Fat Joe & Kenya Barris Developing Series About Rapper’s Life at Starz

Fat Joe and Starz are teaming up once again for a series about the Bronx rapper’s life.

According to Deadline, The Book of Jose will be a rags-to-riches story about Joe’s rise to fame. Born Joseph Antonio Cartagena and of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent, Fat Joe grew up in the rough-and-tumble environment of the Forest projects in the South Bronx, where he honed his skills as a graffiti artist and rapper just as hip-hop was becoming a global phenomenon.

As he rose to prominence in the New York City rap underground, Joe ran legendary crews like D.I.T.C., the Univeral Zulu Nation and Tats Cru. While already successful, his career really took off after he discovered the late Big Pun in the mid-’90s and started his own label, Terror Squad Entertainment, racking up five Grammy nominations for Joey Crack and multiple Hot 100 hits along the way.

Television veteran Kenya Barris (Black-ish) is also attached to the series as an executive producer and is penning the pilot alongside actor and filmmaker Dominic Colón, who himself is also serving as an executive producer and is set to have a recurring role in HBO’s upcoming miniseries Task starring Mark Ruffalo. Another executive producer is tapped to direct the pilot in music video director Jessy Terrero.

Fat Joe has already done business with Starz in the past with his weekly interview series Fat Joe Talks, which aired for eight episodes starting in October.

The Book of Jose was originally supposed to land at Showtime via BET Studios back in 2022, but talks didn’t go anywhere.