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NEWS : STORIES
NEW YORK — Ja Rule's album titles have always had a special meaning behind them, but with his fifth and perhaps most important LP, R.U.L.E., the Queens native says he kept it self-titled because the album was so personal.
"They went through this whole ordeal with me," he continued. "It's no secret what I went through last year, from the federal investigations to the beefs to 'Is he still married?' All of these questions and rumors have been thrown around. It's a special thing when the audience has gone through an artist's turmoil with him and he gets to talks about it." Although Ja had a lot to get off his tattooed chest, R.U.L.E. doesn't contain any of what he calls "hate music," which coursed throughout his last LP, Blood in My Eye. Ja still stays aggressive, like on the underground-smash-turned-crossover-darling "New York" (see " 'New York' Love Goes Both Ways When Ja, Joe And Jada Hit The Bronx"), and he comes out with both barrels smoking on "Gun Talk." The sound of bullets flying co-stars on the track, as do a piano and bass. "When bitch n---as get you off your grind, n---a grab your nine," Ja raps. "When fake n---as try to cop your style, cop the .40 cal." " 'Gun Talk' is real raw," Rule explained. "We got the guns blasting on the record. I'm speaking the truth on that record. That's one of the records that people are going to understand the lyrics. These are messages to the people of what I've been through and what I felt. People tried to take me off the grind and do my style ... Wow!" Ja speaks of another grind, peddling music and performing concerts, on "Where I'm From." "Me and my n---as ride even when the sun don't shine and it's cold outside," Lloyd, who also appears on "Caught Up," sings on the hook. When Ja weighs in, he's serious and speaks in a grave monotone about life in his old environment, questioning, "Why do n---as in the 'hood never hit the lottery unless they go lottery, first in draft?" "That record right there is a special record," Rule said. "It's really talking about the good, how we're perceived. I think a lot of times we're misunderstood. We're looked upon like animals, savages sometimes, how we go about making our money in the ghetto. There's a line in there where I say, 'I call it feeding my family, you call it a tragedy.' It's crazy. It's so ill what we go through in the 'hood. I think sometimes white America don't see it. I think they don't think it's real sometimes. That's what the record is really about." The subject of death is broached on "Life Goes On," which features Trick Daddy and Inc. producer Chink Santana. "It's a record that's dedicated to the fallen soldiers," he said. "The ones who ain't here. It's sending a strong message to the ones that are here. They're looking down on us, and life does go on, and they would want us to go with our lives. They would want for us to go on and keep their essence alive by going on and keeping it strong." And what does every strong man love? A strong woman — even if that woman would never, ever wear your wedding ring. "N---as need to read the man-u-al," he warns on "The Manual" in his sing-songy flow. "Separate your housewife from a ho/ 'Cause there's no rules in this sh-- here." "Once a woman is used to doing what she's doing, used to being a woman of leisure, it's that," Rule explains. "Just like a man. Once a man is used to being a bachelor it's kinda hard to change him. 'The Manual' is a record that's dedicated to the liaison women. The women of leisure. They have a special place in life. They go through a lot, growing up in their childhood and the ghettos of America too. I give a spin to their spin, from a woman's point of view — what they go through, with the strippin' and things like that. That why I say they need love too." R.U.L.E. is in stores now. — Shaheem Reid, with reporting by John Norris This report is provided by MTV News
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