The Memoir Of Ms. Butterfly

Ja Rule was born Jeffrey Bruce Atkins on February 29, 1976, to Debra and Will in Hollis, a section of the Queens borough of New York City.

Jeffrey’s father left the family when he was very young. Atkins was raised as an only child, as his younger sister, Kristen, died in the womb when Atkins was 5.

His mother, Debra, was a healthcare worker. Due to the time she spent working, Atkins was primarily raised by his grandparents as a Jehovah’s Witness. Atkins’ mother left the Jehovah’s Witness religion when he was 12. Atkins began selling drugs in Hollis soon after.

Atkins began his rap career in 1994 with the hip-hop group Cash Money Click alongside members Chris Black and O-1. He took the stage name “Ja Rule,” telling MTV News that the name came from a friend who addressed him by that name; other friends simply called him “Ja. Together, they worked with producer D.J. Irv to produce several songs, releasing their debut single, “Get Tha Fortune,” independently in 1994.

After the group signed with T.V.T. Records, the song was re-released through the label later that year as the B-side to their second single, “4 My Click”. “4 My Click” featured Mic Geronimo and became popular on pirate radio, eventually receiving airplay on Yo! MTV Raps.

Plans for the release of the group’s eponymous debut studio album were halted in 1995 after Chris Black was sentenced to five years in prison, and the group was dropped from T.V.T., leading to their third single, “She Swallowed It,” never officially being released. However, it was later bootlegged. With no label, the group disbanded shortly after being dropped.

After being dropped from T.V.T., Ja Rule maintained a close relationship with D.J. Irv, who was working as an executive producer for Def Jam at the time. D.J. Irv, now known as Irv Gotti, was hired as an A&R for the label and got Ja Rule a contract with Def Jam.

In 1995, he made his first solo appearance on Mic Geronimo’s “Time to Build” alongside Jay-Z and D.M.X., who were also in the early stages of their careers.

He later appeared on the song “Usual Suspects” from Mic Geronimo’s second album Vendetta in 1997, alongside The Lox, D.M.X., and Tragedy Khadafi.

He also had a brief cameo in the “Walk In New York” video by Queens hardcore rap group Onyx. Later, in 1997, Irv Gotti was granted his imprint from Def Jam, known as Murder Inc. Records. Ja Rule was promoted as the label’s flagship artist, and he continued to make guest appearances on songs by other artists, including Method Man, Redman, Nas, D.M.X., L.L. Cool J, and Dru Hill.

He later appeared on Jay-Z’s 1998 hit single “Can I Get A…”, for which he wrote the hook. It was initially planned to be Ja Rule’s debut single until Jay-Z heard the track and requested it himself. During this time, he rapped under the slightly modified stage name Jah.

Returning to the Ja Rule name, his debut single, Holla Holla, was released in March 1999 and became a hit, peaking at #35 on the Billboard Hot 100. Fueled by the success of Holla Holla, Ja Rule’s debut album, Venni Vetti Vecci, was released in 1999, peaking at #3 on the Billboard 200 with 184,000 copies sold in its first week. It eventually reached platinum status in the U.S. due to the popularity of “Holla Holla. A remix of “Holla Holla” was later released, featuring Jay-Z, Vita, Cadillac Tah, Black Child, Memphis Bleek, and Busta Rhymes.

Ja Rule’s second single, “Between You and Me,” featuring Christina Milian, was released in June 2000 as the first single from his second studio album and became his first major crossover hit, earning Top 40 airplay and reaching #11 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The album’s next single, “Put It on Me,” featuring Vita and Lil’ Mo, was released in December 2000 and became one of the biggest hits of 2001, reaching #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming the first top 10 hits for both Ja Rule and Vita.

The video for “Put It on Me” also topped the MTV Video Countdown for a week and became the first music video to be retired on B.E.T.’s 106 & Park after spending more than 60 days on the countdown. The video also ranked #1 on B.E.T.’s Notarized: Top 100 Videos of 2001.

Ja Rule’s second album, Rule 3:36, was released on October 10, 2000, and went in a much different stylistic direction from Venni Vetti Vecci, changing his almost trademark hardcore hip-hop sound to mainstream-oriented pop-rap, debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200 with 276,000 copies sold in its first week, making it Ja Rule’s first number one album. The album later went on to be certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A.).

