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Ja Rule returns to our headphones with Pain is Love 2, eight years since his last official release.
The rapper, currently serving a two-year stint for gun possession and tax evasion, laid down the vocals before starting his sentence.
PIL 2 is a concept album, based loosely on Ja’s own fall from grace.
Back in the late 90s and early 2000s he was a rap superstar, rolling out hits (Between Me and You, Always on time) and pursuing a promising acting career.
Then the fall started: a misguided beef with 50 Cent and Eminem began, album sales dropped, culminating in a two year stay at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Oneida, N.Y.
The album follows this trajectory. Ja takes one ‘PIL’ and becomes famous – success, women and money (the hip-hop tri-fecta) ensue. But when Ja swallows a second ‘PIL’ things start to fall apart.
The Venni Vetti Vecci emcee still hasn’t lost any of his gruff flow, spitting like it’s 2000 again on Parachute and Real Life Fantasy.
Aided by producer Seven, who brings depth and atmospheric beats to the proceedings, Ja is at his best and most honest when he gets introspective. Never Had Time highlights the MC’s vulnerable side.
On Spun a Web he spits ‘Shot at the moon just to be amongst stars/then got alienated/ended up on Mars’. Drawing from his own life experiences sees Ja hit his stride again as a writer and an emcee.
However he can’t resist dipping into the old ways that paved the way for his platinum success. On the lady-friendly Black Vodka, he makes comparisons between a female and the alcoholic beverage, and gets his hip-hop bravado going on the club banger Bounce.
The high profile collaborations are only noticeable in their absence, a result of falling off the proverbial rap map.
Leah Siegal, Anita Louise and John Doe amongst others are drafted in to help out with the hooks, but the burden of rapping falls solely to Ja, which actually helps the album and makes for a more personal listening experience.
It’s been a long time coming but PIL 2 could be the comeback that Jeffery Atkins had hoped for back in 2008 with The Mirror, and see him become a force in hip-hop once again.