Fat Joe said the police tried to frame him for murder

Fat Joe isn't one of those rappers who built their street rep in a music studio. Growing up in the South Bronx, which was considered one of the most dangerous areas in the U.S. back in the day, it's safe to say that he knows a thing or two about the streets.

But that doesn't mean he wanted to be attached to a murder rap but that's exactly what happened to him. In a newly released interview on Shannon Sharpe's Club Shay Shay podcast, Joe said the police tried to frame him.

“I had the cops on me. The cops tried to frame me, like, three times for murder," he explained. "This is a true story. I don’t really talk about it but framed. The police was trying to get me out of there. The people was trying to get me out of there."

"It was like public enemy number one, but my community loved me so they would protect me," Joe added. "When the cops came, the old ladies would let me in their house and they would save me all the time."

Before that, Joe explained how he got his tough guy street reputation and said it started when he was a kid. The "Lean Back" rapper recalled being bullied at a young age and getting beat up. Then one of his friends turned on him and jumped him with others. Joe said that changed everything, because he was ready to go to war with any and everybody.

"That moment right there changed my whole life," he said. "That was the birth of Joey Crack. It was no longer Fat Joey. It's like, 'I don't care about nobody' ... My heart just turned black. It's like I'm giving it to everybody, and that's where the legend of Joey Crack began."