The success of Rule 3:36 promoted Ja Rule to international status and made Murder Inc. one of the biggest labels in the United States. The same success followed with his third album, which spawned three top 10 singles, two reaching #1.

The first, “Livin’ It U”, featuring Case, was released in July 2001 and reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also succeeded in the United Kingdom, reaching #5 on the U.K. Singles Chart.

The second single, Always on Time”, was released in October 2001 and marked the first major guest appearance for Murder Inc.’s youngest artist, Ashanti, and became Ja Rule’s and Ashanti’s first song to top the Billboard Hot 100.

The remix of Jennifer Lopez’s “I’m Real” featuring Ja Rule was included on the album and topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five non-consecutive weeks, beginning September 8, 2001, and also topped the Hot 100 Airplay chart.

The song was a staple of R&B/hip hop and pop radio during the summer and fall of 2001, spending fifteen weeks in the top five of the Hot 100.

In 2009, the single was named the 30th most successful song of the 2000s on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Decade. The album’s fourth single, “Down Ass Bitch” featuring Charli Baltimore, was also successful, reaching #21 on the Hot 100.

Ja Rule released his third studio album, Pain Is Love, on October 2, 2001. Like its predecessor, Pain Is Love topped the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 361,000 copies and is certified triple platinum by the R.I.A.A. The album also received a Grammy nomination in 2002 for Best Rap Album. By 2007, 3.6 million copies of Pain Is Love had been sold.

The Last Temptation, Ja Rule’s fourth album, was released on November 19, 2002. It spawned two hit singles, “Thug Lovin’,” featuring Bobby Brown, which peaked at #42 on the Billboard Hot 100, and Mesmerize, a duet with Ashanti that peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

 The Last Temptation debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 237,000 copies and was certified platinum by the R.I.A.A. in December 2002.

Shortly after the release of his fourth studio album, Ja Rule’s ongoing beef with fellow Queens rapper 50 Cent reached its peak, with both artists taking to radio stations almost daily to trade insults and diss tracks.

On January 3, 2003, the Murder Inc. offices were raided by F.B.I. agents and N.Y.P.D. officers due to accusations of money laundering and drug trades toward Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, who was associated with Irv Gotti.

Due to the federal investigation, Ja Rule had a late response in his beef with 50 Cent. By association, 50 Cent’s labelmates Eminem, Obie Trice, D12, and Ja Rule’s former friends and associates D.M.X. and Busta Rhymes were brought into the feud too.

Ja Rule released the diss track “Loose Change” in April 2003, where he attacked 50 Cent, Eminem, Busta Rhymes, and Dr. Dre. 50 Cent eventually responded with “Hail Mary,” which used the beat from 2Pac’s song of the same name and featured Eminem and Busta Rhymes.

The beef continued to be highly publicized throughout 2003. Eventually, it led to Ja Rule meeting with Minister Louis Farrakhan in October, who wanted to intervene and prevent escalating violence in the feud.

Ja Rule’s fifth studio album, Blood in My Eye, was released on November 4, 2003, under the Murder Inc. label, which renamed itself “The Inc.” several days after the album’s release.

The material was intended simply as a mixtape but was released as an album to fulfill Ja Rule’s contractual commitment to Murder Inc. to release one annually. The album was described as a “hate” album directed at various rappers, including 50 Cent, G-Unit, Eminem, Proof, Dr. Dre, D.M.X., Busta Rhymes, and others.

It returned to Ja Rule’s hardcore style in his earlier career. It spawned one hit single, “Clap Back,” which reached #44 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won a Source Award for “Fat Tape” song of the year.

It peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 200, selling 139,000 copies in its first week of release, and had sold over 468,000 copies in the U.S. by 2008.

Ja Rule’s sixth studio album, R.U.L.E., was released in November 2004, debuting at #7 and selling 166,000 copies in its first week of release. Its lead single, “Wonderful”, featuring R. Kelly and Ashanti, peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The single was followed by the street anthem “New York,” featuring Fat Joe and Jadakiss, which charted at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The third single was the love song “Caught Up,” featuring Lloyd, which had failed to impact the Billboard Hot 100. The R.I.A.A. certified R.U.L.E. Gold on January 14, 2005; by October 2007, the album had sold 658,000 copies.

