Don't cry for Ja Rule. Yes, the rapper has experienced the kind of year that could make Bill O'Reilly's look enviable. But he insists, "I wasn't out somewhere whining and crying. I just had to make sense of it all. I really didn't understand what came at me."
Especially since it came from so many different directions.In 2003, this one-time hip-hip giant - who racked up four multiplatinum albums between 1999 and 2002 _ found himself embroiled in the biggest beef this side of Peter Luger. In interviews, mix tapes and official releases, he battled it out with 50 Cent, then the top new rapper around.
And he was losing badly.
In February 2003, 50 humiliated Rule on the fastest selling CD of the year, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'." It labeled Rule a fake gangsta who had imitated Tupac Shakur, and who sold out rap by turning it into pop. Powerful associates of 50, including Eminem, Dr. Dre and his G-Unit posse, also ripped into Rule.
Last November, the embattled rapper finally fired back with his own album of barbs, "Blood in My Eye." On one track, Rule vowed to "go to jail for sending 50 to hell."
But the album became the rapper's first commercial disappointment, selling fewer than 500,000 copies.
At the same time federal agents began an ongoing investigation into Murder Inc., the record company that launched Rule. It accused the label of being funded by drug money.
Then rumors began to swirl that Rule was splitting with his wife. The two, who married four years ago, have known each other since high school in Hollis, Queens, when Rule was known as Jeffrey Atkins. They have three children, ages 1, 3 and 9.
By early 2004, Rule admits when he'd "go out in the streets, it was `f--- you' (from the fans)."
He asserts it all came about because the fans "were misled. They were told lies and they believed them."
Now Rule is trying to set the record straight and revive his badly wounded career with a new album, "R.U.L.E.," which hits stores Nov. 9.On the CD, Rule, 28, deals with all his struggles.
"I poured out my soul," he says. But he tried not to increase the anger.
"I want (fans) to focus on the artist and the music and not the hoopla that tends to distract people," he says.
The music returns Rule to his hit-making style, with more R&B elements provided by singers like Ashanti, Lloyd and R. Kelly. It contrasts dramatically with last year's hard-core "Blood" album. Rule says he got the anger out of his system on that CD. But certain events surrounding its release drew criticism.
Rule issued "Blood" one day after giving a highly publicized interview with Minister Louis Farrakhan that was meant to deflate the escalating beef between him and 50. Fans heard only encouraging words from Rule in the interview, but the rapper says he did vent during it.
"They spliced it up," he explains. "In the minister's defense, they did that because he thought it was better for hip hop to show no negativity."
50 Cent didn't show up for his half of the powwow, which Rule says "was disrespectful to the minister, and to hip hop."
But many hip-hop fans wound up blaming Rule for participating in a peace talk one day, then putting out a war-mongering album the next. They called the whole Farrakhan talk a PR stunt.
"I never said (the interview) wasn't meant for promotion," Rule says.
He also feels it's hypocritical for listeners to accuse him of watering down hip hop when they made hits of the songs in question.
"Now everyone is doing that style," Rule says. "They're riding the formula."
As for his label's troubles, Rule says its workers have had a hard time dealing with them. Last year, the company changed its name from Murder Inc. to The Inc.
Rule claims the switch was not a reaction to the investigation.
"We're not kids on the block anymore," he explains. "We're a company with corporate sponsors that don't like having `Murder' on their letterheads."
Though The Inc. remained firmly on Rule's side behind the scenes, in public he toughed out his problems alone. Some loyal fans wondered why no other rappers came to his defense. Rule claims some wanted to, but he told them, "I'm going to do this as a lone soldier, to make an even stronger statement about myself."
Now, he says, some hip-hop figures are coming out to back him. His new video, for an original song called "New York, New York," features Jadakiss, Fat Joe and Styles from the Lox, plus radio personalities Angie Martinez and Ed Lover. Rule claims the public's attitude toward him is also turning around. He even claims this brutal year had its good side.
"It made me a better artist," he says. "Everybody needs an adversary. What doesn't kill you will only make you stronger."
