Ja Rule

Quick Background:

Ja Rule is a rapper from Queens, New York City. He has released seven studio albums, with his debut album Venni Vetti Vecci coming out in 1999. The Queens rapper was the lead artist on Murder Inc, during the label’s chart dominance in the early 2000s. Ja Rule helped the label gain huge amounts of success with hit singles, such as “Put It On Me”, “Always On Time” and “Mesmerize”. Blending both rapping and singing, Ja Rule become one of the most successful crossover acts of the early 2000s. Though his run was brief, Ja definitely made his mark on Pop music, as his hit songs are still played to this day.

Penmanship — 5.5 :

I’ve personally never viewed Ja Rule as much of a wordsmith, even on records where I do like his verse it usually tends to be because of his delivery of the verse. Due to his aggressive and emotive delivery, this can at times cover for the fact that on a lyrical standpoint Ja Rule is pretty average. On the other hand when it comes to his song writing, credit must be given. It can’t be denied that he churned out hit records during his career. Ja has also provided a helping hand to other artists, providing infectious hooks for Jay-Z on “Can I Get A…” and Fat Joe for “What’s Luv”.

Flow — 5:

In terms of his flow, it’s not one of Ja’s biggest strengths either. I don’t think Ja’s flow is terrible, I just think it’s pretty average and tolerable. No matter what beat you throw at him Ja will use the same flow he always uses, whether the production is up-tempo or slow and sombre, Rule will not switch up his flow. Hence why I believe his verses on songs such as “Rainy Dayz” with Mary J. Blige don’t fit well and aren’t enjoyable. There are certain types of production that do fit his flow, for example “Die” which is an album cut on his second album Rule 3:36 or his debut single “Holla Holla”.

Delivery — 7 :

Ja Rule’s delivery on his verses have always been one of his best attributes in terms of his voice, aggression and emotiveness, as mentioned before it has helped cover from his lack of lyrical ability. Ja can provide massive amounts of energy to a record, an example of this would be the above mentioned “Holla Holla”. Ja was no stranger to singing on his records, in this day and age it’s fairly common for rappers to sing, however during the early 2000s it was completely out of the ordinary. Though I can commend Ja for being different, unfortunately his singing was never great. At times his singing and emotive choruses can be enjoyed, I personally enjoy “Down A** B**ch” and his singing on “Rainy Dayz” is tolerable. On the other hand, there are times where his singing is unbearable, especially on his hit single “Put It On Me”.

Beat Selection — 8 :

Irv Gotti (left) and Ja Rule (right)

For the most part of his career, Ja has rapped over some great beats and I’ve personally always preferred the more grimy and hard hitting production choices that was seen throughout his first album and parts of his follow up albums. For example, records such as “It’s Murda”, “Die” and “Dial M For Murder”. That’s not to say that I don’t think the beat selections for his hit singles were poor, credit really has to be given to Irv Gotti for his ability to provide Ja both great instrumentals for the singles and great gutter type instrumentals for the album cuts. I think the production on many of the hit songs haven’t aged poorly and they’re one of the biggest reasons as to why the singles became hits.

Versatility — 6 :

Ja Rule’s versatility comes with his style of both singing and rapping, and the fact that his catalogue contains him rapping over both dark and grimy beats, plus pop orientated and female friendly instrumentals. In contrast, when it comes to his content, Ja was hardly versatile and he didn’t rap about various topics. It was pretty much the same thing, the B-sides were all about being a gangster and the singles were pretty much centred around a love interest and “thugs need love too”. As mentioned before, Ja has never been versatile with his flows, and for the most part his delivery was usually loud, energetic and aggressive.

