''Don Cartagena'' is the third studio album by American rapper

Fat Joe Joseph Antonio Cartagena (born August 19, 1970), better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper. He began recording as a member of Hip-hop, hip hop group D.I.T.C., Diggin' in the Crates Crew (D.I.T.C.) in 1992, and pursued a sol ...

. It was released on September 1, 1998 through

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

Big Beat Big beat is an electronic music genre that usually uses heavy breakbeats and synthesizer-generated loops and patterns – common to acid house/techno. The term has been used by the British music industry to describe music by artists such as the ...

, Mystic Entertainment Group and Fat Joe's Terror Squad Productions. Production was handled by Armageddon, Baby Paul, Buckwild, Curt Gowdy, Dame Grease, DJ Premier, JAO, L.E.S., Mack 10, Marley Marl, Rashad Smith, Ski Beatz, Spunk Bigga, V.I.C. and Younglord, with Craig Kallman, Fat Joe and Greg Angelides serving as executive producers. It features

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

s from fellow Terror Squad members Big Punisher, Armageddon, Prospect, Cuban Link and Triple Seis, as well as Charli Baltimore, Jadakiss,

Krayzie Bone Anthony Henderson (born June 17, 1973), better known as Krayzie Bone, is an American rapper. He is a member of the hip-hop group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Career Solo After finding success with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Krayzie Bone recorded his so ...

, Layzie Bone,

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air (S ...

, Noreaga, Puff Daddy,

Raekwon Corey Woods (born January 12, 1970), better known by his stage name Raekwon ( ), is an American rapper. He rose to prominence as a founding member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, which achieved mainstream success following the release of the ...

and Rell. The album debuted at number seven on the US ''Billboard'' 200, selling 106,000 copies in its first week. On October 28, 1998, it was certified Gold by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

for sales of over 500,000 units in the United States. It was supported with two singles: "Don Cartagena" and "Bet Ya Man Can't (Triz)". Its lead single, "Don Cartagena", peaked at number 2 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 and number 40 on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

in the US. The second single from the album, "Bet Ya Man Can't (Triz)", made it to number 54 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and also marked Fat Joe's first entry on the UK singles chart, reaching number 97. Both singles featured accompanying music videos. Though not released as a single, a music video for ''John Blaze'' was made.

Critical reception

''Don Cartagena'' received generally favourable reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

. Matt Diehl of ''

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'' praised the album, writing that Fat Joe's "blunt lyrical flow, infectious Latino pride, and appropriately ominous grooves make these gangsta tales explode like a sonic Scarface". Soren Baker of ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' called it "Joe's triumphant return project", adding "Joe largely sticks to ultra-violent lyrics and gangster story lines. The album's appeal rests largely on his ability to effortlessly mix gangsterism and braggadocio. Joe's menacing voice and thunderous production create a masterful musical atmosphere that thrills and intimidates", and resumed: "a superb blend of hard-core sounds and sensibilities, ''Don Cartagena'' places Fat Joe among rap's elite".

Track listing

;Notes *Track 11 is produced by Victor "V.I.C." Padilla, who is a member of Ghetto Professionals and The Beatnuts. The production credits are shared between the two production teams (Ghetto Pros & The Beatnuts) in the liner notes. ;Sample credits *Track 6 contains elements from " Don't You Know That?" written and performed by

Luther Vandross Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American Soul music, soul and Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Over his career, he achieved eleven consecutive RIAA certification, RIAA-certified ...

. *Track 7 contains a sample from " How High" by Method Man & Redman. *Track 10 contains samples from " Got to Be Real" performed by Cheryl Lynn and an interpolation of " No Time" written by Kimberly Jones,

Sean Combs Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Diddy, and formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer, and record executive. Born in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon, New York, Mount Ve ...

and Steven Jordan.

