Ja Rule gave hip-hop fans a glimpse at his rap Mount Rushmore.
In a new Breakfast Club interview, Ja was asked for his answer to the age-old question. “It’s tough. Because it’s eras, you know what I mean?” Ja said at the 25:30 point of the chat above. “But if I just had to do four. … You would have to put Jay on there. I would put Pac on there. Big gotta go on there.”
He took a moment to think about who should be the fourth and final person to join Hov, 2Pac, and the Notorious B.I.G., landing on a “toss-up” between three of his all-time favorites. “I would go with older school guys,” Rule said. “Like either Big Daddy Kane, or Rakim, or KRS because of what they did for the culture, and what they meant to the culture. And what Rakim was to a Nas, you know what I’m saying? What KRS was to a whole generation of rappers. … Kane was the first n***a I seen like, ‘This n***a is fly, this n***a get all the bitches.’”
Ja Rule said he ultimately couldn’t pick between those three. He also pointed out how women rappers get left out of conversations about GOATs too often. “But you know what? We never put the ladies in there,” he said. “Come on, man. MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa. … They are the reason other women picked up a microphone, period. How can you leave them off? You gotta tick one of them and put them on there.”
He took a moment to highlight the enduring legacy of Lil’ Kim and her debut album. “Let’s talk about Lil’ Kim,” he said at the 27:50 point. “When you look at the Cardis and the Nickis—every female—and then go listen to the Hard Core album...I understand why she’s so revered. That album is crazy, and she’s spitting on that album. It’s not like, you know…she’s going on that album! So I get it when these females are like, ‘Yo Kim was it for me.’ I get it, I get it.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Charlamagne tha God suggested Rule deserves more credit for pioneering a blend of singing and rapping. “Whoever did it last did it better than the first, in the first place,” he said with a smile around 9:40.
Rule also touched on his support for his son, who makes music under the name SINNERSDEDX. “I don’t know what to categorize him as,” he said at the 12:20 point. “He does a style of music called hyperpop. And apparently it’s a big underswelling community of this music, that I know nothing about. … It’s a mixture between rap, rock, and EDM. … He’s got a deal on the table from Sony, and it’s all him. He’s doing this, he moved to L.A., he’s been out there on his own.”
Elsewhere, Ja teased BET’s upcoming Murder Inc. docuseries, which he admitted he doesn’t have a big hand in but is excited for. “I got a credit,” he said with a laugh when asked how involved he is. He’s hopeful the project will introduce the output of the label to a younger generation.
Give the Breakfast Club video a watch up top.
