#EDITORSNOTE: WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO JA RULE?

This truly is why it is important of remain humble and stay out of trouble.  At the turn of the Millennium our Airwaves were dominated pretty much by Ja Rule (born Jeffrey Atkins) and those Artists signed under MURDER INC. Records (now re-branded The Inc. Records)  including their self-professed “Princess off Hip-Hop & R&B”, Ashanti.   But where has the once highly-popular Artist who dominated many of our Mix CDs made on your CD Burners, gone?  We’re tracing Ja Rule‘s fall from GRAMMYs to the gutter and potentially another rise again?

After appearing on his first Track, Jay-Z‘s 1998 Smash Can I Get A…, the Hits came endlessly for Ja Rule – Livin’ it Up (ft. Case), Put it on Me (ft. Vita and Lil’ Mo), Between Me and You (ft. Christina Milian), Always on Time (ft. Ashanti) and a Couplet with Jennifer Lopez in I’m Real and Ain’t It Funny.  Ironically, it would be a Hit thrown at  a Toronto Man in 2003 in a Club – which later was settled out of Court and made right with a $1200 fine – which would lead to a downward spiral of legal problems, in and out of prison for a litany of Offences including Tax Evasion, Possession of a Weapon and Drugs and Driving with a Suspended License.  He even famously had feuded with fellow Rapper 50 Cent and G-Unit Records, having called Eminem “Feminem“, accusing Dr. Dre of being Bisexual, having sexual relations with Transvetities. As of May 2013, Ja Rule is now a free Man.

Upon perusing the Internet today we came across this Artwork for Ja Rule‘s latest endeavour, a Christian Drama titled I’m in Love with a Church Girl, released in limited theatres in October.

 

Acting isn’t something new for the fallen Star whom at one point was called by Fans “The King of Hip-Hop” – he had starred in 2001’s The Fast & Furious and recognizable Titles like The Cookout alongside Queen Latifah and Assault on Precinct 13. I’m in Love with a Church Girl  would go-on to make $2.3 million at the Box Office, released a prolonged three years after it had wrapped production.  The Film has Art mirroring some real-life sh*t, playing a gun-possessing Criminal who finds himself through a Church-going Girl.

 

Watch the Trailer:

Does this mean Ja Rule‘s star is back on the rise? The odds are stacked against him as the Drakes, Kendrick Lamars, Eminems and Jay-Zs of the World certainly have taken-over the World of Hip-Hop, but we’ll soon how hungry the Public and Fans are for another serving of Ja–liciousness,  as he recently had re-signed back to a briefly-defunct  The Inc. Records, after a much-publicized Exit in 2009.

The Star is said to be working on a new Disc titled Renaissance Project with Murder Inc./The Inc. Founder Irv Gotti resurrecting his one-influencial Label as an Imprint under his Visionary Entertainment;  Ja Rule is the only Artist signed currently to it.  the Label’s Comeback has been branded  boldly as the F*ck Fame Movement.

As an aside, Ashanti has since started her own independent Label, Written Entertainment, distributed by eOne Music.  She and Gotti are said not to be on speaking terms after she was released amicably from The Inc. in 2009.

While we’re at it, let’s walk-down Memory Lane with Ja and Ashanti:

(Photo/video credit: Universal Music Group/High Top Releasing)