On December 6, 2005, The Inc. released Exodus, a greatest hits album whose only new tracks were the song “Me” and intro and outro tracks.

 Exodus was the last album on Ja Rule’s contract with The Inc. After its release, Ja Rule took a hiatus from recording music. Meanwhile, The Inc. Records was still under investigation because of alleged drug trades with Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff.

This led to Def Jam Recordings refusing to renew The Inc.’s contract. From 2005 to 2006, Gotti searched for other labels, finally reaching a deal with Universal Records (part of the same company as Def Jam). A few years later, The Inc. left Universal Records due to business issues and failure to secure project funds. In 2007, Ja Rule founded the record label Mpire Music Group.

Ja Rule was released from prison on May 7, 2013. Alongside Lil Wayne and Birdman, he appeared on the remix of the track “She Tried,” which appeared on the N.O.R.E. album Student of the Game.

 On September 18, 2013, Ja Rule released a track titled “Fresh Out Da Pen”. The track had first premiered on Hot 97. A few days later, he released “Everything”. Both tracks were produced by Visionary producers Reefa and Myles William.

On September 27, 2013, both tracks were released on iTunes for digital download. In September 2013, it was confirmed that Ja Rule and Gotti had relaunched Murder Inc. Records.

In 2014, Ja Rule released a memoir, Unruly: The Highs and Lows of Becoming a Man, in which he reflected on his past struggles with a difficult adolescence in New York City and everything that followed, from breakout success and destructive rivalries to fatherhood and a two-year prison sentence.

In July 2014, Ja Rule announced his eighth studio album, which was eventually pushed back to a 2016 release. In 2014, MTV announced that Ja Rule and his family would star in the upcoming reality show Follow the Rules, which was co-produced by Queen Latifah.

A sneak peek trailer of the show surfaced on the internet in September 2014, and the show premiered on October 26, 2015. In October 2015, Rule announced that he and Gotti had partnered with Paramount Pictures on a T.V. drama series based on the history of Murder Inc., set to premiere in 2016.

In February 2016, Ja Rule announced that his upcoming eighth studio album would be Coup De Grâce and his last album. In December 2016, he appeared on The Hamilton Mixtape, rapping Hamilton’s verse in Ashanti’s performance of “Helpless,” referencing Lin-Manuel Miranda’s impression of him in the last line of that verse. On June 26, 2018, Ashanti confirmed that she and Ja Rule are working on a collaborative album.

On October 15, 2021, celebrating the twentieth anniversary of his third studio album, Pain is Love, Ja Rule released the single “Sincerely, Jeffrey” for all streaming platforms.

His first film was a buddy movie with Pras, Turn It Up; he appeared in a minor role in The Fast and the Furious.

He appeared in several movies, including Back in the Day with Ving Rhames, Pam Grier, and Half Past Dead as Steven Seagal’s co-star. He also starred in the movies The Cookout with Queen Latifah and Assault on Precinct 13. In 2013, he starred in I’m in Love with a Church Girl.

In 2004, Ja Rule and Gotti launched an urban clothing line called Ervin Geoffrey. In 2006, Ja Rule launched a liquor company, The Mojito.

In May 2015, Ja Rule partnered with Billy McFarland, the C.E.O. of the credit card service company Magnises, to become its creative head and spokesman.

In August 2015, Ja Rule collaborated with footwear businessman Steve Madden on a new line of men’s sneakers called Maven x Madden, released for sale in the fall of 2015.

In 2016, Ja Rule co-founded Fyre Media, Inc., a talent booking agency, with Billy McFarland.

In April 2017, the venture touted its Fyre Festival in Hamilton, Bahamas, as a luxury event, but it was fraudulent, disappointing hundreds of ticket-buyers. Rule and McFarland faced a $100 million class action suit.

In 2020, Ja Rule developed a live-streaming app called “Iconn Live.” The app debuted on Apple T.V. in November 2022.

In 2021, Ja Rule partnered with a team of software engineers to launch Flipkick, a platform that sells physical works of art as non-fungible tokens.

