Wait Hold on Ja Rule has never been one to shy away from speaking his mind, and during a recent talk about Bronny James NBA future, the rapper took a moment to mention his long-time foe, 50 Cent. The 40-year following an appearance on the podcast "Tap In With TT," went on a rant about nepotism in professional sports, and he wasn't exactly enthused about either Bronny or 50.
Ja Rule is all for Black privilege and generational wealth, but when it comes to sports, he thinks merit is all that should matter.
"If we talking entertainment, if we talking business, no problems," Ja Rule said. "But we talking sports. This is athletics we're talking about, where you cannot hide. You can't put somebody on the front burner and say, 'He's the guy.' You said in the court you got to prove it."
Although LeBron James' name witnesses have most definitely created pathways for Bronny, according to Ja Rule, that doesn't necessarily translate to success in sports alone. In business and entertainment, connections can propel someone to stardom; on the basketball court, it's a meritocracy, at least as Ja sees it.
Ja Rule then went personal, likening his career to the sports world. He looked back on 50 Cent's emergence as a force that changed the public's perception of him even with his hard work.
"That's what I love about athletics so much," Ja Rule said. "Because I could be the hardest-working mutherf* in this business making records for which people got jungle fever. Then 50 Cent comes out, shits on me, and everybody says, 'Oh, we like him [50 Cent] better than Ja Rule now.'"
Ja said that success in sports is a bit more black and white; you either dominate or don't. In entertainment, though, perception is more prominent, and he suggested that 50 Cent had reversed public opinion even without proving material superiority.
To further illustrate his point, Ja Rule invoked the late Kobe Bryant, who was publicly skewered but returned the fire by crushing it on the court.
"When a lot of people hated Kobe Bryant for the rape case," Kobe said, 'All right, I'm going to give you m*rs 55 every night.' Y'all can hate on me, but it doesn't change shit. I'm still Kobe Bryant," Ja Rule said.
In sports, performance is a great leveler. Bronny James will show it on the court if he is any good. No degree of nepotism can cover up deficiencies in his game.
By mixing his longstanding feud with 50 Cent with the Bronny debate, Ja Rule added an extra complication to a decades-long beef. If 50 will respond, who knows? We know that Ja still has a lot to say, and he's not shy about getting dirty while doing it.
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