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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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Farrakhan: Have you ever had contact with 50 other than through music?
Ja Rule: Yeah. We fought in Atlanta.
Farrakhan: An actual fight?
Ja Rule: Yeah. We fought in Atlanta and we fought in New York at
the Hit Factory. We've had our altercations.
Farrakhan: What did you fight over?
Ja Rule: The first time, it was over the record. He made the
"Murder, Murder" record. A mutual friend of ours stepped in Atlanta and
said, "You know 50. It was just a record. Will you talk to him for me?"
I said OK, I'll talk to him and holler. We got face to face and talked,
but it all came to play during the talk. We got mad and went off at the
handle quick. I got mad and started letting him know how I feel: "I
don't like you. I don't like what you're doing. I don't think what
you're doing is real." We come out and make records, and you sell your
records, and if you catch a beef, then you handle it. You don't come
into it with this and this dude. I let him know I wasn't feeling it,
his whole style. So he punched me, he snuffed me, and — boom!
— I caught him back. Then the fight broke out. We all over the
place, we throwin' down. But see, I felt the disrespect. Our mutual
friend pitted us to talk, and you just violated the talk when you
struck. And once that ensued, that's when the real beef started.
Because now it's a physical thing. Back in New York at the Hit Factory,
I hear from a mutual friend that he's upstairs in the studio. And me
being the enraged guy I was, I took it upon myself to go pay him a
visit up there, and it got a little violent.
Farrakhan: What I see, my brother, is that this is bigger than
Ja Rule and 50 Cent, two artists whom God has blessed with magnificent
talent. You can't touch all the people in the world you both have
touched and not have something very special. 50 Cent has it, you have
it, Jay-Z has it, Snoop has it. So many brothers and sisters in hip-hop
are gifted by God with this tremendous gift. And I know, Ja. As a young
man, I used to be a calypso singer. And in calypso you rhyme, and there
comes a time in calypso when you go to war to see who is going to be
the king of calypso. It's based on who can stand up, rhyme and make the
other look bad. But it never reached the point where we became violent
or struck the kind of chord where fans would take up the beef with each
other. So we need to try and see if there's a bigger picture.
Now you and 50 may have genuine dislike, but you're both artists who
touch millions of people. Your disagreement with 50, and his with you,
has the potential to become so violent that even hip-hop itself —
which is bigger than Ja Rule, Eminem, Dr. Dre or 50 Cent — is
threatened by two giants going at each other, and not just in lyrics
and words. It's coming down now to one or both of you ending up like
Tupac and Biggie. How is hip-hop being threatened? The media takes the
beef between you and 50 and they play it, they jam it, they keep it
going. Why would they keep something going that could produce
bloodshed? There is a bigger plot here, Ja, and this is what I want you
and 50 and our hip-hop brothers and sisters to see.
Ja Rule: When I first heard that 50's record was about me, I
said, "You know what? I am bigger than that and I ain't thinking about
it. Let's continue what we're doing, as black men." But then the public
started to give me ridicule, because I guess they were feeling, like,
"Since you're not saying anything, you're scared." You understand what
I'm saying? Like, "Oh, if he don't say nothing back, he must be scared
of that n---a 50." I don't care about that, you understand?
Farrakhan: But they were giving you, Ja, an opportunity to
teach. See, you're more than just a rapper. Do you realize, Ja, that
the children that go to school, they ain't learning their lessons? But
whatever you're saying, whatever 50's saying, whatever Jay-Z's saying,
whatever Cube, or any of the rappers is saying, they've got that down,
they memorize that. You're more than a hip-hop artist, you've become a
teacher through your rap. So when the public starts calling for a fight
— "He dissed you, man. You ain't gonna say nothing back? You're a
punk" — when they come like that, because that's the way we grew
up, how do you respond? You know, whenever we fought in school, none of
our people ever tried to stop the fight. They put us in a circle and
wanted to see who was gonna win. This childhood thing is playing out in
hip-hop, in gang warfare, in turf conflict. Tell me, Ja, how do you
view the public clamor if you don't clap back [retaliate]? What do you feel from
the public right now?
Ja Rule: They're not gonna respect me. We already went through
this. All of the things he was saying is just talk. It's sticks and
stones, you know, they don't break my bones, that old cliché.
But when the public gets involved and says, "Ja, if you ain't saying
nothing, you must be scared," or "50 got you shook," then it's like,
"Are y'all serious?" Then let me go do what I do so y'all understand.
Because it's easy for me to make clap backs and those kind of records.
It's nothing for me to lyrically assault 50, it's easy. But the public
makes it so we have to keep assaulting each other. And they're not
giving us room to say, "I'm not thinking about him." They're not giving
us that space.
(Editors' note: Ja Rule's new album is in fact filled with the lyrical assaults at 50 Cent he says the public pushes him to do. The mild-mannered man speaking with Minister Farrakhan is the same man who not only insults 50, but threatens to kill him and his family on multiple tracks. Some might say it's hypocritical ... is Ja the guy who wrote this record or the man calmly speaking in this interview? When reached for a comment, Murder Inc. boss Irv Gotti made it clear that it was his idea for the rapper to meet with Farrakhan, not Ja's. Where is Ja's head now? According to Gotti, the MC is "in a space where if they bring peace, he's at peace. if they bring sh--, he's into sh--.")
Farrakhan: The public is almost demanding from you a
response to what 50 has said.
Ja Rule: Before I say that, I just want to say there were other
reasons I didn't respond earlier as well. I wanted to respond. Hip-hop
is a culture that, if you're a hip-hop artist and you rap and you're in
this game, you feel you are the best. Of course I think I'm the best.
So if anybody says anything foul or disrespectful against Ja Rule, Irv
Gotti, Murder Inc., Ashanti, anybody, I'm gonna go on attack, get them
and let them know, "Don't say that about our family." Because that's
how hip-hop was brought up, on the beef like you said, on the dozens
thing. But it got outside of that. Sometimes the public, they don't let
you go out and reach your full potential. They want you to stay 'hood.
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Photo: Nation of Islam/MTV News
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