Now that he’s a fully free man Ja Rule is moving around promoting his new book Unruly: The Highs and Lows of Becoming a Man. A stop at Hot 97 to talk with Ebro, Laura and Rosenberg has him touching a lot of the same old note. He gets into the usual 50 Cent talk. He even goes on to detail one of their initial battles in Atlanta. standard stuff for a Ja Rule interview really. The interesting part is the exchange about artists who chase the money instead of the passion. After being asked about using some of his songwriting acumen with new New York artists, Ja gives a thoughtful answer.
“They have to love what they do. They have to love the art and love the culture. They have to love hip hop as a whole. I think a lot of artists today love hip hop for money. They love what it can do for their pockets. They don’t necessarily love the breakdancing, the art of graffiti, the DJ. They actually don’t love the culture that is hip hop. They love what they can get from hip hop. I think that creates a big space in their creativity. They’re not looking to create great music. They’re looking to create a hot song.
Hearing him detail how having a passion for making great records is more important than chasing money. This is an interesting stand point from someone who’s been a part of the major label hit-making machine. what do you think? Is Ja dropping jewels?