Fat Joe, who’s filed a defamation lawsuit against one of his former employees. Photo Credit: Mika-photography
Drake isn’t the only rapper suing over allegedly false pedophilia claims. Now, Fat Joe says his former hype man defamed him with untrue allegations “of vile sexual misconduct, pedophilia, statutory rape, violence and stealing.”
54-year-old Fat Joe (real name Joseph Cartagena) just recently submitted the complaint to a federal court in his native New York. Aside from the mentioned hype man, Terrance Dixon (known professionally as TA), the complaint names as defendants attorney Tyrone Blackburn and his law firm.
For a bit of background, Fat Joe brought on TA as his hype man in or around 2006, according to the suit. Over the course of the professional relationship, which is said to have “ended amicably in 2019,” Fat Joe purportedly afforded TA “generous compensation.”
Fast forward to 2023, when TA allegedly “initiated a campaign of public harassment against” Fat Joe on social media.
“In an obvious money grab, all these years later, Dixon claims that he should have been paid more. He claims (falsely) that Cartagena recently blocked him from getting outside funding for a record label, which was the ‘last straw,'” the suit reads.
Furthermore, some of those not-so-subtle posts, which were still live on Instagram at the time of writing, accused the five-time Grammy nominee of sexual assault.
The accusations pertain in part to 2010 “inappropriate touching” allegations against Fat Joe, who denied the claims at the time and was cleared “of any involvement shortly” thereafter, per the text.
“Dixon knew that these statements were false: Cartagena never sexually assaulted anyone,” the suit maintains. “Authorities never charged or detained Cartagena…and cleared him of any involvement shortly after speaking with him. Rather, Dixon attempted to resurrect a decade plus-old false accusation and headline to support his campaign of harassment and extortion.”
Unsurprisingly, given the complaint, this alleged campaign was accompanied by demands for Fat Joe to cough up cash, per the suit.
Also unsurprisingly in light of the action, the rapper didn’t cave to the payment demands then or later in 2023, when the remarks “escalated” and “accused him [Fat Joe] of being a pedophile.”
Fast forward once more, past 2024 (when the alleged defamation continued) and into the current year. To this point in 2025, TA has allegedly levied false accusations at Fat Joe for cheating “him out of money and credit” on songs, besides penning “countless other posts attempting to belittle and humiliate” the plaintiff.
“Frustrated by his inability to overcome Cartagena’s resolve,” the complaint continues, “Dixon upped the ante by hiring” the aforementioned “Blackburn to continue his extortionate scheme.”
That attorney’s name will be familiar to some in the industry – though as Fat Joe and his counsel see things, Blackburn is only “an extortionist masquerading as a lawyer in a cynical ruse to use the court system as both a sword and a shield for his unethical conduct.”
Long story short, Fat Joe and his team are accusing Blackburn of engaging in “a pattern of unprofessional and erratic behavior that raises significant concerns.”
Said behavior includes allegedly threatening letters, an alleged threat to report Fat Joe to Homeland Security, and a whole lot else, the suit explains in more words.
And it’s against this backdrop that the defendants allegedly made massive settlement demands – one for a staggering $20 million – to prevent related litigation, according to the action.
All told, Fat Joe is suing TA for defamation and seeking relief from both TA and Blackburn for intentional infliction of emotional distress. DMN reached out to Blackburn for comment but didn’t immediately receive a response.
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