After selling millions of records in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, Ja Rule eventually came under fire for singing in his songs – a style that had become a trademark of his sound. Calling in to Ear Candy Mornings from prison, the former Murder Inc. rapper spoke on artists like Drake and Kanye West using that style in their music, and how he supports it.
“I mean, I love it. I love to hear the melodies in the records. Music is music. I think people get that twisted. ‘Ah this is Hip Hop’ or ‘This is rock’ or ‘This is R&B.’ Hip Hop is the only form of music that can mess with all of those sounds and make for good music,” he said. “So when I hear it in the music, I smile. I love to hear it, I love to listen to Drake, I love Kanye – all of these artists who make good music, because that’s what it’s all about. It’s not about putting on a break beat and rhyming over it. That’s where it started, but things elevate, things change. I think I kind of was in that zone. I wouldn’t say I was ahead of my time, because I sold plenty of records doing that.”
Ja, who released his new album Pain is Love 2 yesterday, received backlash for singing in his songs after engaging in a heated beef with 50 Cent, who ridiculed him for using the style in his music. He hinted that Fif later adopted the same style, but noted that it never went away.
“I’ve got all the accolades for it, so I wouldn’t exactly say it was before anyone’s time. I think people enjoyed it and they loved it, and they’re still loving it. I just think it was a situation that I went through and people were led astray, led to believe that the style wasn’t the hot style or whatever. It’s funny, because it’s like someone told you pizza’s disgusting, pizza’s nasty, pizza’s wack. And then they went and sold pizza, and everybody bought it. It’s kind of that scenario, but I’m glad to hear it in the music.”
RELATED: Producer 7 Aurelius Says Recording With Ja Rule Felt “Supernatural”
Pain Is Love 2
Didnt think this would ever happen but Ja has actually become relevant again. Just goes to show that if you make hot music, no one can take that away from you.
True
Ja Rule is some trash, his first album was decent… 50 adds melody for his tours overseas so ppl can sing along with it, but his lyrical content is NOT what Ja’s was.. rainy days???
*breaks into song* If I was your best friend id want you around me all the time…. LOL stop fronting
50
Does Ja Rule think he invented singing and rapping? He might wanna check out some Slick Rick or Goodie Mob before he speaks again…
no he was saying people bagged on him for using that style!!!
You want me to end yourcareer again Ja? ” dont make me do’ dont make me fuck you up” street king
Sorry ja im sucking at getting soft fans to feel my street music thanks to u n wayne but i still hav a fanbase and a poppin site. U kinda dead
jaaaaaaaaaa rule is back fuck yaaaa
all i know is ja just dropped a classic album in pil2
JARULE IS KING HE BROUGHT THAT SINGING TO LIGHT
And his album is hot and classic ‘PIL2’
Mr. Atkins never started the melodic flow in his music as a rapper, Heavy D was the 1st one. Mr. Atkins brought it back just like T-Pain brought autotune back to music but he wasn’t the inventor of it. As far as people stealing Mr. Atkins style, he took his whole swag from DMX and Tupac, too bad he wasn’t as authentic as those guys…
Heavy D?? Child please Heavy D was nothing more then a successful MC Hammer. And the whole stealing DMX and Pacs swag is funny cuz if you look at Ja’s music video in 1994 with the cash money click he dressed the same and at the time Pac wasn’t as big and DMX was unheard of. Do your homework..Also why is it Ja gets targeted but if Method Man,Redman,Nas or even Young Jezzy wear a bandana its all good they get a pass huh wtf you know how dumb you sound???
Ja Rules New Album is Dope!!!
Fuck Ja Rule
How is singing in rap songs Ja Rule’s style? I could’ve sworn Bone Thugs was doing that wayyy before he was even a thought smh there is a difference between a person skimming through words in a melodic manner and a people who actually SING the records…get it straight…
Well you answered the question yourself didn’t you…Ja is known for melodies in his hooks and the first to be a rapper and duet with female artist bone thugs never did that. If they did then it was after Ja not pre and thats a fact.
