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Page 1
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"We had a swell-up of hate" ...
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Page 2
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"I was having fun confronting the fans that had turned on me." ...
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Page 3
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"You had to be a leader to be on Ja Rule's side. The ones that stood up for me, holla back." ...
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Page 4
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"We're innocent, and our innocence will be proven." ...
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"You know, it flashed through my mind, maybe the first time," Rule recalled, more than a year later, about the possibility of getting booed. "Then, the first time I went onstage, they went crazy for me — and it kinda confused me, like 'What the f---?' This was like an abnormal going crazy, too. It wasn't just the normal 'Yeah!' It was like, 'Oh sh--!'
"But then I started to understand it," he continued. "And you gotta understand, you're in the business, and there are a lot of closet haters that don't really have no reason to hate you. But if they're in a group of people that feel that's the sh-- to do or say — 'Yeah, f--- him!' — then that's the route to go. I started to realize there's a lot of people that got love for me, too."
Ashanti, for one, didn't harbor any doubts. "Even through all of the mayhem of last year, Ja came and did his thing and reception was bananas," she said, recalling the 2003 concerts. "The reception was off the chain. I've never seen Ja get booed at any show."
For Rule, it's been a 360-degree ride back to glory, with two monster singles — the celebratory street anthem "New York," and "Wonderful," which features R. Kelly and Ashanti — acting as major catalysts.
The 'hood — especially the one Rule grew up in — has come around too. "New York" has become Rule's most popular hard-edged record to date. In October, he was back in Queens (and the Bronx and Harlem) filming scenes for the song's video with Fat Joe and Jadakiss. The fans were out in force, showering the trio with love.
Meanwhile, although the numbers for Rule's recently released R.U.L.E. pale in comparison with previous releases like Rule 3:36 and Pain Is Love, the album has been hailed by critics as one of his best yet. It has gutter-entrenched riot-causers like "Gun Talk," introspective narratives such as "Life Goes On" and "Where I'm From," and records for the ladies like "Never Thought" and, of course, "Wonderful," which pairs Ja's gruff but melodic hip-hop crooning with Kelly's harmonious soul-baring — and finds both men taking aim at people who left them when the chips were down.
"I think R.U.L.E. is incredible, actually," opines Jermaine Hall, executive editor of King and Rides and a veteran hip-hop journalist. "He finally realized that he should go back to his original formula for making hit records. I think 50 Cent baited him into abandoning his formula, just because of the history of their situation. If you talk to people on the streets now, some of the people that were really hating Ja, they're starting to give him a second chance. You can't front on a good album."
"I'm in LL [Cool J] mode when I think about that," Ja, smiling, said before quoting LL's 14-year-old anthem: " 'Don't call it a comeback/ I've been here for years.' In the music business, you've got to give the people what they want, and that's the nature of human beings — to vote for the underdogs. And because I had so much hate in the last year, I'm now the underdog.
"I like being the underdog — it gives that extra 'Rrrr!'" he added. "You go harder. When you're [successful], you sit easy a little bit."
Rule has been doing anything but sitting easy over the 18 months: In fact, when his cred was at its lowest, he was out there, feeling the heat.
"I'd go out, previous to my [new album] coming out, and I'd hear, 'G-Unit, yeah!' " he said. "Then I'd keep going out, 'cause I like that type of stuff. I was having fun confronting the fans that had turned on me. It started to create a friction — a very-needed friction.
"I look at a lot of that stuff as a blessing in disguise," he elaborated. "When you go through experiences like that, you see the picture for what it's worth."
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Photo: The Inc.
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