Personnel

*Joseph "

" Cartagena — vocals, executive producer *Christopher " Big Pun" Rios — vocals (tracks: 3, 6, 7, 10, 12, 15) *Richard "Prospect" Perez — vocals (tracks: 3, 12, 15) *John "Armageddon" Eaddy — vocals (tracks: 4, 12, 13, 15), producer & mixing (track 13) *Sean " Puffy" Combs — vocals (track 5) *Nasir "

" Jones — vocals (track 7) *Jason " Jadakiss" Phillips — vocals (track 7) *Corey "

" Woods — vocals (track 7) *Tiffany " Charli Baltimore" Lane — vocals (track 8) *Gerrell " Rell" Gaddis — vocals (track 8) *David Anthony " Kid Capri" Love Jr. — voice (track 8) *Felix " Cuban Link" Delgado — vocals (tracks: 10, 12, 15) *Sammy "Triple Seis" Garcia — vocals (tracks: 10, 12) *Lo-Key — additional vocals (track 10) *Victor " Noreaga" Santiago — vocals (track 11) *Steven " Layzie Bone" Howse — vocals (track 14) *Anthony "

" Henderson — vocals (track 14) *Rodolfo " DJ Clark Kent" Franklin — scratches (track 2) *Gerald Flowers — guitar (track 7) *Martha Mooke — viola (track 7) *Chris " DJ Spinbad" Sullivan — scratches (track 7) *Larry Devore — strings arrangement (track 7) *Barry Salter — guitar (track 8) * Dinky Bingham — keyboards (track 8) *Rob "Reef" Tewlow — keyboards and additional programming (track 11), co-executive producer, A&R *Darryl McClary — keyboards and additional programming (track 11) *Dedrick " Mack 10" Rolison — producer (track 1) *Leshan " L.E.S." Lewis — producer & mixing (track 2) *Damon " Dame Grease" Blackmon — producer & mixing (track 3) *Marlon " Marley Marl" Williams — producer & engineering (track 4) *Richard " Younglord" Frierson — producer & mixing (track 5) *Paul Anthony " Baby Paul" Hendricks — producer & mixing (track 6) *David " Ski" Willis — producer & mixing (track 7) *Anthony " Buckwild" Best — producer & mixing (track 8) *Christopher " DJ Premier" Martin — producer (track 9) *J. "JAO" Ortiz — producer (track 10) *Victor "V.I.C." Padilla — producer & mixing (track 11) *Anthony "Spunk Bigga" Blagmon — producer & mixing (track 12) * Rashad Smith — producer & mixing (track 14) *Richard "Curt Gowdy" Pimentel — producer (track 15) *Christian "Soundboy" Delatour — recording (tracks: 2–6, 8–14), mixing (tracks: 12, 13), mixing assistant (track 6) *Paul Gregory — recording (track 6), recording assistant (track 8) * Ken "Duro" Ifill — recording (track 7), mixing (tracks: 2, 7, 8) *Dexter Thibou — recording & mixing assistant (track 9) *Gustavo Garces — recording (track 14) *Rich Keller — recording (track 15), mixing (tracks: 3, 15) *Rich Travali — mixing (tracks: 5, 6, 10) *Eddie Sancho — mixing (track 9) *Phil Pagano — mixing (track 11) * Romeo Antonio — mixing (track 14) *Gregory "Gold" Wilson — recording assistant (tracks: 6, 12), mixing assistant (track 12) *Nikos Teneketzis — recording assistant (tracks: 7, 10, 12, 13), mixing assistant (tracks: 2, 5, 7, 8, 10–14) *Tom Hughes — recording assistant (track 11) *Carlisle Young — mixing assistant (track 3) * Leon Zervos — mastering *Gregory J. Angelides — executive producer * Craig Kallman — executive producer *Eric Altenburger — art direction, design * Michael Lavine — photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1998 albums Fat Joe albums Atlantic Records albums Albums produced by Buckwild Albums produced by Ski Beatz Albums produced by DJ Premier Albums produced by Dame Grease Albums produced by Marley Marl Albums produced by Rashad Smith Albums produced by L.E.S. (record producer) Big Beat Records (American record label) albums