Fat Joe’s ‘Victory Lap (Him)’ Ties Generations of New York Rap

Fat Joe has released “Victory Lap (Him),” the first preview of a new album produced entirely by Cool & Dre and tentatively slated for mid-July. The track is a deliberate stitching of New York hip-hop history: it builds from a 1988 MC Lyte sample and folds in a brief but pointed verse from Jadakiss, while reworking the structure of “Victory,” the posthumous Notorious B.I.G. collaboration that also featured Diddy. For a rapper who has long positioned himself as a connective figure in the city’s music, the references serve as both lineage and flex.

Fat Joe has been unusually visible this spring. He’s been a constant courtside presence during the Knicks’ playoff run, a lifelong fan whose presence at the Garden dates back decades, and his twice-weekly podcast Joe & Jada with Jadakiss has built a fast-growing audience around his deadpan, digressive storytelling. The single arrives at a moment when his voice already cuts through the noise.

The upcoming album, still untitled, will be his first full-length since 2021’s The World Changed On Me. No tracklist has been shared, but the Cool & Dre partnership suggests a tightly produced, sample-rich project. “Victory Lap (Him)” arrives as an assertion of survival and place—less a victory lap than a reminder that he’s still running.