In case any fans were getting their hopes up, Ja Rule has made it crystal clear that a “Verzuz” battle between him and career-long rival 50 Cent ain’t happening.
The 44-year-old rapper and businessman has been keeping up with the popular online competitions created by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland in an effort to celebrate the best musicians ever to pick up a mic. Although he hasn’t been called to battle just yet, the “Between Me and You” rapper has already crossed 50’s name off his list of possible competitors, telling Hip Hop DX “that ain’t gonna happen.”
“Listen, man, Everybody don’t want the smoke. Everybody don’t want this smoke,” he laughed as he continued. “I got heat. Let me tell you something when I do my shows, I can rock. I’m telling you, it’s like an hour of straight hit records. No filler. All crab meat, n—a. This ain’t the joints with the — you know what I’m saying? All meat in that m—–f—–g crab cake, n—a.”
The “Always on Time” rapper admitted that while he’s not sure who he’d want to be matched up against, especially since Fat Joe doesn’t seem interested in appearing on the series at all, he does know that he’d want the battle to be fun, as opposed to drama-filled.
“Listen, man, I love ‘Verzuz,’ I love what it is, I love to see artists getting in there and doing the shit, but if I did one, if I did do a ‘Verzuz,’ I would want my ‘Verzuz’ to be fun. That’s what ‘Verzuz’ is supposed to be about — the celebration of music and the art, and the artistry,” he stated. “So, I would want my ‘Verzuz’ to be fun and filled with love in the room and s–t. I’m too old to be in ‘Verzuz’ beef. … I’m 44, dog. Just get a boxing ring and we get in there, and we do that. All this other funny nutty s**t, we ain’t doing that, man. We keep it regular. We keep it simple, man.”
“I don’t know who I would do one with!” he exclaimed. “They threw Fat Joe. Me and Crack talked about it, but I don’t think Crack wants to do ‘Verzuz’ at all. If I don’t got the right opponent, it’s not gonna be fun either.”
The “Power” executive producer doesn’t seem to have his sights set on Ja Rule as a competitor either, instead opting to go hit-for-hit against a friend-turned-foe. “Maybe Game,” he responded when radio host Big Boy asked him who he’d want to face off against at 13:25. “OK, look. He can’t play no records with my voice on ’em,” he joked, before admitting “He got some hits. It’d be interesting.”
50 Cent has yet to respond to Ja Rule’s comments at the time of this writing, but seeing as he’s never he’s been one to shy away from conflict or stating his mind, it could only be a matter of time before fans hear his thoughts.
