JA RULE |
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| A native of Hollis, Queens, 21-year-old Ja-Rule (b. Jeff Atkins) began
his career guesting on Mic Geronimo's "Time To Build," the b-side
to "Masta I.C." in 1995. From that Blunt/TVT Records appearance,
the gravel-voiced MC was able to land a deal for his group, the Cash Money
Click, on the same label. Unfortunately, the trio, which also featured MCs
Nemesis and Chris Black, only dropped one single, "4 My Click/Get The
Fortune," before Chris Black was incarcerated.
After that, Ja's career experienced a three-year lull until he signed with Def Jam in 1998. One reason for the delay was his difficulty in extricating himself from his deal with Blunt/TVT. Irv Gotti, who executive-produced Mic Geronimo's first album The Natural (1995), secured a meeting with Def Jam head Lyor Cohen, who was so impressed with Ja that he hired Gotti as an A&R representative. Ja is now seeing double-duty as a member of both DMX's Ruff Ryders camp
and Jay-Z's Roc-a-Fella click. He is also a member of the super-group
Murder Inc., which includes X and Jay-Z , named for the Gotti-headed Def
Jam imprint. |
