Daily Dad News

MTV News Shines Light On Hip Hop Dads

January 26, 2012

A report today (January 26) from MTV News Senior Writer Rob Markman highlighted the rise in the profile of fatherhood within the world of Hip-Hop. Markman’s piece zeroed in on the most recent big name announcement of Jay-Z and Beyonce’s arrival of their baby girl Blue Ivy and other familiar names in Rap music.

Tough-talking Bronx rapper Fat Joe has enjoyed a long career from underground wordsmith to finding commercial success in his later years. As a father of a teenaged son, Ryan, Joe (born Joseph Cartagena) cautions his son not to follow his former street past. “Everywhere he goes people tell him, 'I remember when your father was this, this and that,' so he's tryin' to live up to that," Joe said to MTV News. "But I'm tryin' to tell him, 'Yo, we live in a mansion, B, like you know that's done.'”

Currently incarcerated on a two-year gun possession charge, rapper Ja Rule expressed dismay to MTV over not being present for his children. “She needs her father," Rule said regarding his teenaged daughter, Brittany. "My boys, they need me right now too, as well as my wife.”

The article continues, focusing on Nick Cannon’s foray into fatherhood with his wife Mariah Carey, rapper Fabolous and budding reality TV star T.I. all detailing how they’ve all balanced their careers with their other responsibilities as parents.  Fat Joe captured the difficulty of the balance between rap fame and fatherhood by saying, “It's serious being a hip-hop rapper and being a father in the real world.”

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