50 Cent Inspiration Lorenzo 'Fat Cat' Nichols' Lasting Legacy

"As a youth, all I ever did was sell crack, I used to idolize Cat/ Hurt me in my heart to hear that n---a snitched on Pap/ How he go out like that?" - 50 Cent , "Ghetto Qu'Ran"
John "Teflon Don" Gotti. Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff. Alpo and Rich Porter. Pappy Mason. The list goes on. Since the early 1980s, rappers have established an underlying parallel with America's most notorious gangsters. Some of the biggest rap artists' lyrics are littered with vivid street storytelling guaranteed to be influenced by real life tales from the litany of original gangsters.
One name that rings bells in the New City region is none other than Lorenzo "Fat Cat" Nichols. Nichols made a name for himself in the Southside section of Jamaica, Queens in the '80s during the height of the crack era, along with henchman Pappy Mason and fellow Queens kingpin Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff. Nichols ruled the 150th street strip like Avon Barksdale in an episode of "The Wire." However, Fat Cat is notoriously known to the NYPD as the man responsible for putting a contract on decorated police officer Edward Byrnes, who was protecting a witness on the verge of testifying against the Nichols empire. The murder of officer Byrnes would eventually be the downfall of the Fat Cat era.
In the urban community, serving time in a correctional facility secured hood points. Rappers have recognized and supported that, making Fat Cat into a legend in New York City. Oddly enough, the street hustlers looked at rappers as "soft." Still, lyricists like Nas, Mobb Deep, LL Cool J and even 50 Cent have celebrated Nichols throughout their raps during their career. It has been heavily rumored that it was Fat Cat — and not McGriff — who gave a young Curtis Jackson his start as a hustler on the streets of Queens.
Recently, there have been reports that Fat Cat is up for parole in April, though it's expected to be one of many parole denials for Fat Cat if current NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly has anything to say about it). But no matter the outcome, Kelly cannot remove hip-hop's obsession with one of Queens' most notorious urban legends, and there will no doubt be more songs to come.