This is an accepted version of this page Jeffrey Bruce Atkins[5] (born February 29, 1976),[1] better known by his stage name Ja Rule (/dʒɑː ruːl/), is an American rapper, singer, and actor.

In 2001, he peaked the Billboard Hot 100 on three occasions with his single "Always on Time" (featuring Ashanti) and his guest appearances on Jennifer Lopez's songs "I'm Real (Murder Remix)" and "Ain't It Funny".

Commercially successful, Venni Vetti Vecci received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and was followed by his second and third albums, Rule 3:36 (2000) and Pain Is Love (2001), both of which peaked atop the US Billboard 200.

Outside of music, Ja Rule was met with scrutiny for his involvement in the fraudulent Fyre Festival, which he co-founded with con artist Billy McFarland.

As an actor, he has also starred in films such as Turn It Up (2000), The Fast and the Furious (2001), Half Past Dead (2002), Scary Movie 3 (2003), The Cookout (2004), Assault on Precinct 13, Back in the Day (both in 2005), Furnace (2007), and Wrong Side of Town (2010).

[10] His mother, Debra, was a healthcare worker, and due to the amount of time she spent working, Atkins was largely raised by his grandparents as a Jehovah's Witness.

[11] Atkins' mother left the Jehovah's Witness religion when he was twelve[12] and was therefore shunned by her former congregation including her parents, meaning she was no longer allowed to see her son.

[14] After being dropped from TVT, Ja Rule maintained a close relationship with DJ Irv, who was working as an executive producer for Def Jam at the time.

[18][28] 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.

Ja Rule released the diss track "Loose Change" in April 2003, where he attacks 50 Cent, as well as Eminem, Busta Rhymes and Dr.

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

It spawned one hit single, "Clap Back", which reached number 44 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won a Source Award for "Fat Tape" song of the year.

[47] Pain Is Love 2 was finally released on February 28, 2012, by which time Ja Rule was serving a two-year sentence in prison for gun possession and tax evasion.

[53] 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.

[58][59] In October 2015, Rule announced that he and Gotti had partnered with Paramount Pictures on a TV drama series based on the history of Murder Inc., set to premiere in 2016.

He appeared in several movies including Back in the Day with Ving Rhames and Pam Grier and Half Past Dead as Steven Seagal's co-star.

[71] In May 2015, Ja Rule partnered with Billy McFarland, the CEO of the credit card service company Magnises, to become its creative head and spokesman.

[81] In 2021, Ja Rule partnered with a team of software engineers to launch Flipkick, a platform focusing on selling physical works of art as non-fungible tokens.

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.

[94] 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.

[101][102] On December 13, 2010, Ja Rule received a two-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to attempted possession of a weapon after the aforementioned 2007 arrest.

[48][107] 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.

[32] Another confrontation occurred in 2000 while in The Hit Factory where rapper Black Child, a Murder Inc. artist, stabbed 50 Cent, causing a wound requiring four stitches.

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

[123] 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.

[128] 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.

[130][131] 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.

[132] In response, Ja Rule released "Loose Change", a track deprecatory of Eminem, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Chris Lighty and Lil' Mo.

[133] 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."

[134] 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".