Fat Joe hasn’t forgotten about his old neighborhood. Earlier this week, the 46-year-old rapper and Terror Squad CEO returned to his old elementary school with a donation of 20 Microsoft computers. Fat Joe visited the Morrisania school in the South Bronx on Tuesday morning, when he presented the students with the gifts as well as some words of encouragement, the New York Daily News reports.
"In order for you to compete and use your creativity like I told you, use that switch I told you about, you have to be up to date with technology,” the rapper said during an assembly, “so we’re giving back 20 computers to [P.S.] 146.”
Fat Joe went on to stress the importance of education, and encouraged students to put in hard work in order achieve their goals.
“As long as you get an education and you stay focused, the future is yours," he said. "There’s nothing you can’t do."
The donation was made in the memory of Lisa Cartagena, Fat Joe’s younger sister and former student of P.S. 146 who had died during childbirth. The computers will arrive at the school in early 2017. The rapper later told the students he wanted to use his accomplishments and platform to give back and to inspire the youth to surpass expectations.
"We don’t want you to just be smart, we want you to be brilliant. We want you to be geniuses," he said. "Once you achieve a level of success ... you learn, something tells you, man this ain’t even for you. You got to share with the people. You got to inspire the people."
