![]() ![]() On “I Cry” from Ja Rule’s 2000 breakthrough Rule 3:36, he leans further into the melding of mainstream gangsta rap and neo-R&B. We’re suckers for a well-placed sample, and it’s hard to imagine anything better than Ja Rule crooning over a sample of Toto’s “Africa.” It veers dangerously close to saccharine, but Ja imbues the song with enough emotion and visceral detail to keep its street credentials intact. These first albums were threaded together by Irv Gotti’s signature synth-heavy production, a style that would go on to define the mid-2000s in rap, and help usher in the horn-heavy orchestrations preferred by Southern street MCs in the decade to come.Ī member of New York’s elite cadre of superstar rappers, Ja Rule was a seminal, iconoclastic figure during rap’s second Golden Era. The album included his debut single and definitive masterpiece, “Holla Holla,” which featured a one-of-a-kind flow backed by layers and layers of vocals that turned Ja’s voice into a massive presence. ![]() Ja’s growling voice and melody-heavy jams are synonymous with early 2000s pop-leaning NYC rap music, a run that started with 1999’s Venni Vetti Vecci. It’s a style often copied but never replicated. His howling delivery is as an iconic, essential voice in rap music. But while Ja’s raps are as varied as they come, his voice is always recognizable. Through his best songs, Ja Rule has proved a gangsta can be many things: A pimp, a boyfriend, a hustler, a family man, a community figure. ![]()
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