Flipkick claims to be “the first company to offer cryptographic authentication of physical works of art sold as and linked to NFTs.” To inaugurate the platform, Ja Rule listed for auction a painting he commissioned in 2012 by artist Tripp Derrick Barnes depicting the Fyre Media Inc. logo. The painting was listed with an estimate of $600,000.

In June 2023, Ja Rule launched a premium wine label called Rose Vine Cellars.

Atkins earned his G.E.D. while in prison in February 2012. In February 2021, Atkins completed an online course at Harvard Business School and shared a photo of his certificate of completion on Twitter.

In April 2001, Ja Rule married Aisha Murray. The couple have three children: Brittney Asja Atkins (born 1995), Jeffrey Jr. (born 2000), and Jordan (born 2003.

Raised as a Jehovah’s Witness for most of his childhood, Ja Rule identifies as a Christian. He “reconnected with God” in 2013 while promoting the movie I’m in Love with a Church Girl. He was baptized, along with his wife, in 2013.

In 2003, he punched a man in Toronto, who later sued. He received a $1,200 fine after pleading guilty to assault.

In 2004, police investigated whether a feud involving Murder Inc. led to a fatal shooting outside a nightclub party hosted by Ja Rule and Leon Richardson.

On July 1, 2004, Ja Rule was arrested for driving with a suspended license and possessing marijuana.

In July 2007, Ja Rule was arrested for gun and drug possession charges along with Lil Wayne and Don Rhys, who served eight months in prison in 2010 for attempted possession of a weapon stemming from the arrest. The court rejected Ja Rule’s argument that the gun was illegally obtained evidence.

On December 13, 2010, Ja Rule received a two-year sentence after pleading guilty to attempted possession of a weapon after the 2007 arrest. On March 8, 2011, Ja Rule’s surrender date for his two-year prison sentence was set for June 8. He was first sent to Rikers Island, then later to a state facility in Upstate New York.

In July 2011, Ja Rule received an additional 28-month prison sentence for tax evasion to run concurrently with his state term, failing to pay taxes on more than $3 million in earnings between 2004 and 2006.

He was released from state prison on February 21, 2013, but was immediately taken into federal custody for the tax case, for which he had less than six months remaining on his sentence. Ja Rule was held in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center and was set to be released on July 28, 2013. Ja Rule was released from prison early on May 7, 2013.

By July 1, 2017, Ja Rule faced more than a dozen lawsuits filed by ticket buyers and investors in the failed Fyre Festival, and his partner in the venture, Billy McFarland, had been indicted for fraud. In November 2019, charges were reportedly dropped against Ja Rule concerning the lawsuits.

Before signing with Interscope Records, rapper 50 Cent engaged in a well-publicized feud with Ja Rule and his label Murder Inc. Records. 50 Cent claimed that the feud began in 1999 after Ja Rule spotted him with a man who robbed him of his jewelry and because Ja Rule was “trying to be Tupac.

However, Ja Rule claimed the conflict stemmed from a video shoot in Queens because 50 Cent did not like Ja Rule “getting so much love” from the neighborhood.

50 Cent indirectly confirmed this in an interview with XXL Magazine, where 50 Cent states he was upset with Ja Rule for being under the aegis of Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff.

A confrontation occurred in Atlanta in which Ja Rule claims he struck 50 Cent with a baseball bat, later his crew stepping in to beat up 50 Cent. Another confrontation occurred in a New York studio where rapper Black Child, a Murder Inc. artist, stabbed 50 Cent, causing a wound requiring four stitches.

In his book, 50 Cent details how Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff tried to resolve the conflict between him and Ja Rule. McGriff asked 50 Cent to leave them alone because of the money involved. 50 Cent insinuated the conflict had something to do with the shooting where he was ambushed and shot.

Since then, Black Child and other Murder Inc. rappers, such as Cadillac Tah, publicly insulted 50 Cent with “There’s a Snitch in the Club” by Cadillac Tah and “The Real Wanksta” by Black Child.

In both songs, Black Child details violent actions directed toward 50 Cent. The exchange of insult tracks released from both parties culminated in Ja Rule’s Blood in My Eye, an album that returned additional insults to 50 Cent.

Because of the ongoing feud between the two, 50 Cent’s labelmates Eminem, Dr. Dre, Obie Trice, D12, D.M.X., Busta Rhymes, and the rest of the members of G-Unit also became involved and released tracks that insulted Ja Rule.

