By itself, there's nothing wrong with the New York Yankees picking rapper Fat Joe to perform before Game 3 of the World Series. When it comes with the Yankees down 0-2 in the series and after Ice Cube performed in Los Angeles before Game 2 at Dodger Stadium, it looks a little different.
The fans took notice.
Just days after he electrified Barclays Center, first at the WNBA Finals then at the New York Liberty's championship celebration, his performance fell flat at Yankee Stadium. Fair or not, fans lit him up on social media.
Fat Joe performed on the field ahead of Yankees-Dodgers Game 3 🔥pic.twitter.com/y7URITubuW
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 29, 2024
“Fat Joe & Nestor Cortes battling it out for worst World Series performance,” wrote one fan, comparing Fat Joe to the Yankees pitcher who gave up Freddie Freeman's majestic walk-off home run in Game 1.
Another fan drew a direct line between Ice Cube and Fat Joe.
“Dear New York, Fat Joe is not Ice Cube. Sincerely, The rest of us,” they wrote.
Unfortunately for Fat Joe, he had to follow Yankees legend Derek Jeter, who threw a perfect strike with his ceremonial first pitch. The contrast was apparent, and Newsday's Anthony Rieber suggested the two of them should have switched. At minimum, it would have given the Yankees more entertainment than the first few innings of Game 3.
“Maybe Fat Joe should have thrown out the first pitch and Jeter should have rapped,” he wrote.
The game started poorly from the Yankees and, to this point, has only gotten worse. After starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt walked Shohei Ohtani, he gave up another home run to Freeman, who is on the fast-track to earning World Series MVP honors. He took the crowd out of the game from the jump.
“Yankee Stadium is so quiet right now. You would think Fat Joe was performing again,” another fan quipped.
A number of other viewers also noticed that the rapper broke a couple cardinal rules. Those rules involved him stepping both on the mound and the foul lines during his performance — certainly a bad omen for superstitious Yankees fans.
With Schmidt bounced from the game early, it's hard to say otherwise.