Ja Rule Biography

Born on February 29, 1976, Ja Rule never gets the chance to explore his musical talent because he was raised in a Jehovah's Witnesses, a strict belief that forbids leisure activities. But after his mom eventually left the religion, it was the moment for the artist, who is famous for his thug-rap style, to finally spread his wings. "I went through a lot of phases and studied many religions-I came to a conclusion: I am not into religion, I am spiritual and have whatever relationship with God, you do not need the middlemen." Ja made his first step by joining a group called Cash Money Click and in 1998, he recorded his first smash hit "Can I Get A..." The single motivated him to work on his debut album "Venni, Vetti, Vicci" (1999) which sadly failed to bring success to its offered singles, "Holla Holla" and "Daddy's Little Baby."

The failure later forced him to make another move as he co-found his own record label called Murder Inc, along with friend Irv Gotti. The singer, in fact, seemed to have a good instinct for business just like his former mentor Jay-Z as he also the co-owner of a liquor company "The Mojito" and a clothing line called "Ervingeoffrey." All the business that he got into made a great fortune for Ja Rule. Nevertheless, he was also very concerned with the tough street life and tried to pay more attention to it by fighting the negative social influences of the street through his L.I.F.E. Foundation.

Yet, during his hectic recording schedule, he has managed the time for his personal life. When his album "Rule 3:36" was put on sale in 2000, a single titled "Put it on Me" was written and dedicated to his girlfriend Aisha Murray who loves and supports him the most. The couple has been dating since tenth-grade and eventually tied a knot in 2001. From the marriage they have a son named Jeffrey Atkins, Jr and a daughter Britney. Ja's next album "Pain is Love" was released in 2001. It includes single "Livin' it up" and his biggest hit "Always on Time" featuring singer Ashanti. The hit was so great that he later decided to make another collaboration, this time with the sexy Latino Jennifer Lopez in "I'm Real" (2001) and "Ain't it Funny" (2002). His excellent work in making a smash hit was heard by the R&B and soul singer Mary J. Blige. She later recorded a duet with him called "Rainy Dayz" which was featured in her 2001's album "No More Drama" and eventually went successful.

In 2002, he once again worked together with Ashanti and eventually went success with single "Mesmerize", taken from album "The Last Temptation". Apparently, the success only worked once as the next one titled "The Pledge," featuring Nas and Ashanti, was not even close to it. Moreover, its final single "Murder Reigns," which was renamed into "The Reign" by MTV, also failed on the market due to its controversial song title. On his "Clap Back" single, taken from album "Blood in My Eye" (2003), Ja tried to emerge a different style from his previous singles and videos. "Clap Back" somehow represents the dark side of him. In fact, the changes have started a feud with rapper 50 Cent who often mentioned him as a mellow R&B artist based on his previous duet singles with Ashanti and J-Lo. Thus, after "Clap Back" was brought out, he thought Ja Rule is not cool enough for the single. The rapper tried to manage the battle and decided to ignore the pressure from 50 Cent fanatics who also mocked him.

Not only Ja Rule is proven to be good in singing but in acting also as he did several movies, including "The Fast and the Furious" (2001), "Half Past Dead" (2002) and "Scary Movie 3" (2003). And in "Assault on Precinct 13" (2005), Ja put his real name, Jeffrey Atkins, on the cast list.

In between his filming schedule, Ja continued to record an album entitled "R.U.L.E." which was released in 2004. The album's first single "Wonderful," featuring R. Kelly, soon ranked #1 in UK charts. At one point, he tried to "rock" by doing a collaboration with band Metallica in a song called "We Did it Again." In 2007, he recalled his feud with 50 Cent in the next album titled "Mirror" stating that he's done with the past and was willing to move on with his record. He said, "Because there was a lot of things I wanted to say, and I didn't want there to be any bitter records on the album. Because I'm not bitter about anything that happened. I'm moving forward. We push forward here. We don't look in the past. So we gonna push forward with this album. And when you hear the tracks and records on the album, you'll understand exactly where I'm going with it." The album was pushed back several times and is currently scheduled for 2008 release.