Art will soon imitate Fat Joe’s life… 

Showtime and BET Studios are developing the television project based on The Book of Jose, a pilot about the 51-year-old Puerto Rican and Cuban American hip hop star.

Fat Joe, whose real name is Joseph Cartagena, will executive produce alongside pilot script writer Jorge A. Reyes and Kenya Barris.

The Book of Jose is a rags-to-riches story following Fat Joe’s evolution from growing up in the drug and violence-scarred streets of the Bronx to becoming a Grammy-nominee, producer, and actor with a career spanning nearly three decades. The project will follow every phase of Joe’s life and the threats that have come in the form of rivals, addiction, incarceration, and death. All of which showed the artist that resilience and the love of his family are the only paths to success.

The Book of Jose comes from Barris’ Khalabo Ink Society in collaboration with Cinema Giants, Buffalo Kid Films, and Artists First. It will be produced through Khalabo Ink Society’s overall deal with BET Studios, where Barris is also a principal partner.

Also serving as executive producers alongside Cartagena, Barris, and Reyes is E. Brian Dobbins, and pilot director Jessy Terrero. Luis F. Velasco and Ulysses Terrero will produce and Ashley Acevedo will AP.