P R O L O G U E

Hip Hop Matters

Stakes is high.

— D E L A S O U L

Throughout its career hip hop has produced its share of unusual
moments, walking the fine line between the theater of the absurd and
the genuinely profound. One such moment occurred on the night of
October 29, 2003, when Minister Louis Farrakhan sat down to con-
duct an interview with well-known rapper Ja Rule. Like most ce-
lebrity interviews this one was staged by the rapper’s record label,
Murder Inc., to promote a forthcoming project, his album

Blood in

My Eye. But there was also a more sobering reality that prompted Ja’s
sit-down with the Minister. Significantly, the event was arranged be-
cause there was genuine fear that the already violent feud between Ja
Rule and his chief nemesis, superstar rapper 50 Cent, was spiraling
toward another hip-hop tragedy. The elements of their unfolding
drama, two talented MCs trapped in a potentially deadly game of
ghetto one-upmanship, was painfully familiar to hip hop.

Ja Rule had made a name and niche for himself by combining a

rugged hip-hop exterior with less edgy R&B-styled crossover hit sin-
gles that appealed to an all but forgotten market in hip hop’s soaring
economy—girls and young women. The “sensitive thug” moniker he
earned was an oxymoron in the coarse world of corporate rap music.
But while the kinder and gentler thug-life persona Ja Rule concocted
had increased his record sales, it also opened him up to charges that
he was not “street” enough. That is exactly what happened when 50
Cent burst on the scene in 2003, unleashing a torrent of taunts that

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