Fat Joe says he's conflicted because he believes some of the "hottest rappers" in the game are "rats," and he used Gunna's new album as an example.
On the latest episode of his podcast Joe and Jada, co-hosted with Jadakiss, Joe accused fans of ignoring that some of hip-hop's biggest stars are snitches.
Joe said he won't support a rapper who's been hit with "rat" allegations.
"My thing is now, you got some guys that are the hottest guys in the game. Rats," Joe said. "Like I get a phone call from somebody. He says, 'Yo man, you got to check this album out.' ... Listen, ever since I assumed you a rat, your people ain't fucking with you no more. I'm off you no matter what you do."
Joe eventually admitted that he was referring to Gunna's The Last Wun and that he was a fan of the work. But Joe was conflicted because Gunna took an Alford plea deal in the YSL racketeering trial that granted his early release from prison and led many to believe he told on Young Thug.
For Joe, the conflict runs deeper than industry chatter. He recalled a painful memory from his past when a close friend turned informant after getting charged by the federal government.
Joe said drug dealers confronted him in a restaurant over the betrayal, forcing him to defend his honor. That moment affected how Joe views loyalty today, he said, and he knows how to appreciate the craft without compromising his own principles.
"I never went to see this guy one time in my life after he ratted because he violated the code," Joe said, recounting how he heard the man later struggled through winters in New York without a jacket. "I've been through this in my life. And so to see it so acceptable how everybody's acting like, 'Yo, it's OK, it's no problem, it's good music. ... Let's separate the art form from what it is.'"
Gunna remains one of hip-hop's most polarizing figures. His courtroom admission that YSL was both a label and a gang divided fans and peers alike, despite his legal team insisting the plea did not amount to cooperation with prosecutors.
Rap heavyweights, including Lil Baby, Lil Durk, and Freddie Gibbs, have all seemed to distance themselves from the Drip Season artist.
Yet Gunna's momentum hasn't slowed. His album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 80,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. for its first week of release and marks the rapper's seventh top 10-charting effort.
