A skilled lyricist, Fat Joe has smoothly adapted to the fast-moving rap world. A former member of the Diggin' in the Crates crew, he arrived in an era that stressed technical wordplay and hard punchlines. In the '00s he mellowed his approach alongside R&B singers R. Kelly (“We Thuggin'”) and Ashanti (“What's Luv?”). Never afraid to experiment, Fat Joe took a cue from Southern rappers by slowing his flow on the anti-dance track “Lean Back”, as well as when he teamed with fellow New Yorkers Remy Ma and French Montana on the anthemic “All the Way Up".