Ja Rule:This Is My Story
Author:
Jay Carter
Read 21587 Times Since
Posted on 2008-06-23
From 2pac's famous "Thug Life" tattoo on his stomach to Mike Tyson's tattoo on his face more then ever Hip Hop artist are not only expressing themselves with their music but know with ink. Artist such as Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, 50 Cent, Flo Rida, Birdman, Oschino (formely of State Property), Jim Jones, Willy NorthPole, Plies, Pharell, The Game, Kanye West, Young Jeezy, B.G., Gun Play of Triple C's, Three6Mafia, Jacki-O, Young Buck, and Cashis (artist on Shady Records).They are only a hand full of artist that don't have tatoo's such as Jay-Z and T.I. to name a few that comes to mind. I recently got together with former Roc Boy, Philly Native himself Oschino to tell his story behind his tattoo's.................
24: What lead you to go get your first tattoo and how did it come out because I know the first time never really comes out good?
Ja Rule: Just being young and wanting to get a tat was like a pair of Jordans for me. It came out cool looking back now but then shit, it was like having a damn Bentley to me.
24: How fast did you go back to get another after the first one?
Ja Rule: About 3,4 months because I had got all the attention from the first one and wanted to do it bigger and better the next time.
24: I know people get tattoo to express themselves in different ways from pain to joy so explain the meaning behind a couple of your tattoo for me and the readers?
Ja Rule: You put it perfect, I got so for joy and some from pain like my angle wings on my back. I named my new album the same as my "Pain Is Love" tat which is something I still carry with me till today as a motto. When you go through things you realize that pain is love!
24: Tell how many tattoos do you have all together?
Ja Rule: Damn homie, lets just say a lot we can't count all of that. It would take too long. I mean, I aint got Lil Wayne numbers be I got a lot (lol).
24: Do you have a couple of tats that means the most to you?
Ja Rule: The angle wings on my back means a lot to me. I got a tat for my daughter and of course the "Pain Is Love" shit I got. They all are dare to me and are like time periods of my life.
24: Do you regret any of the tats you got done?
Ja Rule: Not at all. I don't live with regrets in general and I think thats more for those women with tats of boyfriends names and things of that nature where the regrets might come about. I always get something that means something to me in one way or the other.
24: How would you say you spent on getting tattoos so far out of pocket?
Ja Rule: Thousands, I don't think people talk about it a lot but these shits aint cheap especially if you getting them done right them prices start getting high on that ass.
24: I know a lot of our readers have not seen or heard from you in a while so as far as the music goes what are some of the things you have been working on that everyone should be looking out for because I know your album should of been out a while ago what was the delay?
Ja Rule: I put out "Uh Oh" with Lil Wayne and the DJ's felt it wasn't Ja Rule enough they wanted a big girl record then I gave them "Body" and they wanted something else. I think its a time in music where people are following trend and if you don't then you get looked at as an outsider. Label heads wanted to hold off and I wanted to album to drop. When your at a tug of war place thats when things like this happen.
24: Do you ever look back at your career and feel like the streets gave up on you at all or do you feel like people just have short attention expands?
Ja Rule: Not at all because I walk through the streets and get love from state to state or city to city. I think people can be easily mislead at times and thats just in life generally but real notice real at the end of the day.
24: What's next in line for Ja Rule?
Ja Rule: My album The Mirror, I got my own label Mpire which an extension of The Inc. I have a few artist that I'm molding right now that will change the sound of music in the future just like I did for The Inc.
24: Anything you would like to promote or say to the readers before we go?
Ja Rule: I make music every day so myspace is a good place to stay up with my latest movements and freestyles, etc(www.myspace.com/jarule). Look out for Llyod album hitting stores as well as Ashanti which is in stores now. The Inc latest artist like Newz and Blok Gang out of Brooklny, NY . I got a movie coming out telling my side of the story (lol), everyone already told there side but no one had heard mine!
