50 Cent calls out Ja Rule for his recent Jesus-style performance
50 Cent is a martyr for his own cause: picking on Ja Rule.
The “In Da Club” artist took another shot at his longtime rival after Ja Rule performed at the 2023 BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards on Wednesday.
During his performance of “One of Us,” Ja Rule tied himself to a wooden column — a seeming ode to the Flagellation of Christ (also known as the Scourging at the Pillar) — while his backup singers and dancers wore robes as he belted out the verses of the 2000 song. The track is, fittingly, from Ja Rule’s biblically titled album “Rule 3:36.”
Near the end of the new straight-to-DVD documentary “Stop Snitchin, Stop Lyin,” Compton gangsta rapper the Game is shown creeping through the underbrush behind a Farmington, Conn., home he says belongs to his hip-hop rival, 50 Cent.
50 Cent posted a video of the gaudy gig on Instagram with the caption, “👀look at this s— head, is he supposed to be Jesus. 😆 WTF you can’t make this s—up. LOL so stupid!”
The beef between the two rappers started in 1999 when Ja Rule claimed he was robbed at gunpoint by associates of 50 Cent while filming a music video. That same year, the former G-Unit member dropped his first diss track against Ja Rule and his label Murder Inc., “Life’s on the Line.”
In 2000, there was an alleged skirmish between the duo at an Atlanta nightclub and 50 Cent alleged that Ja Rule helped arrange the “Candy Shop” rapper’s stabbing.
All of the hip-hop and R&B; artists worth their bling-bling seem to have been paired in duets with the hot-selling 50 Cent.
Throughout the 2000s, they traded diss tracks including 50 Cent’s “The Realest Killas,” “Wanksta,” “Hail Mary 2003” and “Back Down,” and Ja Rule’s “Loose Change” and “Clapback.”
Ja Rule told New York’s Hot 97 in 2013 that he took the L in their long-standing rivalry. 50 Cent took that opportunity to perform the diss track “I Smell P—” at Hot 97’s Summer Jam festival in 2013.
Naturally, 50 Cent jabbed at the “Mesmerize” rapper over his involvement with the failed Fyre Festival by posting a now-deleted Donald Trump meme to his Instagram. The picture showed Trump choosing to “appoint Ja Rule as secretary of festivals.” 50 Cent captioned the post, “Can’t do nothing right.”
Rapper 50 Cent is reportedly the suspect of a criminal battery report after hurling a faulty microphone into the crowd at his Wednesday Crypto.com Arena show.
Last year, Ja Rule discussed his ongoing spat with the “Many Men” artist in a conversation with Math Hoffa.
““Chump s—, wack s—. I’m a real artist,” Ja Rule said. “To me, that’s not a real artist. That’s not a real man ... you know what I’m saying? To want to pull down other [people] to pull yourself up? That ain’t my style. If you a real [man], go make your records and shine.”
The biggest entertainment stories
Get our big stories about Hollywood, film, television, music, arts, culture and more right in your inbox as soon as they publish.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