“the first to be a rapper and duet with female artist” lol method man/mary j blige and jay-z/mariah carey collabo, haha dude just shut up, he wasn’t first…
@Lol you obviously don’t know what a duet is, two artist going back and fourth in melody format so you know kiss the baby
Bone Thugs N Mariah Carey. Ja wasnt the 1st, do some homework. PM Dawn used singing and rapping too back in the day. Ja’s way was just corny,just like drakes. When it comes to melodies in hip hop Bone Thugs are the GOATS, aint nobody even close to them dudes.
agree COMPLETELY. not sure y ja is not crediting bone thugs b/c all in all or however u look @ it, they were the first to do it like that. i would even take it back to bambaata and the zulu nation, planet rock had some form of melodic singing in it right?!!
Bone Thugs and mariah carey were after Ja if you want to call it duet songs??? And if any of these rappers anybody claims were before Ja then why weren’t they mentioned by other artist before? Dawg for real the fact that BTNH sings doesnt mean they know melodies. Melodies are hearing the rhyme in the beat I think you need to listen more carefully to music in general but the best example is buy PIL 2 and youll understand
@Killa Again whens the last time Bone Thugs made a hit?? Like a real hit that you can say wow too? Didnt they make a song with Phil Collins and fell off from there. Lol they ran out of shit to talk about theyre nothing to hip hop we could have lived without them. Its about how much great albums you can make not how you make one or two get your money and take off because of lack of talent.
Pm dawn damn i forgot about them lol I was like 12 when they came out yea they was definitely doing that style. What about arrested development lol
ja this bone that yes bone did it better than ja but mother fuckers still sleeps on my nigga z-ro who have been doing it since 94 but people don t want to see a tru street nigga who do it and do it damn good
Yeah its official. Ja Rule is now relevant again…and from prison! Haha, who woulda thought. He makes some great points, people need to realize they got fooled. lol at pizza is whack.
Since Tupacs death all I know is this, Pac was never a hater he loved all music he loved black people who made something of them selves and that was his goal in life. So to get mad at an artist who like us all loved Tupac is being a hypocrite because even till this day people want to be like Pac but they missed his message. You got gangsters wanting to be ruthless like him but Tupac wasn’t a gangster first off he just been through some shit. He always preached education and save the youth our future…People like Eminem and 50 cent wouldnt have made it. Although Pac loved music and the art of it at the same time he hated the fakeness of people. Emenem is not real you think Pac would have been ok with Em dissing his own mother and on the other hand calling most black women whores and then 50 cent standing right beside that like a bitch that he is and has nothing to say back. All I know is this real knows real and Pacs homies and Bigs homies are cool with Ja I wish somebody can explain that one. Those are Pacs homies saying Ja’s real not the other way around. “America eats its babies”-Tupac
ja rule is back boy lol
http://www.youtube.com/user/afterninemuzik?feature=mhee
2ndIInone & dj quick started that n the early 80’s
PIL2
everything 50 accomplished is becoming undone
Its funny how people are saying Ja didnt invent rapping and singing but got criticized for it more than anybody else.
“I wouldnt say I was ahead of my time, because I sold plenty of records doing that. He never said he invented doing it, he was just successful at doing it.
He made it popular. I guess we can thank him for helping to ruin hip hop. Congratulations.
How is hip hop ruined when it’s one of the most popular genres in the world?
Happy birthday Ja, keep ur head up bro.
Whoever started singing in hip hop.
Fuck him. They ruined this shit.
Lol come off it, singing was gonna happen sooner or later
Case in point it started in the fucking 90s
TO MANY RAP ARTSIST BEFORE HIM DID THE SAME THING
I am 50s fan but this album is nice
Bone thugs and Mariah did it in 97…Ja did it after that. Bone thugs made rapping and singing popular, yet never get that credit. Bone’s last hit was 07 with Akon, when was Ja’s last #1? That’s the problem with you new jacks in hiphop, never did your history on the artform and claim to know but really don’t know jack sh!t.
