Joe grew up in an infested project in the urban, ghetto of Bronx, New York with a prostituted crack-head mother and a father he never knew. He had to grow up fast, facing the fact of what people thought about what a thug is, and the fact of his mother being mentally challenged, and couldn't provide for him the way a wholesome mother could. From this experience, he got hooked on pushing crack cocaine, pimping women, and robbing every business that made them a prey to his quick in and out strip of their items. He knew how to play the cards, "get in quick and you won't get caught". They-he and his gangster crew, held on to this until things got out of hand and the only thing they had left was love, loyalty to the thug life, and the power of over-coming the law. Joe would do anything to stay on top until Pricilla-his one-and-only love, found a little soft spot in his heart, which was hidden by the hardness of what a thug is supposed to be, and how he is supposed to act. The fact that he doesn't believe in God, and the hidden inner fear of the fact that he later realizes that he does need Him, brings him back to the reality that he can't make it without Him.