Can everyone stop trying to rewrite history for Ja Rule

[Wacky D]

The cats sayin Ja wasn't poppin will be the same nikkas sayin Drake was never poppin in 10 years. Meanwhile Drake's music is everywhere and he softer than Ja X 1,000,000,000.

I've seen this movie before.

Exactly.

drake is NOT poppin in the streets outside of radio songs & features. heads generally aren't checking for drake albums.

same situation with jarule in the early '00s. drake is basically the new suburban plant version of jarule without the legitimate organic come-up but with better protection & backing.

yea they both have/had hits that are everywhere but they don't have the love & respect.​

Nas was still more impactful than Ja. Jay was calling out Nas for a reason. He was still viable enough to where offered Jay competition.

Breh, NYC isn't the only city in the world and even then, it's an exaggeration to say Black people weren't listening to him. LOL, Eminem never made songs that were party starters or that were whip ready. Eminem was headphone music.

Luda was still bigger than Ja Rule.

Strictly on a MC perspective, Ja Rule existed outside of the realm of Nas, Jay, Eminem, and Luda. He was less impactful in that regard.

what hes saying is that Eminem's black fanbase was 95% L7s & vics.

jay went at nas because he thought nas was finished, and he wanted that notch on his belt. that's what jay-z does. he picks his spots for notches. whether it be rappers or styles or fashion trends that are on the downside. nas was NOT poppin in 00-01 bro.

jarule was a bigger act than Ludacris.

Chingy was a one hit one wonder the only track I can remember is that tipsy trash song.

tipsy was jkwon.

chingy has hits spanning thru 3 or 4 different albums.

I'm not saying, nor did I say, those artists are irrelevant. I'm saying, in the case of Bone Thugs, no relevant information is being conveyed by pointing out that Ja and Thug sung or use melodies. Those elements are just too broad to pin-point their particular styles which is important since, again, Bone's was far more hood harmony like a Nate dogg, while Ja was more shower singing/female-oriented.

With Onyx, it may be due to differences in our perspective, but what you see as onyx seasoning, to me, seems more like you're saying an artist from mid 90s Hollis queens share the cultural trappings of mid 90s Hollis queens.

Like, yeah...Ja is from Hollis, the same exact neighborhood AS onyx. And in 91, Ja was 15, still in high school, so it isn't a surprise he shares traits from the biggest act that defined his neighborhood's culture since run-dmc during his youth. But such a statement is as about as meaningful as saying that Ja has seasonings of an NY rapper, or that any rapper has seasonings of their region. Like, what's the point of pointing this out with Ja when 99% of all rappers are guilty of sharing traits from their region? Just seems irrelevant to me.

so now you admit that he was influenced by onyx. listen, im not knocking him. im just saying that clear influences of rappers will get you looks from people who enjoyed said acts. im not knocking jarule for that at all. in fact, I was supporting your argument, saying that jarule was unfairly tagged as a 2pac clone. sure, pac was an influence but there were other rappers who had just as much influence on him.

that's all I was saying about that.

same with the bone thing. and I clearly said in the previous post that im referring to jarule's earlier work circa '99. im not talking about the love songs. im talking about joints like these:



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[jilla82]

before 50 the perception of ja was that he was top 3 biggest hip hop artists at the time and he was looked at as the flagship artist . He was up there with jay dmx and was bigger than both for a moment

There is no way in hell anybody during that time was really thinking Ja was up there w/ X or Jay.

Dude was somebody that had decent songs every once in awhile.
He was one of those rappers you would listen to for the beats/hooks.

 

[LunaticVillage415]

Ja was nothing like Chingy
He had the streets . He was backed by murder inc and was considered a gangsta rapper until 2002

Ja was never a street rapper who had a respected legacy when it comes to the streets. He was a pop rapper who catered to binge drinking white kids on MTV Spring Break. I'm in my 30's. Jay, DMX and 50 had the streets before they had white Amerikkka on lock. Ja had white Amerikkka, R&B fans and women on lock. That's it. I look at Ja as more of an R&B artist. Theres nothing wrong with that. 50 actually went on to steal Ja's R&B style in like 05' out of the blue. Not only that but Jay, 50 and DMX were all much better rappers than Ja. Ja was a pop star who knew how to make hit song, not how to make a classic Hip Hop album full of quotables. The streets never looked at Ja as a real nikka. And Ja mostly never pretended to be and mostly made Hip Hop soul love ballads. Ja never, ever had the streets on lock. Jay, DMX and 50 had street movements. DMX brought hardcore back to rap after the Shiny suit era. 50 arguably had the biggest mixtape buzz of all time. Jay continued to drop classics years after the average artist falls off and undoubtedly is a top three rapper if you a hater or not. Ja had "always on time", "down ass chick", "mesmerize" and "between me & u". It was so easy for 50 to destroy Ja's career because Jeffrey had zero street credibility and was running around like the reincarnation of Pac unchecked.

