Fat Joe Reveals 200-Pound Weight Loss and Battle With Depression: 'I Really Wanna Be Here for a Long Time'

etonline.com:

for the outlet's ongoing «Hip Hop Health» content series, which examines how the evolution of the health of Black and brown men can be traced through the genre, in honor of hip-hop's 50th anniversary.

Fat Joe divulges how shedding more than 200 pounds saved his life and revealed an entirely new person along the way.The rapper shares that it was after entering a period of depression following the death of several close friends due to heart conditions, including the unexpected death of his best friend and mentee, Big Pun, that he realized he had to make a change in his life.«I went to his funeral and I felt like Ebenezer Scrooge.

Like, I seen me,» Joe explains. «And I'm looking at his little daughter. She was the same age as my daughter. I said, 'You gotta lose weight; otherwise, you outta here.'»Joe likened his depression to «the most complex Rubik's Cube you could ever, ever, ever, ever try to figure out,» even recalling a  scene in which Keanu Reeves, as Neo, sits in the bathtub with a rubber duck on his head.«That's what depression was like to me.

When you're fighting yourself, there isn't a wall high enough that you can build. There isn't an island you can go to. There isn't a place you can go to where you get away from it, because you're fighting your mind,» he explains.