Fat Joe isn’t thinking about any hip-hop verses — new or old — coming at him. He’s been out in Africa and other parts of the world on tour, trying to stack his bread. When he gets back to the States, Crack is going to be working on his new album.

“I’m doing something rare,” he said with a smile while visiting MTV News last week. “I’m taking my time with this album. I’m just picking beats. So far, it’s crazy, man. I’m just walking my dogs, making sure I’m picking these beats right, and I’m gonna go for it in a super-major way. I’m trying to come out with four smashes. I got eight songs for the album already. Two of them are those outta-here joints. Nothing you can do. You know when you hear a song on the radio and the first time you hear it, you be like, ‘This guy might have one’? When you get that first reaction? I got some of those sitting, waiting. I feel like it’s survival of the fittest. I’ve been around so long — ‘What could Fat Joe do that he hasn’t done yet?’ It’s about chasing history for me. Putting up these hits.

“Right now, it’s hard,” he added. “Akon did something for me. I teamed with these producers called the Incredibles. Ron Browz gave me a phenomenal joint. The kid Infamous from [Lil Wayne's] ‘Mr. Carter,’ he gave me a joint. These producers are going in that treasure chest, like, ‘Let’s give Joe this one.’ I hear ‘em, and I’m like, ‘Wooooooo!’ ”

Joe’s last LP, The Elephant in the Room, featured his hip-hop idol, KRS-One. So where will Joe go after rapping alongside his hero? For the new LP, he’s amped to have his good friend Weezy F. Baby along for the ride.