 

[Kaydigi]

Ja bodied that The Murderers LP

 

[Igloo Stix]

Ja was big, certainly more of a player than Chingy. 50 washed him and blew up into a superstar. Ja is diminished because of the comparison to 50, but he was a popular artist with crossover hits, had a good career but not much impact.

This is pretty much the most reasonable answer.

 

[KING WILL]

I was never a JA fan, but to try to compare him w/ Chingy??? Nah

VVV was hot in the streets. After that, he had the singles game on lock for a bit w/ those RnB joints.

People hate on him now for those Hit, but back then those songs were HUGE.

He def fell victim to that beef w/ Shady Records.

Dude went against Em, 50, Banks, and even Bus had a verse dedicated to that beef.

U cant win against those odds.

Its crazy how a rap beef can change the way your career is viewed by the masses.

 

[puppetmaster]

Ja did good with his moment and nostalgia is gonna help him

He was as big as anyone from 99-02.

Problem is he found a lane and got a bit too comfortable just doing formulaic singing hooks and R&B ballads which is why 50 was able to walk up kick his door in and throw him out.

50 was the one to speak up and say fukk all this damn singing shyt at a time when people were ready to hear it. .. right as the Atlanta/ crunk era was emerging Ja didn’t stand a chance in that environment

 

[Another Man]

Nah, this thread is trying to rewrite history. nikkas are still riding the "Ja was nothing but trash" bandwagon that Gunit/interscope started a decade ago.

 

[Fctftl]

Saw Ja & Ashanti live in San Antonio. best money i ever spent

 

[Wacky D]

Nah, this thread is trying to rewrite history. nikkas are still riding the "Ja was nothing but trash" bandwagon that Gunit/interscope started a decade ago.

OP is correct for the most part.

im not gonna say jarule was str8 trash, but I remember him being arguably the most-hated rapper in the game before 50 cent even hit the mainstream.

g-unit/interscope didn't start anything. they weren't saying anything new. they were capitalizing off of what most rap fans already felt about jarule and they broadcasted those sentiments to the masses who otherwise, wouldn't have caught on until a year or two later.

its like imagine if a rapper went off dissing somebody like a drake, Kendrick or j.cole and spit the real about what most of us REALLY know about their careers and puts them in their proper perspective while being mad disrespectful. and then they have the juggernaut backing of an interscope or somebody going full throttle.

 

[KingJudah2]

ja was one of those rappers that moved units but i swear i don't know or met any nikka that has a Ja Rule album... shyts baffling.

like the up north Flo rida

 

[Heretic]

NOBODY is listening to 50 or Chingy in 2018. Everyone gets hype when a throwback Ja song comes on at the club though.

i can't see a situation where that JLo and Ja song come on and simultaneously everybody throw they hands up in unison and that one nikka be like be like "OHHHHHHHHHHH shyt SON! CUZ IM REALLLLLLLLL!!! And I CAN'T GO ON WITOUTCHUUUUUU... Yo god me and my nikkas used to ride in nikkaz to this shyt son, mad doors was kicked in to this shyt son!!!" The whole time his homeboy got the face and when he see he was the only one of his peoples that was a Ja stan his face go from "what would i be witoutchooooo"

to ummm "GUNIT (BO!) WE IN HERE (BO!) WE CAN GET THE DRAMA POPPIN WE DON'T CARE (BO! BO! BO!)

 

[Doctor Wily]

Other than that one song "6 ft underground" it way mostly females and white boys who rocked with JaRule the most.

 

[Flav]

There is no way in hell anybody during that time was really thinking Ja was up there w/ X or Jay.

Dude was somebody that had decent songs every once in awhile.
He was one of those rappers you would listen to for the beats/hooks.

You gotta be fukking kidding me. I remember that era and Ja Rule WAS up their with X and Jay Z easy. I remember that clear as day. Ja was droppin hit after hit till he opened his mouth about shutting down Dr Dre & Interscope in the Vibe magazine.

 

[Redwing80]

NOBODY is listening to 50 or Chingy in 2018. Everyone gets hype when a throwback Ja song comes on at the club though.

Who's fake account is this?