You know a beef is destined to last forever when religious leaders can’t even end it. 2003 was the peak of the feud between 50 Cent and Ja Rule. 50 was coming off of some incredible mixtapes, solo and with the rest of G-Unit. Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ was setting the world on fire. Beg For Mercy made the rest of his crew look like superstars. Amidst all of this, he was ruthlessly dissing Ja, Irv Gotti, and everyone affiliated with Murder Inc.
The “Always On Time” rapper still had his fair share of hits at that point. But it wasn’t looking very pretty when it came to the beef. There were worries that the rivalry would become so intense that someone might die over it, as many beefs have ended in the past. Consequently, Minister Louis Farrakhan got involved to try to get Ja Rule and 50 Cent to bury the hatchet.
In an interview captured by Rolling Stone, Ja placed the root of the beef to some jealousy on 50’s part. Ultimately, he looked at it as a one-way feud, and he was just defending himself. “I think he didn’t like the fact that I was getting so much love,” he explained. “I didn’t even know the dude… It was really no beef with me with him. It was always him with me.”
Ja Rule Tried To End 50 Cent Beef Before It Got Out of Hand With Minister Farrakhan’s Help
Initially, the “Thug Lovin’” artist tried to ignore it, claiming that bickering with 50 was beneath him. However, once the public started teasing him about it, it became unavoidable. On Minister Farrakhan’s part, though, he just didn’t want to see the beef between Ja Rule and 50 Cent devolve into more violence within hip-hop.
“I never want to see anything happen to you, Ja. And I never want to see anything happen to 50. I want to see peace. And if you want to diss each other in the culture, that’s fine. But once we go past the line, when we’re talking about killing one another, they print it and put it out,” he stressed, referring to the media’s tendency to egg things on.
Ultimately, Ja Rule understood where the head of the Nation of Islam was coming from. It wasn’t so much about his beef in particular but a larger issue within the culture. “I see the bigger picture that you’re talking about,” Ja said. “It’s not about me and 50’s personal beef. It’s about the overall state of hip-hop and the children that are coming up watching and learning and pitting themselves against each other because one rapper says he doesn’t like the other. I’d be crazy and disrespectful to say I wouldn’t sit down at the table and try to help hip-hop.”
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