"He is looking forward to his concert in Manila (tomorrow, April 23, at the Araneta Coliseum)," the handler added. "He’s very excited."
So at 8:30 a.m. sharp, I had my phone-recorder ready and my set of 10 questions – you know, such "standards" as "What can we expect from you during your concert in Manila?," etc.
Thirty minutes passed. No phone call from New York. Forty-five minutes passed and then one hour, and then two hours, until it was nearly noontime and still no phone call. Whatever happened to Ja Rule, who is very popular and very familiar among today’s teenagers but – blush, blush! – a "complete stranger" to Baby Boomers who are stuck with the Bee Gees, the Beatles, Carpenters and the other pop artists of the ‘60s and ‘70s?
So why was I doing a "phoner" with Ja Rule? Well, Lei Atienza arranged the overseas interview for Funfare and I couldn’t say no to Lei (daughter of the Manila Mayor and sister of my good friend Kim). Tired of waiting for the phone call from New York that never came, I texted the handler who expressed surprise why Ja Rule didn’t call at all. She said she was going to find out. She texted back in five minutes and replied, "After an interview with DWTM, Ja Rule got a call from the mother of his kids and left all of a sudden. His manager is trying to find out what happened."
Ooops! Don’t panic, Ja Rule fans. Nothing serious happened to your idol. He’s well and raring to come to Manila. There was just "something" (his handler’s word) he had to attend to all of a sudden.
Lei provided me with more than enough stuff on Ja Rule which I am gladly sharing with Funfare readers who are fans of the rapper considered to be the industry’s most commercially successful rap artist during the early 2000s. Ja Rule won a sizeable following after he released his hardcore debut album Venni Vetti Vecci in 1999, followed in the next years by several others – Rule 3:36 (in 2000), Pain is Love (in 2001) and The Last Temptation (in 2003).
Ja Rule has also won several awards and done several TV shows and movies (Assault on Precinct 13 as himself, Shall We Dance, as a hip-hop bar performer, Scary Movie 3 as an agent, etc.).
His full name is Jeffrey Atkins. He was born on Feb. 29, 1976 in Queens, New York. He is married to Iesha with whom he has two children, a daughter (Brittney) and a son (Jeff, Jr.). Asked what his son’s nickname is, Ja Rule said, "Young Rule."
How did he get the name Ja Rule?
"Well," explained Ja Rule, "my name is Jeff Atkins and I just took the initials."
And what does Rule mean?
According to a story (clipping of which Lei passed on to me), it stands for Represents Unconditional Love’s Existence.
Ja Rule has been "rhyming" since he was 16. Early in his career, he worked with Jay-Z’s Rockafella and DMX’s Ruff Ryders in some projects (he later had a squabble with DMX in the media). Young Ja Rule caught the attention of Def Jam’s president Lyor Cohen. Then, a string of events led him to Irv Gotti who went on to become an A&R representative. Gotti later founded the Murder Inc. label.
Who did Ja Rule look up to as role models?
"I listened to soul music," he said in an interview. "I liked Donny Hathaway, Otis Redding and Sam Cook. But as far as rap goes, I grew up in Hollis, Queens, so early influences were people like Run DMC and LL Cool J."
And for Ja Rule’s music "live," so sorry but I can’t describe it, not being (as I’ve told you) a Ja Rule fan. I advise you to find out for yourself when Ja Rule "rules" the Big Dome in his concert tomorrow. (He’s arriving today.)
Why LVN is closing
Here’s a rejoinder to Funfare’s item about LVN Studios being for sale:
In 1939, Doña "Sisang" de Leon established LVN Pictures Inc. For more than two decades, it produced some of the country’s finest motion pictures such as Ibong Adarna, Anak Dalita, Badjao, Biyaya ng Lupa, Higit sa Lahat, and many other multi-awarded and internationally recognized films. It gave Philippine Cinema some of its most beloved and unforgettable personalities like Jaime de la Rosa, Delia Razon, Caridad Sanchez, Nida Blanca, Charito Solis, Mila Del Sol, Nestor De Villa, Rosa Rosal, Mario Montenegro, Tony Santos and Rogelio de la Rosa, among hundreds of others, as well as outstanding directors like National Artist Lamberto Avellana, Manuel Silos, Gregorio Fernandez, Susana de Guzman, Manuel Conde and Mike de Leon. For the last 40 years, it has provided post-production services to promote excellence in Philippine movies.
Unfortunately, the multi-faceted problems besetting the Philippine film industry over the last couple of years have made it financially difficult for LVN to continue its operations, to the point of impossibility. It is therefore with deepest regret that the board of directors and management of LVN Pictures, Inc. wish to announce to cessation of its printing and processing operations on June 30, 2005. However, LVN Pictures, Inc., as a business corporation, will continue to operate.
The board and management of LVN Pictures, Inc. would like to express our sincere gratitude to all our partners in the industry, our stockholders and clients for their support, and most especially the employees who have served the company most loyally all these past years.
Doña Sisang, the founder of LVN, believed in the power and potential of the Philippine cinema. We hope that the present problems that have brought about the end of an era will be overcome in time by the talent, resilience and responsibility of the Filipino filmmaker and audience.
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph)