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

Career and personal battles

From his 1999 debut to his 2003 duet with Ashanti, "Mesmerize", Ja Rule was an enormous presence in the hip-hop world. His label Murder Inc. and mentor Irv Gotti seemed to be hitting the Top 10 charts with every single. So when upcoming rapper 50 Cent started mocking Ja Rule's signature "It's murdaaaaaaaaa" call, few paid any attention. The insults spilled out of the studio onto the Queens streets, with incidents of drive-bys, stabbings, and robberies. To this day, who started the battle is unknown. Ja claims it was all 50 Cent's aggression, whereas 50 claims it to be a mutually started situation.

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None of this was known to the general public due to the fact that 50 Cent had yet to break onto the mainstream scene. But by the end of 2003 it was almost impossible to escape his presence. The rapper had moved an unimaginable number of units with his album Get Rich or Die Tryin'. On numerous tracks 50 Cent hurled verbal shots toward Ja Rule and Murder Inc., even involving Rule's wife and children. The battle between the two garnered a significant amount of attention.

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During 50 Cent's rise to fame Ja Rule and Murder Inc. decided to keep quiet. At this point on a majority of mixtapes, it was common to hear Ja getting dissed by not only 50 Cent and Eminem but by others including DMX, Busta Rhymes, Obie Trice, G Unit and D12. Toward the end of 2003 Ja Rule dropped his album Blood In My Eye, which was almost exclusively dedicated to firing back not only at 50 Cent, but other Interscope/Aftermath artists such as Eminem, Busta Rhymes, and Dr. Dre. The album received poor reviews and became Ja's worst album commercially, due to his departure from making the R&B influenced duets that he was most famous for. The battle between G-Unit (50 Cent's "clique") and Murder Inc. continued on the mixtape level although by this point in time the battle had become a one sided slaughter.

Related Topics:
Eminem - Busta Rhymes - Dr. Dre

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Ja Rule did however release a song named "Loose Change", that viciously targeted the usual targets but also made mention of Eminem's daughter and claims that Dr. Dre is a bisexual. The rapper replied with his own song "Doe Ray Me" which labelled Ja as a singer and pop star. Since then things have cooled down, and Ja Rule made no mention of 50 Cent and co. on his album R.U.L.E.. Ironically enough, 50 Cent has targeted rappers Fat Joe and Jadakiss for making an appearance on the album's song "New York". Post-2003 hadn't been kind to Ja Rule.

Related Topics:
R.U.L.E. - Fat Joe - Jadakiss

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Ja claims his comeback will be next year (2006).

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