Ja Rule

When he debuted with his solo LP, Venni Vetti Vecci, Ja Rule cast himself as an analogue of Tupac and DMX: Not only was Rule a bald, bandanna-sporting, tattooed thug with an affinity for going topless, but he also wrestled with his mortality in long, melodic swipes of rhyme on poignant numbers like "Race Against Time" and takes a swan dive into hedonism on the R. Kelly-sampled "Suicide Freestyle." The album's highlights are undoubtedly the pogo-bouncing "Holla Holla" and the DMX- and Jay-Z-assisted "It's Murda," a fine example of ego and competition resulting in great synergy.

On Irv Gotti Presents the Murderers, Ja, like any successful hip-hop artist with friends, fronts his crew, the Murderers, in a misguided attempt to solidify his street credibility. The Murderers, a group of bottom-tier MCs, plod through this ill-fated project with a barrage of uninspired threats and brain-numbing skits. Songs include "We Don't Give a F**k," "Somebody's Gotta Die Tonight," and "We Getting High Tonight." The album's only saving grace is a remix of "Holla Holla" featuring star turns by Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes.

On Rule 3:36, Ja emerged as a hip-hop lothario and radio monster on danceable grooves "Between Me and You" and "Put It on Me." A kinder, more sensitive Ja is heard on "I Cry," while "One of Us" interpolates Joan Osborne's tune with a ghetto perspective. Guest slots by Lil' Mo and Christina Milian apply Ja's formula of teaming with female vocalists; he downs ecstasy on the Barry White-fueled "Extasy" (White refused to clear the sample); and the hyper "6 Feet Underground" and heavy-rock underpinnings of "Die" drip with nihilism.

Originally envisioned as a double-CD package, Pain Is Love is Ja's most accomplished record. Ghetto-primed numbers like "Dial M for Murder" and "The Inc." ride with a mix of West Coast G-funk and East Coast bump. Ja indulges in ecstasy once again, this time with the help of Missy Elliott and Tweet on "X," and he performs a posthumous duet with Tupac on "So Much Pain." The record's strength is that Ja has accepted his mainstream acceptance: He mastered radio-friendliness on the Stevie Wonder-sampled, Case-assisted "Livin' It Up"; the gospel-inspired "Always on Time," performed with Ashanti; and the guitar-tinged Bonnie and Clyde ode, "Down Ass B**ch," featuring Chuck (Charli Baltimore). For extra measure, Ja includes his remix of "I'm Real" with Jennifer Lopez -- a song that cements his pop-star position while extending the lease on J. Lo's music career.

By the time The Last Temptation rolled around, Ja's mix of peck-flexing bangers and pop-friendly duets had become formulaic, so much so that he was able to write and record the entire album in just 12 days. The Neptunes-produced "Pop Niggas" -- a speedy, syncopated track on which Ja spits rapid-fire threats and disses -- is the best of the bangers, and the Bobby Brown-assisted "Thug Lovin' " is a nice piece of sleazy bling-bling romancing, but Ja's none-too-menacing boasts and hyperserious rhymes about the trials and tribulations of the multiplatinum thug get tiresome fast. Speaking of tiresome, Blood in My Eye was another threat-laden cash-grab straight off the Murder Inc. assembly line, only this time, Ja wrangled some B-list guest MCs (Hussein Fatal, Sizzla, Black Child) to back him up. The cheaply hooky beats sound tossed together as Ja tries his best to regain the street cred he'd lost in a highly publicized fued with 50 Cent, but the disses he hurls at 50, Eminem, and Dr. Dre sound more forced than ever. (KRIS EX/CHRISTIAN HOARD)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide