*Rapper Ja Rule was a big name in the 1990s and 2000s when each music he released was a hit. His songs, such as “Always on Time (featuring Ashanti) and “Between Me and You” (featuring Christina Milian), were hard to ignore in those days, and even in these days.
But from the early 2000s, the rapper has found himself on the wrong side of the law more often than he has released big hits. His legal problems seemed to multiply to the point he only made news for the wrong things he was being accused of. New charges kept coming up as he struggled to deal with the old ones. Ja Rule even served time in prison after he pleaded guilty to certain crimes.
In 2003, he was accused of punching a man in a nightclub in Toronto. He was later slapped with a $1,200 fine after he pleaded guilty to assault, accompanied by a public apology to the victim.
In 2004, he was pulled over in Manhattan for changing lanes without signaling. He ended up being arrested for driving with a suspended license and being in possession of marijuana, according to Today. In 2007, Ja Rule was again arrested and charged with gun possession, according to The Guardian. He readily pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in jail in 2010.
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Soon later, he received a 28-month sentence related to tax evasion. He was again behind bars from June 2011 to May 2013.
But the good news is: he never let his time in jail go to waste. Ja Rule decided he might as well work on improving himself while behind bars because that’s the place he seemed to find himself most time.
“I wanted to go into prison and come out a better person—mentally, physically,” he said in a 2013 interview with The Daily Beast. “So, I read a lot of books, got my GED while I was in there, and worked out every day. Strong body, strong mind.”
The rapper also worked on his physical fitness.
“I went in at about 154 pounds and came home about 190,” he said. “I did everything—bench press, arms, curls, and leg days. I had a regimen. I’d do back and chest Monday; Tuesday, I’d do arms and shoulders; Wednesday, I’d do legs; and then I’d repeat the cycle. So six days a week.”
He was back in the for the wrong reasons again in 2017. This time, it had to do with his involvement in the Fyre Festival disaster. Being a co-founder of the festival, he was accused of defrauding investors and ticket buyers. His co-founder Billy McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to the years. But Ja Rule himself insisted he was never in the deal with the intention of scamming anyone. For him, the whole thing was “false advertisement,” not a fraud.
He spoke to Power 105.1 “The Breakfast Club”: “My employees are on there, talking about, ‘This is fraud,’ and this, that, and the third. And I’m like, hold the f*** up… This is not fraud. Maybe false advertising. Maybe. But not fraud … fraud is the intention of not ever putting on a festival. [As if], me and Billy sat somewhere and said [rubs hands together], ‘Let’s see what we gon’ do guys…’”
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