OpenEntrance - What’s Really Going OnWhat’s Really Going On

What is it about the underdog that compels us to root for them? Is it apart of the American spirit to root for the comeback team? I mean they make a heck of a storyline for a movie (Remember The Titans), sports (1985 Villanova hoop squad), and music (Ja Rule?)… Yes Ja Rule. Let me say that from jump I was never a big fan of homey even when Murder Inc was at their height but I KNOW a lot of folks were.

  It wasn’t too long ago in 2002 that we were captivated by another underdog from Jamaica, Queens. Our ears perked up as he defiantly took on a record label and industry for that matter with a witty song (How to Rob) in 98′ that kept his name on the tips of many people’s tongues. Years later this Queens native dropped a classic album “Get Rich or Die Tryin” and as we know the rest was history. 

  Maybe we rooted for him because we felt his struggle to be heard.  I mean he was shot 9 times…oops I meant 3 times (check the official police report here ) went head to head with the Inc and won our respect and our dollars when it came time to cop his cd. Ja was fat from success and we believed 50 when he mercilessly pounded Ja’s name in the dirt on track after track. We loved Curtis Jackson because he was an underdog that had the guts to take on such a juggernaut at that time. We watched as Ja’s fans defected to G-Unit and traded in their cds for 50 Cent posters. We ate it up and loved every bit of the drama that came with it. Even when Ja dropped a nice street  EP “Blood In My Eye” we laughed and mocked him as if he could make a comeback so soon.

  Fast forward 5 years later and it seems the tables have turned on G-Unit. Although 50’s fan base is bigger than Ja’s ever was and ever will be it’s apparent fate is switching again before our eyes. The past 2 years we’ve seen disappointing record sales in 50’s camp (Mobb Deep, Lloyd Banks, and Tony Yayo) and really rap for that matter but 50 & co. seemed to be record slump resistant at first. We watched as he made the club songs just like a former nemesis of his once did, we listened as he dissed half of New York (curiously most of those disses fell around the time an album was slated to drop), and we danced as he halfway sung on hooks like a former nemesis did.

  What I’m saying in a nutshell is this is a hood version of Single White Female. We watched as 50 dissed Ja Rule while at the same time become him in so many ways. We heard so many diss songs and potshots he and his crew took at people that we became disinterested with them. The final insult lately has been the pushing back of his album twice now since initially getting a summer release date months ago. During all this bad karma Ja Rule is starting to slowly but surely peak his head back in the game dropping a verse on the One Blood Remix, and lil mixtape cuts here and there to an official single featuring Lil Wayne called ”Uh Oh” listen here. I’m not sayin Ja is gonna smash the world with this but if this isn’t a case of redemption as an underdog then I don’t know what is because honestly who has been checking for Rule?

  It’s gonna be interesting to see what happens with G-Unit come September when 50’s album drops. It’s gonna sell of course but will it be like his previous releases and garner that major attention he’s used to because these singles he’s dropping now aren’t sending radios or fans in a frenzy hence the pushing back of his release to September 11th. It would be nice for fans to get behind Ja and give him a fair chance this time around since it seems 50’s armor has become rusted and dented. I guess time will tell but for now this karma  is classic boomerang material. What goes around comes around.