Ja Rule has responded to Melle Mel‘s allegations that he copied 50 Cent, claiming he was the blueprint the G-Unit honcho followed.
TMZ caught up with Ja outside an airport earlier this week where he scoffed at the idea of mimicking his nemesis 50 Cent, as suggested by Mel, who also dissed his “New York” anthem’s success in comparison to JAY-Z and Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind.”
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“Mel’s earned the right to say whatever he wants but me copying 50 is like the funniest shit ever because 50 copied me,” Ja fired back. “I was his blueprint. But other than that, my ‘New York’ record was huge — humongous — one of the biggest New York records to date.
“‘Empire State of Mind’ is a huge record as well, but they’re different. Mine is a street anthem and ‘Empire State of Mind’ is like a big commercial kind of record with Alicia Keys and JAY-Z. Mine is me, Fat Joe, Jadakiss — it’s gutter.”
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Before heading out, Ja Rule made sure to pay homage to KRS-One as he sampled lyrics from his “100 Guns” track for the memorable “New York” chorus.
“Big shout-out to KRS-One, that’s his lyric, ‘100 gun, 100 clips.’ Everybody know that — I don’t know how Mel fucked that timeline up,” he added.
The conversation stemmed from Melle Mel’s incendiary The Art of Dialogue interview, which saw him hit Ja with allegations of copying his foe 50’s street mentality.
“It’s just like when 50 Cent was doing this shit and then when Ja Rule — and that was probably one of his last big records,” Mel said while rapping Ja’s “New York.”
He continued: “If he woulda just made that record a pure New York record, it would have been a way bigger record. But he went the route of trying to sound hard because 50 Cent sound hard.
“And it was still a good record but I’m just saying, if he woulda just made it a pure New York record like how JAY-Z did with his New York record. See what I’m saying? If he woulda went along the same lines as that.”
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While “Empire State of Mind” went on to top the Billboard Hot 100 and collect three Grammy nominations, Ja Rule’s “New York” still made waves from a commercial standpoint as the gritty Cool & Dre-produced record peaked at No. 27 on the Hot 100.
