Ja Rule.... how embarrassing can the state of modern rap become?

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Just an obvious question. I mean,... I don't watch a lot of music television, but... the Ja Rule guy absolutely blows dick! How freakin' hard do these "rap thugs" have to push the macho thing until it just starts to mock itself?

― Maria, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What is more disturbing is that there is a segment of the population that actively consumes this sort of thing. It would be strange to sit in a room with those people. What do you say to somebody who thinks Ja Rule is the shit?

― mt, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Uh, Yeah, I think Ja Rule is dope, but have you heard this ?"

― mt, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

My co-worker says that Ja Rule is hot (he has a really nice body) and he has talent and he knows how to pick talent. She thinks you are all nuts.

― Alex in SF, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What do you say to somebody who thinks Ja Rule is the shit?

Play wise, and say nothing. If they lack taste, let 'em suffer for it;>

― Nichole Graham, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i am going to borrow a Ja Rule cd next week!

― gareth, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Better watch it Gareth! If you become a big fan then people like Maria and mt won't know what to say to you. How are you going to be able to deal with that sort of social awkwardness?

I don't get the big deal about Ja Rule. I mean he is basically a Mini-DMX, so what? I just listened to his CD at work and it's catchy enough. Why do you think he is so awful (or for that matter that modern rap is so embarrassing)?

― Alex in SF, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

THANK YOU, maria! i've been hoping someone would say it so i didn't have to; untaleneted little ferret-faced, cookie-monsterish bastard that guy is. he wouldn't be half as annoying if he wasn't guesting on EVERY SINGLE R&B TRACK PRODUCED THIS YEAR... christ, that grunting, tuneless voice singing alon with mary j blige, it makes me want to gouge out my eardrums with a mechanical pencil.

― your null fame, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I can't believe someone hates Cookie Monster! How can you hate Cookie Monster?

― Alex in SF, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

As a hip-hop writer friend of mine once put it in regards to Mr. Rule, it's hard to have much respect for an MC who has trouble with polysyllabic words.

― Lee G, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

mt that Icy Hot Stuntaz page is completely unreal. You are to be commended for finding it.

― John Darnielle, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It's funny cause they are WHITE!

― Alex in SF summoning the sleeping spirit of Ethan P, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

No it's funny because they are TERRY RILEY IN DISGUISE

go listen to how they achieve Total Drone inside of three minutes at http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/286/stuntatime.html

Oh, man.

― John Darnielle, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Lord of the Blings....stop it, ya killin me

― Sean Carruthers, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Okay as easy as it is to laugh at the hijinks of the Icy Hot Stuntaz (Terry Riley, WTF). I am curious to know what is so freakin' awful about Ja Rule that people think that Ja Rule FANS mind you are such walking talking troglodytes that one cannot even carry on a simple conversation with them. I didn't realize rapping polysyllabically (or even using real fuckin' words) was the true sign of rappin' quality and the Cookie Monster argument is just lame (mostly cause I think that Cookie Monster "C is for Cookie" rap is pretty ace). So I ask again: what is so terrible about Ja Rule?

― Alex in SF, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

So I ask again: what is so terrible about Ja Rule?

"J to the L-O, hello"

― Dom Passantino, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

(i like Ja Rule)

― Tim, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

People who hate Ja Rule = People who hate FUN!

(May be exaggerated for comedic effect.)

― Dan Perry, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

all but about three people on this thread are big mean stupidheads (given an old nylpm post of mine, i wonder who they are...)

― jess, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

If you type "Ja Rule fun" into the google image search, this comes up:
http://showcase.netins.net/web/koby/sinner.gif

What does that tell us?

― Dom Passantino, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

That cartoonist has mis-spelled "Sinker".

― Tom, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

anyway blah blah blah...someone dig up the old thread where we had this "argument" before (i think it might have been "pop nemesis"...was it n*tsuh?)...where i and timmy f basically said that the reason ja rule is interesting (i'm not actually convinced he is anymore) is because he's taken the sensetive thug routine so far that it's become something else entirely (disco, gayness, etc.)

― jess, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I dunno how I feel about the recent Ja Rule ballad-glut but "Livin It Up" rules.

― adam, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

jess: voilà

― zebedee, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Dom should know that that picture has just made me like Ja Rule more.

― Dan Perry, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Me too. Hahahaha.

― Alex in SF, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

To be honest with you, I think it's done the same for me.

― Dom Passantino, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Monicaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

(Note: that is only funny if you have seen The Fast and the Furious. Even funnier is that Ja Rule's character is named Edwin.)

― Nate Patrin, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What the hell, people? I mean, Ja Rule is not like the greatest artist in the history of the world, but what's wrong with Livin' It Up or Always On Time or that Mary J. Blige remix? I like his version of I'm Real better than that awful bad-Kylie-Minogue-song that Jennifer Lopez did herself. People are talking about him like he's the new hitler or something.

― Ally, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

So I ask again: what is so terrible about Ja Rule?

ok, i admit it. i'm just jealous because i can't wear a doo rag as formidably as he can.

i think what's wrong with him is, in fact, his lack of ability to enunciate and the horrible, grating grunt that we're calling his voice. simple. i can't think of a less articulate rapper this side of joeski love...

