Ashanti stopped by “The Rickey Smiley Morning Show” to discuss her new single “The Woman You Love,” patching things up with her former Murder Inc. family, recording with Busta Rhymes, and launching her own label, Written Entertainment.

On reconciling with Ja Rule: “We had a three-and-a-half hour conversation and we just hashed out years and years and years of stuff. That’s my brother. I love him and I hope he’s doing well. I think he’s in good spirits. We’ve all been through a lot. We’ve all grown. We’ve all learned. We were all young starting out in the industry. We hashed out a lot of stuff and we needed that.”

On recording her single with Busta Rhymes: “We were listening to the playback of the record and [Jerry Wonda] had the speakers knocking crazy, so Busta came in the room like, ‘Yo, what is that?’ So we had to bring the beat back. And he was like, ‘Shuck! My sister, queen. I need to be on that.’”

On launching her own label, Written Entertainment: “I am the first artist on my new record label, so I’m super excited about that, so you know that profit share is big, homie.”

Ja Rule will be calling prison home for the next year-and-a-half. The rapper turned himself in today to begin serving his sentence on gun charges.

The 35-year-old, born Jeffrey Atkins, pleaded guilty in December to attempted criminal possession of a weapon. He is expected to spend 18-20 months behind bars in New York beginning at Rikers Island, the same facility where Lil Wayne did his time. After about two weeks, he will be transferred to a different correctional facility upstate.

His wife, attorney, and several other family members joined him in court while the sentence was read. Emotions ran high as he was handcuffed and taken from the courtroom. He shouted, “See y’all,” and his family responded, “We love you,” while some burst into tears.

The former Murder Inc. rapper spent his last full day of freedom in the studio working on his albums The Renaissance Project and P.ain I.s L.ove 2, due this summer. He said he plans to work out and play basketball and ping-pong. “Much love to the fans. I love ya’ll. Thanks for holding me down throughout the years and through this whole situation,” he said.

Rule revealed plans to launch a 40-night world tour immediately following his prison stint. “I want the bus to come straight to the prison and take me to my first show. Put my family on the bus, have them come to the first few cities, send them back home, and let me keep going,” he previously told Rap-Up.com.

Before heading to do his bid, Rule shot a video for “Spun a Web” and the 7 Aurelius-produced “Real Life Fantasy” in the Nevada desert with director Hype Williams. “The visuals that we’re going to put out will be something that’s unmatched. It’s real artsy. It’s Banksy. It’s Mr. Brainwash. It’s Warhol. It’s out there,” he shared with Rap-Up.com.

Read our exclusive interview with Ja Rule where he discusses prison, lessons from Lil Wayne, and learning to ignore Twitter beef.

[Video via MTV]

Since March of this year, Ja Rule has been living out a real-life 25th Hour. After pleading guilty to attempted possession of a weapon in December 2010, the 35-year-old rapper is set to begin an 18-month prison sentence this week. Despite the upcoming stint behind bars, Ja remained optimistic and upbeat when Rap-Up.com caught up with him, even discussing plans for a world tour beginning on the last day of his sentence.

With two albums in the works, P.ain I.s L.ove 2 and The Renaissance Project, and a clock ticking on his free time, Ja Rule’s main pre-jail priorities, spending time with his family and finishing up his albums, have taken precedence over the intricacies of the court case and any lingering regrets.

Following a string of hits in the late ’90s and early 2000s, years before his sing-rap style would be appropriated by Drake, Lil Wayne, and others, the rapper became 50 Cent’s primary punching bag and, fairly or not, the exemplar for a style of hip-hop—one marked by sleek, sung choruses and radio-friendly staples—that became passé with the increasing popularity of the harder, more militant, G-Unit era.

Second chances in hip-hop are rare, but with the “Always on Time” hitmaker back on good terms with his Murder Inc. associates (He reunited with Lloyd and Ashanti on stage in April and is collaborating with the latter on “LOL”), he is hoping to pull a Lil Wayne and retain, if not increase, his popularity while in prison. On the eve of his sentence, Ja Rule spoke with Rap-Up.com about his new projects, what he learned from Lil Wayne, the ridiculousness of “Twitter beef,” feeling betrayed by Lloyd, and how he’s risen above the hate.

