rest is history and magic. It's an honor to work with a young brother at the top of his game, and he lights a fire on me, makes me step up my game.

HipHopDX: You've also got The Game on there.

Fat Joe: It's crazy. (The song with Game) is the second single, we should go to Jamaica to shoot that (video). Game's a good brother. His first album was a classic. We share the same goals, same views on the state of hip-hop, paying respects, unifying hip-hop. ... I feel him, I feel his vibe.

HipHopDX: You switch up your flow a whole lot these days. Is that a conscious effort, or is that just to fit the production you work with at the time?

Fat Joe: That's that new shit. Back in the day, if you picked up the first or second Fat Joe album, it was just one flow, it was a lot of screaming. This is what I've worked on. I've crafted the art to where I could hit different flows, hit different concepts, different shit on my albums. So where you could be like, “Damn, he's really stepping his game up.” That's where I'm at with it. Just trying to learn to take it to different places.

HipHopDX: Do you have any plans to work with people you used to work with? Buckwild, Showbiz, Lord Finesse, etc.?

Fat Joe: I would love to, I'm trying to get a Diggin In The Crates reunion album going. But we aren't little kids in the same project no more, just loving hip-hop. They go and do their own thing. I'm dying to, because truthfully, when I was coming up, everybody was better than me. Now, I'm definitely on their level, so I'm trying to show my ass on this album. This is my come-up album. You can call me Phife from Tribe Called Quest! I'm coming up!

HipHopDX: When you look at your hip-hop roots, you've taken a real different direction. As your status rose, you also began to make records with Nelly, Paris Hilton, and Jennifer Lopez. What prompted that change of direction?

Fat Joe: I grew. I got in this game to be a superstar, ya know?. I love underground hardcore hip-hop, and the majority of the new album is like that. But I also like songs that you see me perform on the MTV Awards, BET Awards. I try to make huge records, and sometimes when you do that, you have to take criticism. You live with those regrets, because people somehow want you to stay stuck in a time machine. They just want you to do the same shit; but when you start to do the same shit, they say that you're played out. You've just got to work and expand your craft.

HipHopDX: There have been accusations out there that you haven't taken care of Pun's family since he died, and people note his family selling Pun's things on eBay for money.

Fat Joe: We don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, but I try to hold Pun's legacy with dignity and pride. I definitely taken care of them, and find ways for them to make money. At the end of the day—not opening up a big can of worms—but I've made sure they've made way more money than you'll ever make in your life, you know what I'm saying? If they spend it unwisely, they keep coming back, (but) I've got family and kids, too. These people have been rich, so if they spend their money unwisely when they get it,. And we go all out to get them money, and they keep coming back every year making an accusation that we don't take care of them, and then we go all out to get them more money, and then it every single time it keeps happening, it starts feeling like extortion. It is what it is. I definitely got his family more money than any normal human beings would be getting in their lifetime, so for them not to have money, it's spending money unwisely. That's the only way I can say that without disrespecting.

To read the review for Me Myself & I CLICK HERE