As Told to Niki Gatewood
He came he saw and he conquered! Ja Rule's abrasive voice and fluid delivery helped to erect the Murder, Inc. empire. With this musical revolution of the late '90's Ja Rule, the Inc.'s most devout soldier, became embroiled in a plethora of lyrical assaults . Some of these almost erupted into full-scale battles, for both street credibility and the limelight. Ja Rule opens up to AllHipHop.com about the verbal strife with DMX, the mutual decision to accept the peace pipe, and the future projects that has piqued his excitement.
“What led to the cease fire [was that] our beef wasn't really, that serious... Me and X we been friends for a whole lot of years, you know what I'm saying. So, our beef wasn't really, it wasn't really serious like you feel it was. It wasn't crazy like that. It may have felt like that at times; but, it really wasn't. “
“It was really a mutual thing [ending the beef]. We had spoke, recently—you know— through Swizz [Beats]. Last night, [September 23rd] it was extended on both sides; like it's love, n****. It ain't like that. That was the first initial opening up to the conversation. Like I said, we've been friends for a whole lot of years. He knows my family, he knows my wife, he knows my kids. I know his wife [and] I know his kids. Last night, I had my wife and my kids with me. So, while I was performing there, X, you know, seen them and gave one love to the kids. He was talking to little Rule and Brittany. So, right then and there, it let me know that everything was good and as it should be. Then when I finished performing and came down to my seat, he had got up and had came up to me. I was, you know, 'What's happening?' We hung and we kicked it and that was the end of it.”
Back in '06 Ja Rule acknowledges that he claimed the beef ended with DMX. He's aware that many of Hip-Hop's supporters are sickened by “beef” and have come to resent its distracting and sometimes destructive side effect. The tried MC authenticates that this is in fact the end of his propagated conflict with DMX.
“Last night I kicked it even more. We met back up with Swizz. We reminisced about old times, me him and Foxy. I mean it's all good.”
This initial event with DMX has inspired Ja Rule to establishing even more peace accords.
“Me last night I kicked it even more. We met back up with Swizz. We reminisced about old times, me him and Foxy. I mean it's all good.”
As Rule absolves himself of his past skirmishes, he focuses on his future projects with the utmost enthusiasm.
“Venni Vetti Vecci: 2010, is a three disc set. It's never been done. I felt it feels great; because, I haven't dropped an album in four or five years. I felt it was perfect for me to do this three disc set. It's innovative and [has] never been done before. Just have some fun with it. You know, Venni Vetti Vecci: 2010. Get ready for it, they gonna really enjoy the album. I'm working on some new movies. I just finished Cook Out 2. There's some other projects that are in the works. I work hard, you know, and I hope that everything goes right.”
Rule expounds upon his recent interview with Australia's Rhyme & Reason magazine. Where he states, 'We ain't getting money off rap records like we used to. So, when I'm doing it now it ain't for the money. It's for the love; because, it ain't out there like that.' With that said, he elaborates why he has never compromised his creativity to obtain commercial success.
“ I've always done what I wanted to do as an artist—whether if the label was in agreement with it or not. You know like, when I did my second album, they wasn't really in agreement with the direction I was taking when I did Rule 3:36. It was very different from Venni Vetti Vecci. So, the label wasn't in total agreement with me going in that direction. And, you know, I had to take a stand and say, well, this is what I want to do and this is the direction I want to go in with the project. They took a chance on that, we rolled the dice [and] we were successful with it.
So, I never compromised what I wanted to do on the mic; because,of any reasons. But, I was put on a time schedule. I will say that. When you become a professional in the business, you know, with a label and with a company—a lot of new artists y'all need to hear this and understand this. Because, making your first album, you got your whole life to do that. That first album is usually a lot of artists' “classic.” They put their life story into that LP... After that, you're kinda on the clock...that's if you're successful. If you have a successful first album, you're kinda on the clock. They want a new album, damn near, every year. So, it's one of them things [to] where you may have to record a little quicker than you would like to—or whatever the case may be. But compromise, never.”
As an established MC, Ja Rule still challenges himself:
“As an artist, as an MC, you always want to get better in whatever you do. That's as an competitor, period, you want to get better and better. You want to try new things and push the envelope and go to different places that people have never gone before, musically. With every album I try to do something different. With 2010 I plan to do something really different because it's a three disc set. So, I just really get to be Rule and get real wild and crazy on the album. The first disc, I'm taking it back to the early roots of my career. The second disc [will focus on] today. It will show how I've grown as an artist and started doing more of my melodic flows and duets and stuff like that. The third disc is going to be where I'm going, you know. It's the future's album, it's New York, it's what I'm putting together now; it's different. That's why I'm excited about this album. I get to explore all those musical fields that I played with from the beginning of my career up until now. So, it's going to be a real good project. It's going to be real fun making this project.”
Stepping back and chronicling the overall life experiences of, Jeffrey “Ja Rule” Atkins, is happy with his achievements.
“I'm a young black n****, right, that came from Hollis, Queens. That lived in a one bedroom apartment in the hood, in the ghetto—you understand what I'm saying—I had nothing. I hustled for a dollar and s*** like that. You understand, we sold drugs, we did that. You dig what I'm saying. What I live now is a great life. I got a beautiful family. I got a beautiful homes; I live a great life. I'm not mad, I could never be mad at how my life is. From where I come from to where I am, trust me, I'm living a fantastic life! When you come from nothing to something, I can't be that mad at anything that's happened in my life. I'm pretty happy about it. You know what I'm saying.”