Ja Rule reignites beef with 50 Cent, challenges him for an Instagram Live battle: 'I'll behave'
In the latest of the Instagram live battles, which sees some of the biggest artists and producers have a face-off hit-for-hit, Ja Rule has challenged long-time rival 50 Cent to a fight that he says will definitely "break the internet".
The rapper called in to the 'Fat Joe Show' on Sunday while Fat Joe was in conversation with Swizz Beatz to issue his open invitation to 50 Cent.
Fat Joe said during the live, "Ja Rule is saying he loves hip-hop, first and foremost, and he wants to do this for the culture," before adding "Jesus Christ. Ja Rule, c’mon, man. You guys want the smoke for real."
As Fat Joe continues laughing, Swizz Beatz tells Ja Rule to "send me the 20", or in other words, get his 20 songs for the battle-ready and send them over so he can participate in the next #Verzuz battle, which is a series of battles curated by Swizz Beatz and fellow hip-hop artist and producer Timbaland.
Fat Joe then puts his phone on speaker and Ja Rule can be heard saying "For the culture, n*gga. I want all the smoke!" before laughing and adding "I’ll behave!" Fat Joe tells him he has to, while Swizz Beatz states "That sounds like a devilish behave." Fat Joe then claims a battle like that would break the internet, to which Ja Rule responds "Yes it will. It will break the internet in a bad way. The shit would be fucking broke for real. They may not be able to put it back up for a week or two. My catalog is ridiculous, man."
So why exactly would this battle be such a huge deal?
It all began in 1999 when Ja Rule was robbed at gunpoint while he was in Queens filming a music video. 50 Cent would later claim in his 2005 biography 'From Pieces to Weight' that the robber was a friend of his and the feud began when Ja Rule saw 50 Cent hanging out with his robber. Ja Rule, however, has denied ever seeing them together, and instead claims their beef began because 50 Cent was snubbed by members of the 'Murder Inc.' crew during the video shoot for Ja Rule's single 'Murda 4 Life'.
50 Cent then released a diss track that same year titled 'Power of the Dollar' and the two even got into a physical altercation at a nightclub in Atlanta. Things took a very dark turn in 2000 when Ja Rule and his crew decided to pay 50 Cent a visit while he was recording at the Hit Factory studios in New York, resulting in 50 Cent being stabbed and Murder Inc. rapper Black Child taking the fall for it claiming it was out of self-defense.
As a formality, the NYPD issued an order of protection against Murder Inc.'s founder Irv Gotti and Ja Rule, who called 50 Cent a 'rat' for doing so, despite 50 Cent not being the one who requested it in the first place. Following this, 50 Cent put out another diss track 'I Smell P*ssy', this time naming the Murder Inc. members by name.
Ja Rule hit back with the 2013 track 'Loose Change' which took shots at a whole bunch of people, calling 50 Cent a 'snitch', Dr Dre a 'f*ggot', and even dissing Eminem as a 'cross-dresser' and his wife a 'sl*t' and even taking shots at Eminem's daughter Hailie. And out of this was born 50 Cent, Eminem, and Busta Rhymes' 'Hail Mary'. Eventually, Ja Rule openly declared that he and his crew lost the war in 2013, and everyone moved on.
He even tweeted that year when the two rappers were on the same flight, "What are the chances me and 50 same flight same row no problems!!! #Grownmansh*t"
Since then the two have taken minor shots at each other, with Ja Rule generally saying very little except for the occasional transphobic jab at his adversary. But in 2018, he claimed he owned 50 Cent's soul in response to the latter poking fun at him in an interview. 50 Cent then apparently bought 200 seats at Ja Rule's concert just so the venue would be empty. In response, Ja Rule said, "Hey genius @50cent make sure you keep buying tix to ALL my shows your support is appreciated!!!" adding, "oh and if you get a chance PULL UP to one for a meet and greet I DARE YOU."
50 Cent responded saying, "It's never over. We may take a break, but [it] ain't over till one of us is gone."
And that is precisely why a live battle between the two of them would be a wild ride from start to finish. Well, that and the fact that they each have an extensive catalog of work featuring some of the greatest hip-hop and R&B hits of modern times.