Ja Rule later released R.U.L.E., which included the successful single “New York” featuring Jadakiss and Fat Joe, in which Ja Rule obliquely attacked 50 Cent. This single prompted 50 Cent to enter a feud with the two featured artists, reflected in his response, “Piggy Bank.”

Although it seemed that the feud was over, Ja Rule returned with a track titled “21 Gunz. In response, Lloyd Banks and 50 Cent released the track “Return of Ja Fool” on Lloyd Banks’ mixtape Mo Money in the Bank Pt. 4, Gang Green Season Starts Now.

In an interview with MTV, Ja Rule stated about his album, The Mirror:

There were many things I wanted to say, and I didn’t want any bitter records on the album. Because I’m not bitter about anything that happened [in the past few years.

In May 2011, it was confirmed that Ja Rule and 50 Cent had ended the feud. Ja Rule said, “I’m cool. We ain’t beefing no more. We’ll never collaborate. That’s just what it is. You don’t have to be at war with somebody, but it’s also like the U.S. and another country they may not get along with. We don’t have to go to war, but we’re not friends. But we can coincide inside of a world. He’s doing him, and he’s not thinking about me, and I’m doing me, and I’m not thinking about him.

In September 2013, in an interview with Angie Martinez on The Angie Martinez show on H.O.T. 97, both Rule and Irv Gotti acknowledged that 50 Cent not only took a toll on Ja Rule’s prominence but, along with the federal indictment, damaged Murder, Inc., as a music label.

They told Martinez their immediate reaction on hearing 50 Cent’s single, “In Da Club,” on the radio was that it was “so dope” and that they had a problem with it.

Due to their feud, they also disclosed that they had been blackballed from various award shows where 50 Cent was to perform. Notwithstanding seeing 50 Cent as a hustler, they liked his entrepreneurial mentality; 10 years on, they no longer had a problem with him. Ja Rule indicated he planned to write a book about the whole experience. In early 2018, after four years of taunting Ja Rule, 50 Cent reignited the beef after publicly dissing him on Big Boy’s Neighborhood, leading to Ja Rule retaliating on Twitter the next day.

The conflict started after 50 Cent signed to Shady Records and Aftermath in 2002. Ja Rule and Irv Gotti expressed dissatisfaction with Eminem and Dr. Dre for signing an artist with whom they were in conflict. They threatened to take action against them if they released any 50 Cent tracks deprecatory of Murder Inc.

The conflict escalated when Ja Rule released “Loose Change,” attacking 50 Cent, Eminem, and Dr. Dre. The song also includes lyrics that insulted Eminem’s family (most notably his then 7-year-old daughter Hailie Jade) and acquaintances. In response, Eminem, D12, and Obie Trice released the deprecatory track “Hailie’s Revenge (Doe Rae Mi),” featuring vocals from Eminem’s daughter.

Busta Rhymes joined the conflict when featured on the “Hail Mary 2003” track with Eminem and 50 Cent. The song, which is a remake of Tupac Shakur’s song “Hail Mary,” was done partially as a response to Ja Rule’s remake of Tupac’s song “Pain” (re-titled “So Much Pain”). The rappers felt Ja Rule could not compare to Tupac, so they made the track, mocking him for trying to “imitate” the deceased rap icon. Eminem prevented Ja Rule from appearing on any of the “new” Tupac songs he produced, including those on Loyal to the Game.

After Murder Inc. broke up in 1999 due to animosity between D.M.X. and Jay-Z, D.M.X. accused Ja Rule of copying his signature “gruff style,” the two subsequently fell out.

On the single “Where the Hood At?”, D.M.X. disses Ja Rule by replicating lyrics from other Ja Rule songs, referring to Ja Rule’s controversy of being labeled as homophobic in the lyrics such as “I show no love to homo thugs” or “Last time I checked, you niggas having sex with the same sex.

Ja Rule responded with several disses on his album, Blood in My Eye, including “Clap Back.] D.M.X. said that he wanted the dispute to end when he was released in 2005: “[Irv] Gotti came to me in jail and said I want to make peace with you and him. I was like, ‘All right, Gotti, let’s do it, man. D.M.X. and Ja Rule finally ended their feud at VH1’s 2009 Hip Hop Honors.