How would you differentiate between P.ain I.s L.ove 2 and The Renaissance Project?
The Renaissance Project I just had fun with. I didn’t take myself too seriously or dig deep into what I’ve been going through. I just wanted to get into the studio with a clear mind, have fun, not think about none of that crazy shit. I didn’t want to indulge in any of that past shit. But then when we got to P.ain I.s L.ove 2, that’s what it is. Pain is love. So I had to give ‘em some pain. When I think of the phrase “Pain is love,” I think of sacrifice and I’ve been through a lot of sacrifice and that’s what this album reflects. P.ain I.s L.ove was more about coming up in the streets and sacrificing a lot there to get to here. On this album, the sacrifice is deeper. I’m going to prison. I’m really making a deep sacrifice now.

What did you want to do with these albums that differed from past records?
I did a little less singing on these. I always want to be a little different from the pack and yeah, I’m the guy that’s known for the harmony singing shit, but since everyone else is doing it, I might as well do something different. I might as well just rap straight now [laughs].

Have you learned anything from Lil Wayne’s jail experience?
Weezy basically put out the blueprint on how you do your bid and keep things moving on the outside. You make sure you got a project that’s out there and is hopefully doing well and keep your vibe moving. You make a bunch of videos before you go in. You want to try to get one of your artists moving out there so they can hold the flag while you’re gone. He knew how to do it successfully where the people don’t miss you that much. And I think that could happen for me. With Pac too, he came out of jail guns blazing. As soon as he came out of jail, they took him straight to the studio.

Do you plan on writing or recording in jail?
I don’t know if I’ll be able to record, but I’ll definitely be writing. I haven’t written rhymes in about 10 years. I got it from Jay-Z, who got it from Big. It may feel weird, but it’s just going to be impossible to store all that shit in my brain. But I’m in a great headspace right now. I’m 35. I’ve grown up a lot.

You seem surprisingly upbeat for someone about to go to jail for 18 months…
I got friends doing life in prison. I speak to my man [Kenneth] Supreme [McGriff] and he almost got the chair. The fact that he’s still breathing, I’m just like, 18 months? Are you serious? Some people sit in the hole for that long. You sneeze at this shit and you get it over with and you do it. I stopped smoking weed, though, about a month ago. There’s not going to be weed inside and if there is, I don’t want to fuck around with that shit. So I kicked the habit now. I smoked weed every day of my life for as long as I can remember. But I pride myself on being strong-minded.

When you look back on the case, do you think it was fairly handled?
Not at all. I think the NYPD has a special unit that targets rappers and I don’t think that’s right. We are public figures and we come from dark backgrounds and we make a lot of money and take care of a lot of people. We should be allowed to have a firearm. Now granted, mine was illegal. I’m in the wrong for that. But the general argument is that people have the right to bear arms. The NYPD has public records of death threats on my life. I’ve had police come to my mother’s home and tell her they have death threats against her son. It’s not a secret.

You said recently that you’re done with any sort of Twitter beef. Isn’t the inherent idea of a beef on a computer paradoxical?
Yeah, man. Who does that? I was like, “What the fuck am I doing? Are you serious, Rule?” I couldn’t believe it myself, but at the moment [50 insulted me], it just took me by surprise like, “This motherfucker’s still running his mouth!” [Laughs] Twitter’s gonna get somebody killed. It probably already has and we just don’t know it. I see all kinds of artists going through this shit and they take to Twitter to air it out. I look at Twitter as my own personal media. I’m my own media now. I don’t have to wait for you motherfuckers to clear shit up. You will never see another Twitter beef with me. People can say whatever they want to me on Twitter and I’ll just be like, “Eh. Good for you.”

Lloyd brought you out on stage recently for a Murder Inc. reunion. Why didn’t that happen sooner?
I think we were all going in different directions and people were pulling them away from me and [Irv] Gotti, and that strained the relationship. And Lloyd doing records ["Let's Get It In" featuring 50 Cent] with my quote-unquote enemy was a little bit strained too. I felt a little bit betrayed. I like Lloyd; he’s like a little brother. It was a little crazy that that could happen. But he’s young and still growing. I made a lot of mistakes as a young artist and I was wild and crazy. I think some of those moves I did strained relationships with other artists, especially me and Jay-Z’s relationship.

Jay used to say to me, “Ja, when you get to a certain level, you’ll understand the moves that I make,” and I didn’t at the time but as I grew, I understood things. At the time, I was young and you get to making a lot of money and smelling your own shit. It’s that time of your life where everything’s moving so fast that you make a lot of mistakes and you don’t realize it until you look back and go, “What the fuck was I thinking?” Lloyd told me, “I made a mistake.” And it is what it is.

