 
|
|
|
Page 1
|
|
|
Ja grapples with maintaining street cred in the face of criticism that he's sold out ...
|
|
|
Page 2
|
|
|
"Since I already bossed him down, everybody knows [DMX] is a clown" ...
|
|
|
Page 3
|
|
|
Ja loves "Grease," sex, 20-inch rims ...
|
|
|
Murder Inc. Family Photos
|
|
|
"Half Past Dead" Photos
|
|
|
Take a look at photos from Ja Rule's latest flick, "Half Past Dead"
|
|
|
|
|
|
Browse Bands by Name
|
|
Or enter a band name below to search:
|
 Bands Main
|
|
|
|
|
|
-- by Abbey Goodman, with additional reporting by Sway Calloway
Upon hearing the unprecedented disclaimer about his signature sound at the beginning of Ja Rule's new LP, The Last Temptation, it becomes clear this is no ordinary Rule release.
The very first thing on the album is this message from the raspy MC: "Let me let these n-----s know I ain't gotta spit sh-- at these clowns. Right now I'm about to go ahead and continue to make my motherf---ing hits and sh-- and do what I do. You know, that motherf---ing platinum sound, that Murder Inc. sound."
At once a nod to the style that has earned the rapper his superstar status and a thinly veiled reference to the haters who have accused him of being soft because of that style, the intro sets up both The Last Temptation — hailed by all involved in making it as Ja Rule's "return to the streets" — and Ja Rule himself as taking a self-reflective journey. The Murder Inc. MVP appears to be grappling with a way to both maintain his street cred and combat the criticism — external and perhaps from within — that he's sold out.
The Last Temptation, due November 19, serves as Ja's attempt to publicly define himself in a way that hadn't been a priority for him before. Ja was content to make the music he wanted to make, and if the songs turned into crossover hits or club bangers, then fine. But that wasn't the intention.
"A lot of my records that I made, I don't feel that they were club records, but they became club records because people felt them," he explained.
There wasn't a message behind those tracks — which Ja calls his "feeling records" — just good music. That's changed on The Last Temptation. Behind the dramatic, "last-of-a-dying-breed" sentimentality of the title seems to be Ja Rule's hope to recapture something he may have lost over the years.
"I named my album The Last Temptation because I feel I am the last temptation of hip-hop. N---as were breaking and popping, breaking into the train yards and tagging on the train. I was little then, running with the big n---as. So any rappers younger than me right now ain't lived that. They don't know the true culture of hip-hop.
"Hip-hop is not just rapping," he continued. "It's the culture, the break dancing, the graffiti art. It's not just about getting the money — that's kind of how hip-hop is now, they don't care about the culture, they just want to get the money."
|
|
|
|
Photo: Murder Inc.
|
|
|
|
|
