Songfacts®:

• This uptown anthem was the first single to be released from Bronx rappers Fat Joe and Remy Ma's collaborative album Plata O Plomo. Both are former members of hip-hop collective Terror Squad, which achieved a Hot 100 #1 in 2004 with "Lean Back."
• French Montana joins forces with the duo on the bridge, where he boasts about having all the alcohol, drugs and luxury cars that he needs.
• This song was produced by Miami producers Cool & Dre. Marcello "Cool" Valenzano and Andre "Dre" Lyon's beatmaking career started off with crafting bangers for a young Rick Ross. The duo are best known for their work with Fat Joe, first collaborating on the early 2000s albums Jealous Ones, Still Envy and Loyalty. Other credits include Kent Jones' hit tune "Don't Mind."
  
  Also credited is New Orleans native Edsclusive. The beatmaker relocated to the city of Miami after Hurricane Katrina and prior to this track had landed collaborations with the likes of Wiz Khalifa, and Curren$y.
  
  Valenzano recalled the story of the beat to Billboard magazine: "It started out with the elements of the track with our guy Edsclusive. We put the beat together with him, and the whole s--t came together. We had the beat sitting for a little bit and then we had a session with Joe.
  
  "Joe had been coming to the studio and he was like, 'Play me some new vibes,'" he continued. "We played him the joint, and Joe was like, 'That's it right there.' We just thought it was a hot joint. Joe definitely heard something that we didn't hear in the beginning process.
  
  Then, once we heard he hooked up with Infared," Valenzano concluded, "and they put the hook on it, me and Dre were still kinda like, 'I don't know, man.'" [Laughs]
• Jay-Z jumped on the remix. "The world will know who's on the remix," Fat Joe told Billboard magazine with a smile. "I turned down some really really really big names for the remix. Like, the biggest guys on Earth but was just like, yo, I wanna keep it New York.' So hopefully I win on my roll of the dice but I'm excited for the city."
• During his verse, Hova references the success of his wife's album:
  
  You know you made it when the fact
  Your marriage made it is worth millions
  Lemonade is a popular drink and it still is
  Survival of the littest
  
  Beyoncé's Lemonade album centers on Jay Z's supposed infidelity and their reconciliation. He remarks here on how his wife capitalized on the drama in their marriage for her very successful record.
• Miami-based rapper Fly Havana reportedly served a copyright lawsuit on March 4, 2019 in which he claims that his unfinished 2015 version of "All the Way Up" is nearly "identical to the released version," including the hook, the lyrics, the vocal melody, and the overall flow.
  
  According to a TMZ report, Fat Joe reportedly cut Havana a check for $5,000, promising the rapper more money as the song climbed the charts, but he hasn't seen a dollar since.
  
  A federal court sided with Fat Joe in a ruling on January 5, 2022. The judge ruled that because Havana had been paid years earlier for his alleged contributions to the song, he could not sue – even if he later becomes unhappy with the sum he'd received.
• One of the big names that Fat Joe turned down on the remix was a certain Toronto MC. "I got a FaceTime call maybe three times while 'All the Way Up' was out," Joe shared during an episode of Open Late with Peter Rosenberg. "And it was your man, the 6 God, Drake."
  
  The collaboration with Jay-Z officially marked the ending of a long-standing beef between the pair. Because of this historic event, Hova convinced Joe not to add any other artist to the song. "[Jay] said, 'Look, Joe. It means so much to our history, between me and you, let's not put nobody else on the song,'" he shared. "He's not [just] referring to Drake... it could have been Kanye West, 50 Cent was asking to get on the remix... you know everybody big."