― your null fame, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The main problem with him is that he is a mediocre/capable MC, at best, and that he does nothing to validate his popularity when there are so many other better hardcore/gangsta MCs out there. He's able to capitalize on that formula of "memorable chorus catch phrase + solid instrumental = surefire radio and club hit, regardless if the verses suck." Granted, he has his moments, but not enough to outshine the bad.

― Fred, Saturday, 8 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What I love about "Always On Time" is that you have Ja Rule, thug for life, going on about how his woman is an animal, how she's making his life hell and slashing up the seats in his Benz, and has basically mindfucked him to the edge, and then it turns out the girl is Ashanti, who makes Britney Spears look like Barbra Stanwyck. I also like that the guy clearly has a "love you like a brother" relationship with Jennifer Lopez, which is a fate no man should have to suffer. "So close, yet so far away" as Hall and Oates once sang.

― J Blount, Saturday, 8 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Since that last thread I have come around to his whole "aww-shucks" vibe enough so that I'm not particularly bothered by his singles. But still, him and Nelly: they're just giant black holes of boredom in radio time. Ja Rule and Ashanti together is like an especially- painful episode of Moesha.

(NB1: I like Moesha, though. NB2: "Full Moon," too, best single I'd heard in ages.)

― nabisco%%, Saturday, 8 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I love the Ja Rule album. He has pretty much my favorite production team in all hip-hop (go Gotti!) and excellent singles. Are they good by rap standards? Probably not, but they're great pop. His sense of rhythm is teriffic as far as crafting hooks. "Always on Time" in particular has the best thing Ashanti has ever done, coupled with seriously disturbing verses that still fit his mr. romance flow. More on this when I get to work and have the album with me.

― Sterling Clover, Saturday, 8 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I can't believe Nitsuh just dissed Nelly like that. My heart breaks.

― bnw, Saturday, 8 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

liking Ja Rule = critical apparatus has finally withered and died from continual suspension in the face of Pop. Sure some of it's good, but SOME OF IT IS VERY VERY BAD. (I agree with the sensitive thug extended out into some bizarre queer icon thing though, and that makes me giggle almost makes me like him BUT NOT QUITE.)

― Dan I., Saturday, 8 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Really for me not liking Ja Rule as pop is just down to the mysterious thing whereby one bit of hugely unsubtle catchiness - "you used to be my ROMEO" say - can light up a Summer and another bit of hugely unsubtle catchiness - "i'm always there when you CALL, cos i'm always on TIME" - irritates you to hell. Yes Rule's see-Spot-run rapping doesn't help but that's not the problem. It's just the eternal question of why one repetitive sound is sublime and another horrendous.

― Tom, Saturday, 8 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Christ. People thought that Gerardo and Dino were the shit too back in the late 80's, and they spoke up with just as much cringeworthy teenage fervor for their tiny moments in the spotlight. "Gerardo is sexy. Rico Suave is tha shit. You're just jealous because you're not sexy and tha shit." No,... fun = innovation and talent. Entertainment = keeping me interested and not falling asleep. JaRule does neither. If I want sexy, I'll turn on Jackass and salivate over Johnny Knoxville, you little terds. JaRule tries way too hard, but everyone knows that he suffers from the Sisqo brand of penis-envy. When is Q-Tip's next one coming out? RZA? Hello? WTF is this JaRule garbage and why is it polluting my airwaves? UGH!

― Maria, Saturday, 8 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I basically agree with Ally who obviously kind of likes "I'm Real" too, and I add that the main objection to Ja Rule - his 'grating' voice - is what I like about him, because the 'freak' voice is quite a cool thing in rap I think. Sure, it's got nothing to do with IQ, learning, whatever - it's just something biological but I'm glad that most people pick up on the pleasure of the freakish sound.

― maryann, Saturday, 8 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

like, hello! maria, wtf?!

calm down.

― jess, Saturday, 8 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What maryann said.

― Tim, Saturday, 8 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ja Rule is meant to be sexy? He looks like a weasel.

― Ally, Saturday, 8 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

cmon your null fame, rock the doo-rag anyway. i'll give you a dollar.

driving cross-country, we discovered that the only three songs in america are "always on time", "i'm real" and occasionally that tweet song. thus the radio became known as the j-d-lo, and any songs without ja rule were almost immediately vetoed until it was determined whether it was tweet. damn, i need to download those songs right now.

― Dave M., Saturday, 8 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

six years pass...

I cannot believe that I am on record defending Ja Rule. wtf

― the freakish wonder of nature that is "Beat Me" (HI DERE), Monday, 4 May 2009 21:00 (sixteen years ago)

DEFENDIN' JA RULE, BABY.

― Suggesteban Cambiasso (jim), Monday, 4 May 2009 21:05 (sixteen years ago)

ja rule singles poll

― zone 6 polar bear (J0rdan S.), Monday, 4 May 2009 21:06 (sixteen years ago)

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w75/djdubstrong/JahRuleRhythmAndSound.jpg?t=1241471733

― Dr. Phil, Monday, 4 May 2009 21:15 (sixteen years ago)

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