Ja Rule Net Worth

How much is Ja Rule worth?

About Ja Rule

Ja Rule, born Jeffrey Bruce Atkins, is an actor and businessman, but he is best known for being a rapper finding success in the late 90s and early 2000s, releasing platinum records featuring the likes of Tupac Shakur and Missy Elliot. Though the rapper has received bad press in recent years due to the backlash of “Fyre Festival”, following the Netflix documentary Fyre and a class action lawsuit. Nevertheless, he continues to invest in lucrative businesses, act in major movies, and still records music which gets listened to.

Rule followed the one, two, three punch of his first few albums with three more records that wouldn’t be quite as successful, but still achieved platinum status. Though they weren’t as successful as his first three albums, in 2018 it was reported that Rule had sold 11.4 million units in the US and over 30 million records worldwide. However, he has also suffered some periods of financial troubles, including an alleged $3 million IRS tax debt.

Ja Rule landed a contract with Def Jam after being pals with one of the label’s executive producer, Irv Gotti. After his stint with Def Jam, in 1997 Ja Rule signed to Murder Inc. Records, which was founded by Gotti. Ja Rule was promoted by Gotti as the label’s flagship artist, and for good reason. Thanks to Ja Rule alone, Murder Inc. became one of the most successful record labels in the States. Rule became the go-to guest feature artist to hire for a great verse, as he featured on famous songs from Method Man, Redman, Nas, DMX, LL Cool J and Jay-Z. It is reported that it was Ja Rule that actually wrote Jay-Z’s famous track, “Can I Get A…”, and it was intended to be Ja Rule’s song, but Jay-Z demanded he have the track after he heard how good it was.

His debut album arrived in 1999 with Venni Vetti Vecci, which peaked at number three on the Billboard 200. And from that point on, for the next six years, Ja Rule ruled the radio. The rapper had dozens of track that would make the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including arguably his most famous track, “Ain’t It Funny” featuring Jennifer Lopez, which became the very top track on the Hot 100.

Ja Rule followed up the success of his first album with Rule 3:36. The sophomore effort is much more appealing to the mainstream and oriented to a more pop sound, instead of the hardcore gangster rap that had become Rule’s sound. The risk paid off and it was more successful than his debut by a huge margin. The album debut atop the Billboard 200 and sold 276,000 copies its first week. The record is now certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

After the release of Rule 3:36, Ja Rule became a legitimate international superstar. Rule found even bigger success with album number three, which combined with his second album, has sold 15 million records.

In 2001, Ja Rule was the king of the Billboard charts as his remix of Jennifer Lopez’s “I’m Real” sat at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for five non-consecutive weeks, and it spent a total fifteen weeks in total in the top five of the Hot 100.

The song is reportedly in the 30th spot for the most successful song of the 2000s. This is just one example of the success Rule had in the charts that has brought him the fame, wealth and recognition.

Irv Gotti helped Ja Rule get signed to Def Jam and Murder Inc. Records, yet Gotti was more than just Rule’s label head. They have worked together in creating several businesses, most notably in 2004 with the urban clothing line, ErvinGeoffrey. Rule then went it alone founding The Mojito, a liquor company. In 2015, Ja Rule dabbled in the footwear industry and successfully collaborated with industry titan, Steve Madden, naming their line of sneakers, Maven x Madden.

More controversially, In 2016, Ja Rule co-founded Fyre Media, Inc., with Billy McFarland, which would become the luxury festival based in the Bahamas. The event marketed day tickets from $500 to $1,500, and VIP packages were far more, including airfare and luxury tent accommodation they were marketed for a reported $12,000.

Though this should have bumped Rule’s net worth into eight figures, the festival went terribly wrong, and Ja Rule and McFarland were in an on-going class action suit of a $100 million, as well as a documentary which didn’t fare well for either of them.

Fortunately for Ja Rule, according to Billboard, Jeffrey “Ja Rule” Atkins has been dismissed from the $100 million class-action Fyre Festival lawsuit. The rapper co-founded the failed festival with Billy McFarland and heavily promoted it to the millions of followers on his social media accounts.

Aside from rapping, Ja Rule has been acting in movies for almost as long as he has been making music. His first appeared in a small role as a street racer who cared more about reputation than money in the original The Fast and the Furious. He even released a couple of songs in conjunction with the movie. Since then he has appeared in action movies, comedies, and even dramas.

More than anything, it was the risk of significantly changing a sound that had already proven to be successful, hardcore rap, to one that might have been seen as out of place for the rapper, radio friendly pop, that helped Rule the most.

Thanks to these risks, Rule 3:36 went on to be certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Pain Is Love, the third studio album, doubled down on the risk, going all in with the commercial pop. Despite getting panned by critics, the record was even more successful, getting certified quadruple-platinum.

In 2015, Ja Rule starred in a reality show alongside his family, Follow The Rules. Co-produced by Queen Latifah, it saw fairly successful rankings in viewership, despite the rapper not having released a successful album since 2004.

Summing-Up

Thanks to his chart topping success and less so to his curating of festivals, Ja Rule is reportedly worth an estimated $5 million. He has been working on his eighth album for the past eight years, which Rule says will be his final album. It’s unclear if we will ever get to hear it though, as it seems like it has been quietly shelved. However, he did appear in the comedy movie Reboot Camp, alongside David Koechner.