By his association with D.M.X., Ja Rule was brought into the beef between D.M.X. and Kurupt, being dissed on Kurupt’s 1999 song “Callin’ Out Names.” Ja Rule responded with “Still I.N.C.” featuring Black Child and Cadillac Tah, a freestyle over Dr. Dre’s “Still D.R.E.” beat. The two eventually squashed their beef on the movie Half Past Dead, set in 2002.

In October 2002, rapper Foxy Brown dismissed reports of recording a track with rivals Nas and Ja Rule that was “potentially” deprecatory of Jay-Z. During a Thanksgiving week interview in 2002, while on Doug Banks In the Morning, Ja Rule stated that he “[couldn’t] stand Foxy Brown.

” Brown reportedly heard Ja Rule’s comments via a radio while helping her mother clean her house. Going against her manager’s wishes, Brown informed Banks during her interview with Doug Banks that she was “flabbergasted” by Rule’s comments. Brown explained she was furious at Rule’s response, having never met him.

The incident provoked Brown to record the unreleased “Get Off Me. In the record, Brown targeted Ja Rule and Eve with homophobic remarks. In 2005, Ja Rule and his two bodyguards were initial suspects in the killing of Willie “Willie Bang Bang” Clark, whom authorities linked as a “revenge” that stemmed back to a robbery case involving Foxy Brown’s brother.

In September 2009, Ja Rule and Foxy Brown ended their beef at the VH1 Hip Hop Honors, where they celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of their former label, Def Jam Recordings. The feud was squashed after both rappers shared photos with ex-labelmates D.M.X. and Ludacris.

In January 2003, while co-hosting 106 & Park: Prime, singer Lil’ Mo sent a shout-out to 50 Cent just seconds after she premiered a Ja Rule video.

Ja Rule and the Murda, Inc. clique were outraged. In response, Ja Rule released “Loose Change,” a track deprecatory by Eminem, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Chris Lighty, and Lil’ Mo. Rule rechristened Mo a “bitch” and credited himself with causing her popularity. In May 2003, Mo released a freestyle track attacking Ja Rule, where she interpolated the “Used to be my homie, used to be my ace, now I can’t stand you, yeah I wanna slap the taste out your mouth.” lyrics Dr. Dre used in his 1993 Eazy-E diss track “Fuck wit Dre Day.

In April 2003, Lil’ Mo sparked additional controversy, complaining of receiving neither recognition nor payment for her contributions to Rule’s records “I Cry” and “Put It on Me.” Mo told MTV News, “Those two records [“I Cry,” “Put It on Me”] ruled 2001. The whole world knows that … If I speak the truth, I can’t apologize. I helped that brother sell 3 million records, and I don’t have a plaque [for Rule 3:36]. By way of contrast, she highlighted Jay-Z’s having given her recognition, a plaque, a thank you card, and a bottle of Cristal for her work on his “Parking Lot Pimpin’.” In 2005, Lil’ Mo filed a lawsuit against Ja Rule, Murda Inc., and Def Jam Records for over $15 million. In 2010, the two reconciled. Lil’ Mo said she ended the dispute as Ja Rule’s career declined and noted that “life is too short … You just never know what people are going through. In 2011, the two reunited and recorded a track titled “U & Me.

Ja Rule is currently touring across 2 countries and has 8 upcoming concerts. Their next tour date is at Utilita Arena Newcastle in Newcastle Upon Tyne; after that, they’ll be at Morongo Casino Resort & Spa in Cabazon. See all your opportunities to see them live below!

Ja Rule’s 2004 album, R.U.L.E., debuted at number seven, went gold, received lukewarm reviews, and was the last time the rapper contributed anything substantial to his discography. Soon after, Ja dropped off the musical map. Seven years later, he was imprisoned for gun possession and tax evasion. Hardly anyone paused to ask, “What ever happened to Ja?”

The I.R.S. and G-Unit ruined Ja Rule back then, but the rap beef had collateral damage: poor Ashanti. In the early 2000s, she and Ja were seen as the king and queen of hip-hop and R&B. In 2003, she won a Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album. Her subsequent albums were subpar, and the queen of R&B moved on to play Dorothy on Broadway, never to reclaim her sovereignty.

Ms. Butterfly Genreis