There’s nothing cool about going to jail, as Fat Joe would surely tell you as he heads in today to serve a four-month sentence for income tax evasion. But on the music side, Joe can hold his head high with another quality entry into the Darkside series courtesy of the newly-released Volume 3.
The production line-up is impressive (9th Wonder, Diamond D, Cool & Dre, the Streetrunner, Illa, DJ Premier etc.) and everyone delivers. Some of the more grandiose, “mafia-smooth” tracks like “Madison Squares” are the type of joints Rick Ross has made a living off of years. Joe sounds just as comfortable on them and just as easily switches back to his boom-bap roots on throwbacks like “Your Honor” and “The Cypher.”
“MADISON SQUARES”
“9TH WONDER”
“THE CYPHER” ft. NICK SHADES
Joe infamously declared his ability to go “southpaw” with his style years ago, but thankfully any semblance of a “trap” sound is confined to “Bass” (and the song isn’t bad at that). Lyrically, Joe has never been the type of emcee that wowed you with intricate bars, but his versatility has also been criminally underrated. On tracks like “Pain” and “Angels Sing 2,” you’ll note how he adopts the flows noticeably used before by Jay-Z and Andre 3000 with ease.
At 10 tracks, the time is perfect for the mixtape format. You’re given enough to keep you satisfied, and it’s readily apparent that the tight length prevented any filler. Additionally, Joe pulls off what all emcees should take note of for future tapes — he provides an alternate, harder edge to his sound that radio requirements prevent him for displaying on his studio albums.
Free Fat Joe. We need more work from him like this.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 
Madison Squares…Good Looks.