Fat Joe and Remy Ma brought “Lean Back” back to the streets of Manhattan, and this time the whole city was watching.
Fat Joe and Remy Ma brought Lean back back to the streets of Manhattan, and this time the whole city was watching.
The duo performed at the New York Knicks’ NBA championship parade on June 18, joining a float full of New York rap royalty as fans lined Broadway for the Canyon of Heroes ticker tape parade.
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The Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs in five games to claim their first NBA title since 1973, ending a 53-year drought.
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‘Lean Back’ performance during Knicks Parade
Fat Joe revealed in a Sports center interview that Knicks leadership personally tapped him to oversee the hip-hop division for the parade, giving him broad creative control over the float’s lineup.
The result was a roster that included Wu-Tang Clan, The Lox, Q-Tip, Mary J. Blige, Fabolous, Ja Rule, MOP, Remy Ma and Yung Miami.
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According to VarietyWu-Tang opened with Triumphfollowed by Mary J. Blige Real loveand Fat Joe and Remy Ma closed with Lean back before entering All the way to the top.
Lean back topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks beginning August 21, 2004. The song was released as a single from the Terror Squad album on June 1, 2004. True storyfeaturing vocal performances from Fat Joe and Remy Ma. It has since become a New York anthem.
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Remy Ma simply captured the atmosphere of the day. “I have never seen this level of unity,” she said AllHipHop.
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The performance also attracted attention online for another reason: Fat Joe’s signature step, which stems from an old leg injury that he has spoken about publicly.
Around August 2025Joe recalled the incident where his leg was twisted while trying to escape a gunman.
‘They start shooting at us from the car. I jump over the fence. Turn my st up,” he said. “When I was a teenager, I was never going to fix it.” He said the injury occurred when he landed incorrectly while sitting in front of his building and was never surgically corrected.
One moment that broke online featured New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns doing the Lean Back dance together on a nearby float. Celebrities like Kylie Jenner, Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Swift were also spotted in the crowd during the title match.
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