Ja Rule On 50 Cent

[Shawn]

Not an MTV production, actually interviewed by Minister Louis Farrakhan, MTV has posted the interview conducted with a preface about Farrakhan. Due to the length, the rather long interview has been culled from its original format, losing all of the info on Ja Rule being raised Jehova's Witness, family problems and the death of his sister.

The interview

Louis Farrakhan:Tell me, how did this beef get started with you and brother 50?

Ja Rule: I think it all started when I was doing a video shoot on Jamaica Avenue. We're from the same neighborhood. And everybody in the neighborhood said that Murder Inc. was on the brink of doing big things. 50 Cent was an artist at the time, too. I think he was with Jam Master Jay, and we knew Jay. It was a situation where 50 wanted to be involved but didn't know how to go about it. He seen how much love we received on the avenue from all the people, 'cause this is our neighborhood. The whole south side is there on Jamaica Avenue for the video shoot. It was a great video, even if it didn't get played, and I think 50 didn't like the fact that I was getting so much love. I didn't know the dude, didn't have any confrontations before this, as the legend would have it. He supposedly spoke to me and said, "What's up?" And I said, "A'ight, what up?" Apparently that wasn't good enough or something, I don't know.

Later he came out like, "I'm gonna use other big rappers' names and dis and downplay them to bring attention to me." Which is a great plan, but all you're doing is creating hatred for yourself from other artists. When he made the record about me, I didn't think it was funny or cool. He'd made two records at the time. In "How to Rob" he talked about how he was gonna rob all these major rappers and artists. It was a jokey kind of record, but a lot of people took offense. I wasn't mentioned in that record. But the other one, called "Murder, I Don't Believe You," or something like that ["Life's on the Line"], set my whole thing spinning, so when we saw each other, it was immediate brawl confrontation. We don't like each other.

I didn't start this. I'm an artist who really went out there to make my records while asking myself, "What can I do to elevate myself and do music?" People started making more records that had more feeling. All the artists came into it making records with feeling about different aspects of life beside the criminal aspect. And this is where the whole hatred really started for him and trickled down. I guess when he got his record deal, he felt the need to call my name and disrespect what I am doing, which is crazy.

Farrakhan: I heard someone robbed you of some of your jewelry at some point.

Ja Rule: That's a false story. That's a story he made up. If someone does some harm to you, don't get mad at the person that's with them, he has nothing to do with it. He's just an innocent bystander. It's him I have the problem with. So I never got that story, but people ate it up, and the media eats that up. I never really got that story. Why would I be mad at you if your man got it? I would get your man; I would be hollering to your man. There really was no beef with me to him. It was always with him to me, you understand. So when I come back now and say I don't like him for this, this and this reason, everyone goes, "Well now, it's getting out of hand." But he already said his piece. He already came out and spoke about how he feels about Murder Inc. I was kind of upset about the fact that the people were kind of receptive to these things he was saying. I really didn't see it was gonna be well-received until it started to get this way. I told myself I needed to start making some records. Because I see there's a lot of ignorance. The people aren't getting that these two men have a real problem, and it's not about records. And since he made it about the records, that's all the people see, the music.

Farrakhan: Have you ever had contact with 50 other than through music?

Ja Rule: Yeah. We fought in Atlanta.

Farrakhan: An actual fight?

Ja Rule: Yeah. We fought in Atlanta and we fought in New York at the Hit Factory. We've had our altercations.

Farrakhan: What did you fight over?

Ja Rule: The first time, it was over the record. He made the "Murder, Murder" record. A mutual friend of ours stepped in Atlanta and said, "You know 50. It was just a record. Will you talk to him for me?" I said OK, I'll talk to him and holler. We got face to face and talked, but it all came to play during the talk. We got mad and went off at the handle quick. I got mad and started letting him know how I feel: "I don't like you. I don't like what you're doing. I don't think what you're doing is real." We come out and make records, and you sell your records, and if you catch a beef, then you handle it. You don't come into it with this and this dude. I let him know I wasn't feeling it, his whole style. So he punched me, he snuffed me, and — boom! — I caught him back. Then the fight broke out. We all over the place, we throwin' down. But see, I felt the disrespect. Our mutual friend pitted us to talk, and you just violated the talk when you struck. And once that ensued, that's when the real beef started. Because now it's a physical thing. Back in New York at the Hit Factory, I hear from a mutual friend that he's upstairs in the studio. And me being the enraged guy I was, I took it upon myself to go pay him a visit up there, and it got a little violent.

You can find the rest of the interview here.