Ja Rule Says He’s ‘One of the Most Influential Rappers of All Time’
Yesterday, Twitter was abuzz courtesy of Trump's new bestie, Kanye West, who had everyone going crazy with his "free thinking" and Make America Great Again hat-wearing.
But Ja Rule was thinking of other things-- like how great of a rapper he is.
Given the timing of the tweet, it's hard not to think that maybe Ja's declaration was in response to hype Kanye caused with his Trump support— which of course, brought Dave Chappelle's infamous joke to mind. At any rate, Ja said it, and it was met with some spirited responses.
There's no doubt that Ja Rule was dominating the charts in the early aughts. He had three #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including "Always On Time" with Ashanti and "I'm Real' with Jennifer Lopez. He had eight hits chart in the top 10 and sold millions of records. Two of his albums, 2000's Rule 3:36 and Pain Is Love, released in 2001, hit #1. He introduced Ashanti, who had a huge run, and Ja made rap-singing okay. Some people attribute him with influencing Drake (that role actually, arguably belongs to Phonte Coleman). So, the question remains: Is Ja one of the most influential rappers of all-time? Of a decade, maybe. All-time is a really strong statement.
Record sales aside, Ja has had to deal with numbers of a different kind recently. Earlier this month, it was reported that he owes over $360K in back taxes.
You can take a look at the responses to Ja's declaration below.
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