Hi, I’m the Rap Critic. Let’s talk about Ja Rule. Yeah… remember him?
Well, if you do, you, you’ll remember that he was one of the more successful 2Pac Knock-offs that tried to capatilize off of his likeness in the aftermath of his death, as made obvious by the bald head, red bandana, and perpetual shirtlessness, but whereas Tupac’s musical material, no matter how controversial or disagreeable, at least came across as genuine, intricate, insights of a man trying to sort out his world, Ja Rule’s music came across as very… watered down, to say the least
First of all, he sang WAY too much for a hardcore thug, as he kept claiming to be. Secondly, he sang WAY too much for someone who CAN’T SING. *montage of Ja Rule singing* And Third, he had all of the mannerisms of 2Pac with absolutely none of the substance. And fourth, we already had a late 90’s, eastcoast version of 2Pac. His name was DMX!
And this is a comparison that must be noted, because not only did DMX arrive on the scene about a year before Ja Rule, but he also had an energy, griminess, and passion in his rhymes that made Ja Rule look like a corny knock off. X had diversity in his topics, ranging from hardcore anthems to tracks about multiple personalities to songs detailing his life like “Slippin’”. His material was not only more clever and diverse, but also grittier, making you believe every word he viciously growled. That, coupled with the fact that, in 1998, both his first and second albums went number one in the same year, and you can bet your ass people were trying to imitate the formula. Not by trying to achieve the same intensity or ability as DMX, but by taking his exact aesthetic, and watering it down to hell
Now, Ja and DMX were actually cool with each other at first, that is until right around the release of his second album, Rule 3:36, which is about the time Ja started going from run-of-the-mill gangsta rapper to employing one of the worst trends in HipHop: the “thugs need love too” songs. These were Ja Rule’s Bread and FREAKING butter: songs with females on the chorus singing soulfully about how much they need Ja Rule and declaring their loving loyalty to him while he, in return, spits rhymes about hardcore sex and how much of a gangsta and playa he still is, despite his relationship with her. By the end of 2002, there was a never-ending torrent of “I wanna be gangsta for the fellas and lovey-dovey for the ladies” songs that dominated the airwaves for a while, the biggest single of which was “Always On Time”, which is pretty much the first and last song from him that you really needed to hear when it comes to this topic. Everything that’s done right and wrong is on this song, and mostly, it’s done wrong, so let’s check it out
"Always there when you call (Buckshots, hah), always on time"
RIGHT THERE! That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Smooth, R and B singer crooning about love for the girls, but we’ve still gotta be hardcore, so I gotta talk about shooting guns!... Despite the fact that that has nothing to do with the mood she’s trying to set. Like, in reality, this wouldn’t work
*singing* Yeah, boy, You know I love you! Tell me what you say to that! *pause* *guns go off* Holy shit! What the fuck!
“Gave you my.... baby be mine”
What… what did you give him?
“And I gave you my all, now baby be mine”
Oh… why was that edited out the first time? Did the first take have a… different word there?
“Gave you my....” *...you know… “baby be mine”
Although, the word she actually says here is “I gave you my all”, but then she says, “Now baby, be mine”. And, seeing that the context is, “Yeah, I don’t always answer my phone, but when you need me, I’m there, giving you my “ALL” and since, after giving him her “all”, she still doesn’t know whether or not he wants to be with her, I’m going to forgo any thought that she’s talking about spending quality time together as a loving couple and just assuming she’s talking about her… you know…
Well, if you do, you, you’ll remember that he was one of the more successful 2Pac Knock-offs that tried to capatilize off of his likeness in the aftermath of his death, as made obvious by the bald head, red bandana, and perpetual shirtlessness, but whereas Tupac’s musical material, no matter how controversial or disagreeable, at least came across as genuine, intricate, insights of a man trying to sort out his world, Ja Rule’s music came across as very… watered down, to say the least
First of all, he sang WAY too much for a hardcore thug, as he kept claiming to be. Secondly, he sang WAY too much for someone who CAN’T SING. *montage of Ja Rule singing* And Third, he had all of the mannerisms of 2Pac with absolutely none of the substance. And fourth, we already had a late 90’s, eastcoast version of 2Pac. His name was DMX!
And this is a comparison that must be noted, because not only did DMX arrive on the scene about a year before Ja Rule, but he also had an energy, griminess, and passion in his rhymes that made Ja Rule look like a corny knock off. X had diversity in his topics, ranging from hardcore anthems to tracks about multiple personalities to songs detailing his life like “Slippin’”. His material was not only more clever and diverse, but also grittier, making you believe every word he viciously growled. That, coupled with the fact that, in 1998, both his first and second albums went number one in the same year, and you can bet your ass people were trying to imitate the formula. Not by trying to achieve the same intensity or ability as DMX, but by taking his exact aesthetic, and watering it down to hell
Now, Ja and DMX were actually cool with each other at first, that is until right around the release of his second album, Rule 3:36, which is about the time Ja started going from run-of-the-mill gangsta rapper to employing one of the worst trends in HipHop: the “thugs need love too” songs. These were Ja Rule’s Bread and FREAKING butter: songs with females on the chorus singing soulfully about how much they need Ja Rule and declaring their loving loyalty to him while he, in return, spits rhymes about hardcore sex and how much of a gangsta and playa he still is, despite his relationship with her. By the end of 2002, there was a never-ending torrent of “I wanna be gangsta for the fellas and lovey-dovey for the ladies” songs that dominated the airwaves for a while, the biggest single of which was “Always On Time”, which is pretty much the first and last song from him that you really needed to hear when it comes to this topic. Everything that’s done right and wrong is on this song, and mostly, it’s done wrong, so let’s check it out
"Always there when you call (Buckshots, hah), always on time"
RIGHT THERE! That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Smooth, R and B singer crooning about love for the girls, but we’ve still gotta be hardcore, so I gotta talk about shooting guns!... Despite the fact that that has nothing to do with the mood she’s trying to set. Like, in reality, this wouldn’t work
*singing* Yeah, boy, You know I love you! Tell me what you say to that! *pause* *guns go off* Holy shit! What the fuck!
“Gave you my.... baby be mine”
What… what did you give him?
“And I gave you my all, now baby be mine”
Oh… why was that edited out the first time? Did the first take have a… different word there?
“Gave you my....” *...you know… “baby be mine”
Although, the word she actually says here is “I gave you my all”, but then she says, “Now baby, be mine”. And, seeing that the context is, “Yeah, I don’t always answer my phone, but when you need me, I’m there, giving you my “ALL” and since, after giving him her “all”, she still doesn’t know whether or not he wants to be with her, I’m going to forgo any thought that she’s talking about spending quality time together as a loving couple and just assuming she’s talking about her… you know…
Comments (0)
The minimum comment length is 50 characters.
Information
Users of Guests are not allowed to comment this publication.
There are no comments yet. You can be the first!