Were not just talking singing jackass bone thugs didnt do a duet there is a difference. Bone thugs never wrote hooks like Ja did. The song with Akon we all know that one but how did the album do it sucked didn’t it. Before Ja’s album the Mirror was leaked the song “Body” was peaking to be at number 1 on BET music videos and that was in 2009. Your talking one artist versus a group no problem Ja has sold over 30 million records. Bone thugs like I said we can live without them who the fuck cares about them never made an album you can listen from start to finish and thats final
Stylze, you’re a moron. Bones first major and second major album realeases are classics and you can def. listen to them from beginning to end, you don’t know shit.
According to who? You lol their first album peaked at #12 and never got better then that their second album peaked at #14…Ja Rule was on top of Hip Hop wtf are you talking about at one point he was bigger then anybody Bad Boy and Roc-A-Fella had and even DMX….Bone Thugs are dead right now lmfao Ja Rule is back did you forget what the topic was even about? Thats right mothaphucckin Ja Rule
shut uppppp bone is hot too, but just shut up your ignorantttt!!!!! Ja is the mannnn so is bone just shut the fuck up
Stylez FYI BONE SOLD MORE THAN 20MILLION ALBUMS IN THEIR CAREER SO SHUT THE F*CK UP.
CREEPIN ON AH COME UP – 4X PLATINUM
EAST 1999 – 10X Platinum WORLDWIDE (6 Mill in The USA)
ART OF WAR – 4X PLATINUM
BTNH REVOLUTION – 2X Platinum
And so on…
idiot 40 mill
Even Jay-Z Is Grateful
Ja Rule is credited for writing the chorus. Jay-Z has publicly thanked Ja Rule several times for writing the chorus for Can I Get A saying things like I needed that.
everybody knows that singing shit started in houston with pimp c, fat pat, big moe, devin tha dude,and Z-Ro
“One of the best songwriters in music history is Ja Rule”-Jay Z
Rule York. Sure Bone thugs did something similar but Ja made it popular and it was his style. Now many popular artists are using it.
and texas artists too but like bone thugs the didn’t use it consistently.
Whats up yall it’s Big Sean here. Just want to remind everyboy that it was me who started the whole singing thing, before I invented my “Supa Dupa Flow”, yall already know doe. I had actually just had a conversation with Ja so everything is cool we talked it out. I’m just glad that there are other artists that are able to feed off what I start.
Sophomore album Summer 2012 boii leggoo!
big sean is wack
didnt big sean also start hip hop?
r u kiddin me? ja rule has been mixing singing and rapping since before big sean was rapping at all!!! i mean i doubt ur actually big sean u sound like someone who just listened to finally famous and decided that u could act like him on the internet, nice try tho!!
whack
JA HAD MELODIES>>> GOT CRITISIZED FOR It
Music is music, but Ja was WACK-as-f&*%!! Plain & simple! He’s a “herb” for trying to take credit for singing on hip-hop tracks! LAME!! NO BODY IS CHECKING FOR JA-RULE!!!!! FACT!!! Enjoy your publishing checks while they last & STFU!!!
Ja did his thing. Then 50 came along with a more agressive style, and suddenly Ja was mocked. Unfortunately for him, once people dismiss you, they don’t come back. I give him credit though for seeing the process through and getting this new album out.
What a joke… Ja, didnt start anything… Good on him for his accomplishments.
Bone thugs made the singing rap blow up and others introduced it before that
A lot of these comments looking funny in the light.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
Dana Dane
Fearless Four
Funky 4 Plus One More
A lot of the the old school rappers sung and rapped, they called it harmonizing.
Even Queen Latifah sung and rapped. Step your rap history game up.
Album is nice…
ja rule>>>>>>>>>50
Ja’s lyrical content and ability to write songs can never be taken away, funny how everyone acts like he wasn’t one of the hottest artists at his time. no one is saying he started shit, he just perfected it!