Eventually going by the name of Fat Joe, the rapper secured a recording contract with the Relativity label in the early '90s, resulting in the release of his full-length debut, Represent, in 1993 (which spawned the single "Flow Joe," peaking at the number one spot on Billboard's Hot Rap Singles chart). Two years later, Fat Joe issued his sophomore effort, Jealous One's Envy, which included a cameo appearance by KRS-One as well as production contributions by the likes of DJ Premier, L.E.S., and Domingo.

1998 saw the release of Fat Joe's debut for Atlantic, Don Cartagena, which featured cameo appearances by the likes of Puff Daddy, Nas, Raekwon, Big Pun, and Jadakiss (the LOX), following it up in 2001 with Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E.), which included contributions from Ludacris, Petey Pablo, M.O.P., R. Kelly, and Remy. Loyalty followed in 2002, and All or Nothing arrived three years after that. The raw Me, Myself and I from 2006 found the rapper on his own Terror Squad imprint, which was distributed by EMI. His second album for the label, The Elephant in the Room, appeared in 2008.