Ja Rule
New York rapper Ja Rule is
one of hip hop’s most successful artists. A contemporary of Jay-Z and DMX, he
has released six studio albums, selling over 20 million copies across the world
since his debut in 1999. As with many artists of his genre, he is also an
outspoken, controversial figure, and as well as numerous criminal charges and
an ongoing feud with 50 Cent, he has also spoken out in the media against America’s
acceptance of homosexuality.
Born Jeffrey Atkins in the district of Queens, New York City, he grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness under the guidance of his mother and grandparents. Despite his religion, Atkins was not a particularly pious child, and got into many scrapes and fights at school. However, he began to find his place in the world in 1994, when he formed a hip hop group called Cash Money Click.
Rule began hanging out with the likes of Jay-Z, DMX, and Def Jam producer Irv Gotti and when the latter founded his own label, Murder Inc. in 1997, Ja Rule began working with him to record a debut album. The result, ‘Venni Vetti Vecci’, was the label’s inaugural release, and catapulted Ja Rule into the industry spotlight.
Basking in the album’s success, Ja Rule began touring with Jay-Z and DMX, and shortly afterwards formed a group with the two rappers that they named after Gotti’s label: Murder Inc. Although the group never released a stand-alone album, they would frequently appear in collaborative tracks on the albums of their component stars, occasionally incorporating other rappers such as Nas, Method Man and Busta Rhymes.
From the turn of the century through to the end of 2004, Rule was particularly prolific, releasing an album every year. The biggest hit Rule scored during this period was undoubtedly 2001’s ‘Pain is Love’, which has sold over 6.1 million copies worldwide to date. Perhaps key to the album’s popularity was the large number of guest appearances it contained, featuring the likes of Missy Elliot, Jennifer Lopez, and even the sampling of a recording from the legendary Tupac Shakur. Within the space of a few years, Ja Rule had become one of the most successful hip hop artists on the planet, and he was loving it.
However, after the release of his sixth album, ‘R.U.L.E.’, in 2004, Ja Rule’s contract with the renamed The Inc. ended, and he departed from the label to take a break from recording. After a couple of years away from music, he began working on his next album, ‘The Mirror’. Although originally slated for a 2007 release, it did not appear until 2009, when the recording was made available as a free online download: a turn of events that delighted Rule’s loyal fan base. With a new album, ‘Venni Vetti Vecci 2010’, in the pipeline for release later this year, Ja Rule remains one of the biggest draws in hip hop, guaranteed to pull in a crowd wherever he appears.
