Photo courtesy of Universal Motown.

Man In The Mirror

They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and although Ja Rule caught an L in the most intense rap beef of the last decade, his perseverance shows through the rational and realistic view he has of his storied career. Complex sat down to talk with The Rule about his forthcoming LP The Mirror, his beef with 50, and who Congress should really be questioning in their hearings. Uh-oh. By Joe La Puma



Complex: What has proved to be the harder task for you: breaking into the rap scene, or mounting this comeback?
Ja Rule: I would have to say breaking in. It's so hard to get heard and get discovered. I know there's so many artists going through it right now that can relate, so I would have to say breaking into the industry is 10 times harder. Maintaining your status and staying relevant is a tough task, too.

C: What can we expect from the new album, what point of view is it written from?
Ja: A very truthful one. I've always been honest with music; my music has always spoken for who I am. But with this album it's more personal, there's a lot of questions that I think the public wanted to ask me, and there's a lot of questions that they wanted answers for, so I took this album to use it as a forum to do that.

C: Is it written from a time before you broke in?
Ja: This album definitely reflects my whole career. It takes you back to a time where I was just having fun with the music, when I was oblivious to all politics of it all. It takes me to that time because in essence, I'm not making this record right now to be recognized as a new artist, I'm making this album to be more of a statement album. I had freedom to write about all kinds of topics, and really dive into different areas of my life, like from the beginning, the Venni Vetti Vecci era, the Pain is Love era, when I felt that I went through all the struggles and the pain from my peers and the people around me to accept me to give me that love, right into what I call "the mirror effect," which is this album and what I feel I'm going through right now. It's that mirror effect when you get to the pain, when you go through all the pain and the struggle to get to that love, that part of that love, brings you right back to the pain.

C: The guest list: Game and Lil Wayne are already confirmed, who else can we expect?
Ja: I kind of want to keep it under wraps. Really I want this album to be more about me, I want the public to be focused on Rule. I know I'm a big collaborator, and don't get me wrong, I have my collaborations on this album, but I didn't want the release of the album to be all about that. When people get the album, then they can enjoy the guest appearances.

C: Now, when you buried the hatchet with Game, who approached who?
Ja: We kind of had a mutual friend, and I have been hearing little things on my end that he didn't really have any beef with me, it was just that he was with G-Unit at the time, I would re-iterate back to that person at the time, well I don't really have no problems with the homie, my beef is with 50. It would be that kind of back and forth thing, and then one day he hit me on the pager like "Yo, What Up? It's Game." And I was like what's up and we kind of kicked it from there and we started kind of airing it out, talking about why things were what they were. Once we got a chance to air it out and talk like men, it was understood what it was, and now we cool. That's my homie and we good.

C: What's the status of your latest arrest?
Ja: I'm not really allowed to talk about it because it's an open case, so my lawyers are advising me not to speak too much on it, but yeah, I got to go back to court on November 7, I think.

C: How was the response for that Wayne concert?
Ja: The concert was insane. It was a memorable moment, Weezy in New York for the first time, sold out the Beacon, beautiful concert, and beautiful night for hip-hop, and then, you know, the bullshit takes place.

C: Years ago with the infamous video shoot was taking place on Jamaica Ave, and you and Murder Inc were getting all the love at that time, what's it like to go back there now?
Ja: Oh I was just out there the other day on the Ave, I just did a BET "My Block" running through the hood all crazy; it's nothing, that's my hood. I don't get nothing but love out there, that's where I'm from, that's where I was raised, everybody knows me.

C: The situation you went through with 50 was one of the most unique situations rap has seen in a while, what was it like being apart of the most serious off-the-wax beef in years?
Ja: It was fun for me. I ain't got a scratch on me, homie. (laughs). It's one of those things I wish I didn't get public like that, because it didn't start that way. Obviously it help build 50's career and who he is today, which I guess is a tribute to him. He was a good salesman on how to market hip-hop beef, but realistically it was street beef. He knew how to spin it and market it well. But my thing is it spun hip-hop into a negative area. Everybody's beefing, everybody thinks that's the way to get on and make a record, and get hot in the industry, and everyone knows it's a gimmick that he used to get hot with that. With that whole beef situation, because there really was no physical altercations after the fact.

C: But there was physical altercations between?
Ja: Well that's because he screamed my name and I went to see him. That's the difference people don't understand. Everyone talks about the beef I had with 50; he has beef with all types of rappers, but I'm the only rapper who went and handled my business and went and hollered at him man to man. Either you sit down and discuss it [the beef] like men or you fight it out and get it out in the open and get it out the way. And since the beginning of time, since Caesar, this is how things get settled. And the moment I heard he had a record about me, I knew where he resided, I knew where he hung out, I went and seen and him. "Homie, you have a problem with me? What's happening? You ain't got to rhyme about it, I'm right here in front of your face." So that's how our situation took place, and I handled my business with 50 and 50 knows that. That's why I'm such a threat to him, that's why he doesn't like me so much. It's old news, it's really irrelevant, it was the past. I'm not bitter about nothing and he shouldn't be. It happened, he came out, he shitted on me, people feed into it. Yo, people hated on me for a whole two years, I'm not bitter. I don't give a fuck; this is the business we're in, and it's a tough business.

C: True.
Ja: And if you don't know that sometimes fans are going to be fickle and throw rocks at that glass house that you built, you ain't ready for this business and you need to go sit down somewhere. But I'm fully prepared and I know what this business is about, I come from the old school. I've seen Jay come up, I've seen X come up, I came up with them. I've been around that whole circle of situations; I've seen Jay's reaction when 'Pac started to shit on him! I've seen how he was getting backlash! And then 'Pac died and he didn't even get a chance to respond. He just had to take that on the chin. I was there when Lil Cease brought B.I.G the fucking "Hit 'Em Up" joint. I seen B.I.G's reaction, when he first heard the record. When B.I.G first heard that from 'Pac, B.I.G's reaction was like "Why is homie doing this? 'Cause he don't mean that, this dude was my man." See, they were friends. That's kind of how I feel when I hear X talking shit. I'm like "X, dawg, you don't mean that, nigga, c'mon X." But we always give X a pass and excuse X for his wild and crazy tirades, because we know X has a drug problem and we appease X. We treat X like a child at times. So when you talk about the whole beef shit and the whole history of beef, I've been through it all and have seen it all. I say it in one of my rhymes on Father Forgive Me : "I done been through it and seen it all lately/I'm get through it just bare your soul with me/it's all crazy, but it's all made me, realize the gift that the lord gave me" Home » CELEBRITIES » Web Exclusive » Man In The Mirror