In the past 10 years, you’ve been a polarizing figure in hip-hop. Looking back, do you feel under-appreciated?
That’s a funny question because, no I don’t think I was underappreciated. I think people very much appreciated what I did. I think I caught the backlash of it because of what 50 came out and made it. He tried to make a mockery of my sound. I think people fell for the old banana in the tailpipe. People were told that pizza was disgusting and then were sold pizza [laughs].

Why do you think some people hate you?
I don’t know. I don’t know. Did I kill your dog? Did I splash your moms on the curb with water? I don’t feel I did anything to warrant people to hate me other than 50 told people to hate me. In this world, there aren’t a lot of leaders; just followers. And everyone wants to be cool so bad. At the time, it was cool to hate on Ja Rule because that machine was blowing up so big. I think people jumped on that bandwagon. I get people all the time on Twitter who say, “Yo, I was brainwashed. I’m sorry.” But people think I’m sitting at home thinking about this shit. I don’t give a fuck. I’m living a better life than I could’ve ever imagined for myself and my kids.

When you think back to when you first started, do you get nostalgic for that era of hip-hop or is it more about looking forward?
I do miss the old days because before the whole beef thing, we all used to get together, have softball games, and bond together. I think that camaraderie got closer after Big and Pac passed, and I think we made a conscious effort as hip-hop artists to try and be better with each other. That era was great and then the G-Unit era came in and was built on so much hate, anger, and jealousy that I think it put everybody in that space, even the fans. And then all of a sudden, it wasn’t fun no more. The whole aura changed. You’d get artists that followed that come up like, “Wow, that shit worked for him. I’m gonna start a beef with such and such.” The whole vibe of hip-hop went dark.

How much have you told your children about your upcoming bid?
I talk to them. I don’t want them to go to school and feel like they should be ashamed of what daddy’s done. Daddy hasn’t done anything out of the ordinary. You have the right to bear arms in America. The only thing daddy did wrong is not registering the gun. That is my crime. Having a gun is not a crime in America. One of the teachers at my son’s school came up to my wife and said, “I understand. He’s an entertainer. He should be allowed to have a gun. There are people out there who are insane and he should be allowed to protect himself.” Look at John Lennon. If he had had a pistol on him that day, he might still be with us.

–Jason Newman

Ja Rule and Ashanti had a reunion onstage during Lloyd’s show at Hammerstein Ballroom last month, and now the former Murder Inc. affiliates are sharing laughs on their first collaboration in nearly seven years.

Ashanti is set to appear on “LOL,” or “Laughing Out Loud” for the non-Internet savvy, which will be released on one of Rule’s two upcoming albums. “It’s a fun record,” he told Rap-Up.com. “It’ll definitely be on one of the albums, either The Renaissance Project or P.ain I.s L.ove 2, but I’m not sure which one yet.”

Produced by Rule himself, the track flips Stevie Wonder’s 1980 reggae-soul single “Master Blaster (Jammin’),” albeit with the modern technological language the title implies. The song retains the laid-back, reggae-tinged vibe of the original, but sees the rapper pining for a lost love. “LOL. LMAO,” sings Ja. “But it ain’t funny how I don’t see you no more.”

“LOL” marks the first collaboration between Ja Rule and Ashanti since the latter’s 2004 album Concrete Rose. Their partnership yielded numerous hits in the early 2000s, including 2001’s “Always On Time,” 2003’s “Mesmerize,” and 2005’s “Wonderful,” all of which landed in the top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Rule is scheduled to start serving an 18-month prison sentence on June 8, the day after P.ain I.s L.ove 2 drops. Immediately upon his release, he is planning to hit the road on his “40 Days/40 Nights Around the World” tour.

–Jason Newman

“LOL” (not featuring Ashanti)

It’s been a busy year for Ja Rule, who is currently putting the finishing touches on two new albums before beginning his 18-month prison sentence on gun possession charges. The former Murder Inc. rapper hasn’t done much preparation for his bid, but he already knows the first thing he’s going to do upon his release.

“My ‘40 Days/40 Nights Around the World’ tour is being set up right now,” Rule exclusively tells Rap-Up.com. “I want the bus to come straight to the prison and take me to my first show. Put my family on the bus, have them come to the first few cities, send them back home, and let me keep going. It’ll be international; 40 cities in 40 nights. I’ll be so fresh and ready to go.”

The Queens MC is currently prepping two albums before beginning his jail stint on June 8. P.ain I.s L.ove 2, a sequel to 2001’s triple platinum Pain Is Love, is scheduled for a June 7 release and will showcase Ja’s thoughts about his impending sentence. The Renaissance Project, recorded concurrently, will focus on uptempo party anthems, though a release date has yet to be set.

