Ja Rule Blended the Hard With the Soft

Turning to New York, the Hollis, Queens-raised Ja Rule spent the backend of the ’90s on a slow grind toward his own stardom. After Ja’s tenure in the Cash Money Click trio quickly fizzled out once fellow member Chris Black went to prison, Ja built a relationship with Irv Gotti, who led him into the Def Jam fold and later made him the flagship artist of Murder Inc. Ja collaborated with New York’s elite — Jay-Z, DMX, and Nas, among others — and soon found his way up the charts with several Hot 100 hits, and two Top 5 Billboard album debuts with 1999’s Venni Vetti Vecci and 2000’s Rule 3:36. (The first album went platinum, its successor triple-platinum.)

Enter Ja’s third, the Grammy-nominated Pain Is Love: an album where his street ethos and intimate impulses converge into an undeniable blockbuster. Prior success aside, the rap mainstream had yet to fully embrace sensitive elements enmeshed into the mafioso archetype; any of Ja’s softer leanings, even when directly appealing to women, rendered him a consistent target of questions of authenticity. The hardbody must win out, should one not want to be seen as weak, especially someone from New York. But the Ja Rule heard on Pain Is Love is not only at peace with this duality, he cashes the tightrope act in over a record that basks in lavishness and maintains a palpable pain. Rule was a star before, but hits critical mass; he wields a trademark baritone that can bludgeon an enemy and serenade a suitor. With Irv Gotti guiding the production, Pain Is Love fashions the extravagant and the grimy with engrossing detail. When everything’s up, the horns and synths ring triumphantly to place listeners into the throes of victory; these elements swan dive into darkness when Rule ruminates on trouble.

Pain Is Love endures as Ja Rule at his best, most notably for the mastery of his pop/rap crossovers. Consider the pair of Billboard Number Ones: “Always On Time” with Ashanti (itself Grammy-nominated) and the “I’m Real (Murder Remix)” with Jennifer Lopez. Both records evoke the romantic as a blissful reprieve in a white-hot summertime; Ja serves as a hard edge with his ladies man flair, commanding the track with just enough melody for the block to sing along. When contrasted with Ashanti or J-Lo, the duet format accentuates the best qualities of all involved. Pairing those with the Grammy-nominated “Livin’ It Up” with R&B mainstay Case and “Down Ass Bitch” with Charli Baltimore, Pain Is Love perfected a formula of irresistible hooks and power-packed rap-singing. No matter the norm for gangster music, Rule evaded the pitfalls of his character in another triple-platinum effort that dominated the summer of 2001. (His appearance in The Fast & The Furious was extra credit.)