Ja Rule

Jeffery Atkins (born February 29, 1976, Hollis, Queens, New York City), better known as Ja Rule (Jeffery Atkins Represents Unconditional Love Exists), is a rapper who made a string of popular hip hop songs in the 2000's

"What's Going On"

Just days before the tragedy of September 11th, around the same time that "Livin' It Up" was breaking big, the American supergroup lineup known as the "All Star Tribute" was recording a cover of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On", in order to raise international AIDS awareness as well as money to combat the disease. It was to be released in December. After 9/11, however, the song was rush-released to radio and to MTV; its video having been hastily thrown together "home-movie" clips from the very recent studio recording of the song. The song went on to become associated with the terrorist attacks and the subsequent war in Afghanistan more so than with AIDS. However, in December, the song was re-released as planned, with several new versions/remixes of both the song and the video, in order to benefit AIDS charities as originally planned. Ja Rule had a memorable part in the song. He, along with Nelly, Eve, and Fred Durst, added their own original rap lyrics about the disease to the song. Christina Aguilera, *NSYNC, Britney Spears, Destiny's Child, Jennifer Lopez, and Gaye's own daughter, Nona, among others, sang the original lyrics to Gaye's song.

Related Topics:
September 11 - American - All Star Tribute - Marvin Gaye - What's Going On - AIDS - Afghanistan - Nelly - Eve - Fred Durst - Christina Aguilera - *NSYNC - Britney Spears - Destiny's Child - Jennifer Lopez - Nona

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