Latino rapper Fat Joe [ tickets ] says he's not overly interested in bad-mouthing fellow rappers--but he'll respond when attacked.

Take, for example, the 50 Cent/Fat Joe beef showcased in 50's song "Piggy Bank," from the multi-platinum album "The Massacre." On the cut, 50 Cent brags that his album sold 11 million copies, and calls Fat Joe a "dud."

"I never was into that rap beef stuff," Fat Joe said during a telephone interview from his Miami home. "I have to address it for my fans, then I'm just keeping it moving from there on ... just continue to make great music that people love."

Fans can expect Fat Joe to address the beef on his forthcoming album, "All or Nothing," due in stores May 24. Originally set for release on April 26, the album was delayed due to issues with clearing samples. Fat Joe decided to push the release back rather than remove the songs.

Fat Joe has unleashed a massive marketing campaign to push “All or Nothing.” Among his appearances: a tour with Nelly and T.I., multiple television shows on MTV and a gig on NBC-TV’s "The Apprentice."

liveDaily: How's the tour going so far?

Fat Joe: Tour's been amazing. It's been great. It's been a whole lot of fun. Nelly's a fun guy to work with. T.I.'s an amazing artist. In all my years of rapping, this has been the most fun tour I've ever been a part of. We're truly enjoying ourselves. The fans get to really see a hell of a show. They've got T.I., who's one of the hottest rappers right now, Fat Joe, who, you know, is what it is, and you got Nelly, the biggest rapper in the game, together. The tour is amazing.

What was it like when you worked with Donald Trump on "The Apprentice"?

Oh man [laughs]. It was fun. It was fun working on "The Apprentice." I had a lot of fun on that. My mother loves that show.

So does my mom.

They think that Donald Trump is like Usher, you know, right now. Right?

Tell me about your new record. With whom did you collaborate on it?

I worked with Nelly, of course, on the next single, "Get It Poppin'." That's incredible. I worked with J. Lo [Jennifer Lopez] on the album. I worked with R. Kelly. Eminem's on the album. Lil Jon, Mase, Remy Martin. It's my best album ever, man. I put a lot of hard work into it. It usually takes me a month or two to make an album. This one took me a year.

Why did it take so long?

I just really wanted to make sure it was excellent.

What did you do differently on this album that maybe you didn't do on the last couple releases?

Different concepts. I got a lot more creative. A lot more, I guess, cinematic. There's a song called "Temptation 1 and 2." It's, like, cinematic. If you enclose yourself in a room with a pair of headphones, you would think you're in the movie. That's amazing. Just the rest of the album, the concepts, my lyrics got better.

How do you write your songs? Do you write them in the studio or at home?

In the studio and in the house. I get the beat first, and the beat tells me what to do. Some beats tell me to rap about happy things. Some beats tell me about sad things, you know. Some beats tell me about violence. All kinds of different stuff.

Is it easy to write in the studio under pressure?

It's easier to write at home when nobody's really, you know, listening. Be quiet. It's easier to be at the house where you're by yourself and you can really think about different things. It's much better than being in the studio. The studio is more of a distraction place--everybody knows you're there, all the friends come over. I only go there when it's really just time to work.

Who did you learn the most from working on this album?

We got a strong team. It's executive produced by [Miami knob-turners] Cool and Dre. These are my brothers. I really care about them. We got a strong team and everybody worked together on this, and I respect their input a lot. My crew, we ain't got no real "yes" men. We just got true feelings and we debate a lot about songs, topics, flows, whatever--the whole creativity of the album.

Who do you think inspires you the most?

All artists. Old school. New school. Young. Old. R&B. A lot of artists inspire me. I would say Big Pun inspires me a lot, rest in peace.

Did you think that "Lean Back" was going to be the hit that it was?

Yeah. When you make music, you hope it's a big hit. Hopefully the people are embracing it. It's just exciting the way that everybody embraced it. All I could do is try my best and make a hit for the people.