If all goes according to plan, P.ain I.s L.ove 2 will be issued not only digitally and physically, but as an application for your smartphone in the form of a “living album,” capable of adding new songs, videos, and remixes instantly to the purchaser’s phone.

While this will be Rule’s first incarceration, he’s been getting advice on how to handle his bid from Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, his close friend currently serving a life sentence on murder conspiracy charges. One thing that will immediately change for him in prison: no more mentally writing rhymes. “I haven’t written rhymes in over 10 years,” he admits. “It was all in my head. I’m going to go in jail and write because it’s just going to be impossible to store all that shit in my brain.”

–Jason Newman

With a month to go before he starts serving his prison sentence, Ja Rule toasts to the good life on “Superstar,” a cut off his forthcoming album P.ain I.s L.ove 2, due June 7. The Queens MC grapples with fame over the haunting beat produced by former Murder Inc. affiliate 7 Aurelius.

“Dear heavenly father, this devil wore a blue dress, Angelina, Madonna/ Fame monster, no relation to Gaga/ Bitch got a lot of problems/ Money ain’t one of them, promise,” raps Rule before the breathy hook kicks in.

Listen to a two-minute snippet below.

At the height of his reign, Ja Rule took the formula of a rapper singing his own hooks to the mainstream stratosphere. With MCs like Kanye West, Drake, and Diddy making hits with the signature style, Ja doesn’t hold any hard feelings.

“Those are the biggest names in music,” he told MTV News’ Sway Calloway during “RapFix Live.” “Drake can sing, man.”

He also explained that even though he was charting with smash singles including “I’m Real (Murder Remix)” with Jennifer Lopez and “Livin’ It Up” featuring Case, he didn’t consider himself the best singer.

“I always admit it. I’m a shallow singer. But I think that’s what attracted people to what I was doing, because I made you feel like you too could do this,” he explained. “I’m not blowing Luther Vandross notes over here! You could do what I’m doing.”

His pipes may not have been stellar, but it made it more relatable to fans. “I think that’s what made it pop music. I think for the people, that’s what made it popular, that they were able to sing along with it and they weren’t intimidated by singing along to it because it was a guy that can’t sing,” he continued.

Apologizing for the omnipresent style (“I’m sorry, by the way!” he laughed), Ja was in the building to promote his upcoming albums P.ain I.s L.ove 2 and The Renaissance Project before heading off to do a two-year bid for attempted weapon possession in June.

For the rest of Ja Rule’s interview, visit MTV RapFix.

Ja Rule asks “Is this my life?” on the reflective first single from his new album P.ain I.s L.ove 2. Produced by longtime collaborator 7 Aurelius, “Real Life Fantasy” addresses the former Murder Inc. rapper’s recent troubles.

“Get high, go to prison, and evade taxes/ This is not what I envisioned when I started rapping,” he confesses, adding, “If this was ’03, then I’da told ya you was crazy if you told me that is what it’d be/ I miss Vita, Caddie, Black Child, Charli/ I thought we was tighter than the Marley family.”

PIL2 and The Renaissance Project drop June 7, the day before Rule is scheduled to start serving his two-year jail sentence.

It’s Murder! The Murder Inc. camp, including Lloyd, Ashanti, and Ja Rule, reunited onstage at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Friday night (April 22) during Lloyd’s opening set on Diddy-Dirty Money’s “Coming Home” tour. The love was palpable as Lloyd brought Ashanti to the stage to duet on their 2004 collaboration “Southside” before the R&B princess joined Ja Rule on their No. 1 smash “Always on Time.” Rule, who will start serving a two-year jail sentence in June, also debuted his new single “Real Life Fantasy.”

“The REUNION was epic,” tweeted Ja after coming offstage. Reminisce on their glory days below.

[RealTalkNY.net]

Ja Rule is headed for more “Rainy Days.” The embattled rapper, who is currently scheduled to begin serving a two-year sentence in June, pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion in New Jersey, admitting that he failed to pay taxes on more than $3 million earned between 2004 and 2006.

The 35-year-old MC entered his guilty plea earlier today in Newark, which resulted in two counts against him to be dismissed for unpaid taxes from 2007 and 2008. He will be sentenced on his tax evasion charges in June.

That same month, the Grammy nominee will begin his two-year jail term after pleading guilty to attempted weapon possession. The sentence stems from an arrest in 2007 made after police discovered a loaded gun in his car following a performance at NYC’s Beacon Theatre.

He will spend his remaining free months finishing his next album The Renaissance Project.