Despite the jibes he receives online and the Fyre Fest controversies that haunt him, Ja Rule’s legacy in Hip Hop is something to be celebrated. The New Yorker helped pioneer the melodic rapper wave and although his pop culture moments have caused Ja to be on the receiving end of teasing from fans, his classics are undeniable favorites.
Recently, Ja Rule sat down with The Breakfast Club and spoke about his career and business moves he’s made in recent years, but like many other rappers, he was questioned about who he would place on his Mount Rushmore.
Ja recognized that naming four artists is isn’t easy because there are generations and eras of Rap, but he quickly named three: Jay-Z, Tupac Shakur, and The Notorious B.I.G. The fourth was more difficult to name, but Ja decided to take things back to an earlier era of Hip Hop.
“Either Big Daddy Kane, or Rakim, or [KRS One] because of what they did for the culture and what they meant to the culture,” he said. “And what Rakim was to a Nas, you know what I’m saying? What KRS was to a whole generation of rappers… We never put the ladies in there… MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa.”
“They’re the reason other women picked up a microphone, period. How can you leave them off? You gotta [pick] one of them and put them on there.” Ja Rule would go on to boast about Lil Kim’s impact, as well. Check out the interview below.
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