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Page 1
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How did the feud start? Ja says ask 50 Cent, but don't believe the 'false story' ...
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Page 2
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Ja overcomes the loss of his sister, schoolyard fights and religious family division ...
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Page 3
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50 Cent and Ja Rule come to blows in Atlanta and later in New York ...
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Page 4
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Ja says he'd be willing to sit down and talk things out with his rival ...
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"The Wrap" Takes A Look At 50 Cent Vs. Ja Rule
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Ja Rule Comes Back Bigger With Two-For-One Video
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Ja Rule Takes His Beef With 50 Cent All The Way To South Africa
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DJ Tells 50 Cent, Ja Rule: One More Dis Record, Then Quit It
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Ja, Em And 50 Are Hot On Radio, But Should Their Disses Be?
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Ja Rule Calls 50 'Loose Change,' Disses 'Feminem' And Dr. Dre
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Almost as quickly as he shot to fame, Ja Rule found himself rocketed into a cloud of controversy over the past year. From the legal troubles threatening his
Murder Inc. label to the boos that greeted his October appearance at
The Source Awards to the battles with 50 Cent, there's much the public would like to know about the rapper and his state of mind.
On the eve of the release of Ja Rule's latest album, Blood in My
Eye, the rapper sat down for a unique and revealing conversation
with Minister Louis Farrakhan, the controversial leader of the Nation of Islam. Farrakhan is a trusted figure in the hip-hop community for his interventions in beefs and his championing of black civil rights, but he's also made headlines for his candid, anti-Semitic remarks.
This interview was not produced by MTV News. While we do not normally present interviews or news reports that we did not create, we felt that this conversation was important for our audience to be able to read and consider for itself.
The main topic of discussion between the two was Ja Rule's beef with chart-topping rapper 50 Cent and the future of hip-hop.
Louis Farrakhan:Tell me, how did this beef get started with you and brother 50?
Ja Rule: I think it all started when I was doing a video shoot
on Jamaica Avenue. We're from the same neighborhood. And everybody in
the neighborhood said that Murder Inc. was on the brink of doing big
things. 50 Cent was an artist at the time, too. I think he was with Jam
Master Jay, and we knew Jay. It was a situation where 50 wanted to be
involved but didn't know how to go about it. He seen how much love we
received on the avenue from all the people, 'cause this is our
neighborhood. The whole south side is there on Jamaica Avenue for the
video shoot. It was a great video, even if it didn't get played, and I
think 50 didn't like the fact that I was getting so much love. I didn't
know the dude, didn't have any confrontations before this, as the
legend would have it. He supposedly spoke to me and said, "What's up?"
And I said, "A'ight, what up?" Apparently that wasn't good enough or
something, I don't know.
Later he came out like, "I'm gonna use other big rappers' names and
dis and downplay them to bring attention to me." Which is a great
plan, but all you're doing is creating hatred for yourself from other
artists. When he made the record about me, I didn't think it was funny
or cool. He'd made two records at the time. In "How to Rob" he talked
about how he was gonna rob all these major rappers and artists. It was
a jokey kind of record, but a lot of people took offense. I wasn't
mentioned in that record. But the other one, called "Murder, I Don't
Believe You," or something like that ["Life's on the Line"], set my
whole thing spinning, so when we saw each other, it was immediate brawl
confrontation. We don't like each other.
I didn't start this. I'm an artist who really went out there to make my
records while asking myself, "What can I do to elevate myself and do
music?" People started making more records that had more feeling. All
the artists came into it making records with feeling about different
aspects of life beside the criminal aspect. And this is where the whole
hatred really started for him and trickled down. I guess when he got
his record deal, he felt the need to call my name and disrespect what I
am doing, which is crazy.
Farrakhan: I heard someone robbed you of some of your jewelry at
some point.
Ja Rule: That's a false story. That's a story he made up. If
someone does some harm to you, don't get mad at the person that's with
them, he has nothing to do with it. He's just an innocent bystander.
It's him I have the problem with. So I never got that story, but
people ate it up, and the media eats that up. I never really got that
story. Why would I be mad at you if your man got it? I would get your
man; I would be hollering to your man. There really was no beef with me
to him. It was always with him to me, you understand. So when I come
back now and say I don't like him for this, this and this reason,
everyone goes, "Well now, it's getting out of hand." But he already
said his piece. He already came out and spoke about how he feels about
Murder Inc. I was kind of upset about the fact that the people were
kind of receptive to these things he was saying. I really didn't see it
was gonna be well-received until it started to get this way. I told
myself I needed to start making some records. Because I see there's a
lot of ignorance. The people aren't getting that these two men have a
real problem, and it's not about records. And since he made it about
the records, that's all the people see, the music.
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Photo: Nation of Islam/MTV News
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