In a list of the world’s greatest rappers, there is hardly a way that Ja Rule would be missing. With a very strong voice, he was among the biggest voices of the rap industry in the early 2000s before he finally lost out due to the various numbers feuds he got involved in. Apart from being a rapper, Ja Rule is also a record producer and an actor.
Who is Ja Rule? Biography
While it is as Ja Rule that a larger part of the world knows the rapper, he was born as Jeffrey Bruce Atkins on February 29, 1976, in Queens, New York. His father, William Atkins, left the family when he was still just a child, and the responsibility of raising him was left to his mother, Debra.
His mother lost a child when it was still in the womb as a result of breathing complications and so Atkins was raised without any siblings as a Jehovah’s Witness – a religious organization which his mother would later leave.
By the age of 12, Jeffrey Atkins had already started selling drugs in Queens to his friend’s family. He started dealing in drugs after he had to move out from his grandparents’ house and live with his mother who at the time was also struggling.
What would pull him off the streets where he was trying to make a life for himself was rap music which he began in 1993. His first work was with the hip-hop group, Cash Money Click which also had Chris Black and O-1. His first album, Venni Vetti Vecci was released in 1999. It became a success in no time, reaching platinum and paving way for his next album, Rule 3:36 released in 2000 which outperformed the first one.
Pain Is Love is his next album, released in 2001. This became another very successful album that sold more than those before it. The single, Always on Time which featured Ashanti became one of the most popular songs of the album which was nominated for the Best Rap Album at the 2002 Grammy awards.
His next albums were The Last Temptation (2002), Blood in My Eye (2003), and R.U.L.E. (2004). He would make other releases, but nothing as successful as his previous albums.
Wife, Kids, Gay
In 2013, there were rumors that emerged claiming that the rapper is gay. Nonetheless, there is no confirmation to that and he is married to Aisha Murray. The couple first met when she was Aisha was then 14 while still in high school and they have stuck together since then.
Their relationship has not been without its challenges but Aisha Murray Atkins and Jeffrey Atkins are still together and in 1995, they gave birth to a child, Brittany. Their next kids, Jeffery Junior and Jordan were born in 2000 and 2005 respectively.
There were times when it was speculated that the couple might be heading for a divorce after the rumors came out that Ja Rule cheated on his wife and he was gay. Through it all, the couple is still going strong.
What Happened To Him?
Even after becoming as successful as he was as a rapper, Ja Rule soon went missing from the hip-hop scene following the various legal battles that had seen him spend some time behind bars as well as his unending feuds with other rappers which would turn out to be his undoing.
Among his first major feud was with 50 Cent and the feud would spiral into a beef with the entire G-Unit. In 2002, 50 Cent signed to Shady Records and Aftermath and the move infuriated Ja Rule who threatened. He attacked Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Eminem’s daughter, Hailie Jade, and many believe his constant feuds with fellow rappers led to his downfall in the music industry.
While it became very hard for him to make any significant impact in the rap scene, Jeffery Atkins has been an actor for a long time. He acted in a good number of movies such as Turn It Up (2000), The Fast and the Furious (2001), Half Past Dead (2002), I’m in Love with a Church Girl (2013), and Fly (2018).
Height
Ja Rule is not just a man with a thick voice, but he is also a man with a good height and body weight. He stands at a height of 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) and his weight is 72 kg (159 lb).
