Fat Joe Says Jay-Z and 50 Cent Beef Cost Him Jordan and Reebok Sneaker Deals

Fat Joe revealed that two of his sneaker deals fell through due to high-profile rap beefs.

In a new episode of Sneaker Shopping with Complex’s Joe La Puma, the rapper discussed his failed Jordan and Reebok deals.

“I was the first rapper with a Jordan sneaker. Not only that, designed by Michael Jordan,” he said, recalling that the model was either going to be a Jordan 3 or 4.

However, Jordan passed on working with Joey Crack following a tense moment at the 2005 MTV VMAs involving 50 Cent. Joe remembered receiving a phone call from an executive at the brand. “‘Yo, Big Joe, you know, I’m not with controversy. Maybe we look at this in the future,’” the exec told him.

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Around that time, his Reebok deal also fell through due to his feud with Jay-Z.

“Reebok had approached me and was like, ‘Yo, we want to do a sneaker with you for millions,’” Joe said. “I caught the squeeze play cuz Hov was over there and 50 Cent.”

He said at some point, the head of Reebok called him to renege on the sneaker. “He said, ‘Yo, I ain’t know you not cool with Hov.’”

“They shut it down. They was just like, ‘Yo, we won’t do business with you if you give this guy a sneaker.’ That’s part of the karma. It’s part of the ins and outs. I’ve done it to other guys. It came back to me.”

At the time of the 2005 VMAs, Joe and Fif were already at odds and brought their feud to the awards show. 50 made multiple attempts to get a rise out of Joe, including waving at Joe from the cheap seats while he presented awards, 50 wandering on stage during commercial breaks, and 50 yelling at Joe while the show was live.

Joe eventually broke, saying on stage, “‘I feel safe with all the police protection courtesy of G-Unit.’” His barb led 50 to call him a “pussy” on stage.

Joe and Jay-Z were also beefing in 2004. While it’s unclear what exactly ignited their feud, one reason many point to is mounting tensions on the basketball court. That year, at the New York City’s Entertainment Basketball Classic at Harlem’s Rucker Park, Jay’s team forfeited to Joe’s when they didn’t show up to the championship game. The moment prompted Joe to take a shot at Hov on the 2004 single, “Lean Back.”

“I don’t wanna speak about the Rucker / Not even Pee Wee Kirkland could imagine this / My n***a didn’t have to play to win the championship,” Joe raps.

Joe eventually squashed his beef with both rappers. He and Fif began their reconciliation following the 2012 death of their mutual friend, Chris Lighty. Then, a few years later in 2016, Joe and Jay deaded their issues when the pair posed for a picture at Beyoncé’s Formation tour, followed by Jay hopping on a remix of Joe and Remy Ma’s classic, “All the Way Up.”