Originality — 7.5:

Even though he wasn’t the best singer, I have to give Ja the credit he deserves for at least having the courage to sing on his records when it was frowned upon during the time he was doing it. Many criticised Ja for singing on records (even though many would go on to do it), however it can’t be denied that he was original for doing it and gaining success out of it. His idea to both sing and rap wasn’t stolen or taken from another rapper, it was completely unique and very much his own style. What prevents his score from being higher unfortunately, is the fact that he would borrow or mimic certain aspects of 2Pac. For example, the whole content of “thugs need love” was always Pac’s and even though I enjoy his version of “So Much Pain” from his third LP, Pain Is Love; I can’t help but notice that he raps the same way as 2Pac. Ja has also been accused of biting off of DMX, in terms of his aggressive and energetic vocals, as DMX’s debut album came out a year before Ja Rule’s. However I dismiss that, as Ja has always rapped in an aggressive and energetic tone since the days of Cash Money Click, back in the mid-90s.

StoryTelling — 2 :

There’s not much to talk about in regards to this. This is a category that is hardly present within his catalogue. There are some elements of storytelling on songs like “Story to Tell” and “So Much Pain”, however Ja was never really focused on rapping a story, painting vivid imagery or writing from the perspective of someone or something within his lyrics…

Catalogue — 4.5

He may have some hit singles and some good album cuts, however looking at it as a whole; Ja Rule’s catalogue is definitely not strong. It did however start off strong. His debut album, Venni Vetti Vecci, is a great album and is incredibly underappreciated. It’s the album that came before the huge commercial success, it’s his darkest and grimiest album filled with great production that matches with his delivery and style. His follow up album, Rule 3:36, doesn’t live up to the standards of his debut. Though there are some enjoyable tracks from the album, from the likes of “6 Feet Underground” and “Die”, I would go as far as to say that the album is one of the worst sophomore albums in Hip-Hop history. The radio singles from the album aren’t great in my opinion, I’ve already discussed about “Between Me & You” and Put It On Me”, and the album’s fourth single “I Cry” consists of one of the most annoying choruses in Rule’s discography.

On his third album, Pain is Love, the album does consist of my favourite singles from Rule. “Down A** B**ch”, “Livin It Up” and “Always On Time” are much more enjoyable than the singles from Rule 3:36. “Livin It Up” featuring Case and “Always On Time” which features Ashanti, don’t consist of Rule singing, rather opting for better singers. On the other hand, Rule’s singing is enjoyable on “Down A** B**ch” as mentioned before, he seems to harmonise a lot better on that single. Unfortunately, the album suffers from mediocre album cuts such as “Lost Little Girl” and “X” featuring Missy Elliott and Tweet. Not to mention both Rule 3:36 and Pain Is Love include terrible skits, for example “I’ll F**k U Girl” and “Leo”, they’re just random and add no value to their respective albums.

Post 2001, Rule did produce some great records from the likes of “Clap Back” and “New York” featuring Fat Joe and Jadakiss, however his albums never improved and he never reached the same heights of his first album.

Impact — 7 :

When it comes to Ja’s impact and influence, I would actually argue that he doesn’t get the credit that he deserves. Again, looking at the genre in the last decade or so, many rappers sing on their records and it’s obvious that Drake has played a huge role in influencing that. However, Drake isn’t the first rapper to sing and rap, Ja Rule is Drake before Drake. During the time of his success, no one was singing and rapping like Ja Rule. Whether people want to accept it or not, Drake and many other rappers that came after him are influenced by Ja Rule. The music he produced during the height of his career, has shown to have huge amounts of longevity, as two decades on Rule’s hit songs are still played to this day.

Final Thoughts

In the end, I would give Ja Rule a total of 52.5 points and an average of 5.8, gaining a C+ grade. Looking at his career as a whole, Ja Rule has been average at best. I will give him his flowers in terms of his impact and his courage to both sing and rap, during a time when it wasn’t “cool” to do that. Though many (including his long time rival 50 Cent) have made fun of him and criticised him for the singles he produced, however many went on to make the same type of music (including 50 Cent). On the other hand, his commercial success and hit songs shouldn’t hide the fact that he put out mediocre projects. As I mentioned before, his first album is really good and is underappreciated, however Rule essentially sold out to gain commercial success and the focus of making radio records perhaps stole the focus from actually making good albums.