Ja Rule is Having a Comeback

Fear of the 2000s is warranted when the anxieties stem from a purely sartorial standpoint. Cowl necks. Good lord, would you pause for a moment and remember cowl necks? Not to mention the velour, the tight male henleys, the satin cargo pants, the kitten-heeled flip flops and though this is hair related — frosted tips on men. We’ve expressed our collective fears of this nature before.

But, what we didn’t talk about is that the early 2000s was a golden era of music. The younger part of the decade was still supporting boy bands, Faith Hill, and Christina Aguilera when she had dreadlocks. The first year post-99 alone gave us Macy Gray’s “I Try,” Eminem’s “Forgot About Dre,” Destiny Child’s “Say My Name,” Matchbox Twenty’s “Bent.” Remember the band Vertical Horizon? Me neither but I bet you remember the song “Everything You Want.” Blink 182’s “All the Small Things”? Britney Spears, Missy Elliott, come on people, I could do this all day.

One jukebox hero stands out though — one whose music still permeates throughout the speakers at bars and yet mention of him has been infrequent if not completely absent. Until now that is.

Check out the trailer!!! http://t.co/N1tiM7056m #FollowtheRules coming soon to @MTV

— Ja Rule (@Ruleyork) September 23, 2014

Ladies and gentlemen, Ja Rule is having a comeback.

The first suspicion came about when he performed this summer at the outside daybed emporium/restaurant club-thing otherwise known as Gurney’s Inn in Montauk. Clearly the rumblings of a big-things volcano.

Then, on a higher profile and assumably less sandy note, he performed at a fashion week party with Rick Ross.

Upon delving into Ja Rule’s tweets it seems that not only is he getting back into his music, he’s been acting. He was the star of a movie titled I’m In Love with a Church Girl and while the trailer below provides plenty of visuals I think sentence one of IMDB’s description says everything you need to know: “Miles Montego (Ja Rule) has it all – cars, boats, good looks, mansion, money, women, but more importantly, he has a past.”

Like his character, Ja Rule has a past too. Sure he went to jail — so did Martha Stewart — but I’m talking about a collective past. Our past. Who doesn’t get teary eyed when they hear “Between Me and You,” featuring Christina Milian, or “I’m Real” with Jennifer Lopez? “Always on Time” with Ashanti — now there’s a classic.

And now, with the official though insanely vague announcement that Ja Rule has reality show coming out about his every day life, it seems that the rapper born into this world as Jeffrey Atkins (who knew?!) has become what we in the biz call a triple threat.

“I don’t know Ja Rule,” says his sweetly naive daughter. “That’s dad.”

But we know Ja Rule. We grew up with him. We were there in the midst of his glory days and can’t look back on high school dances without thinking of his raspy voice. If his show on MTV actually pans out — or even if it doesn’t, though finger’s crossed — it’s with open arms and tiny mustaches that we welcome the punctual rapper back.