50 Cent, Ja Rule Getty Images(2)
50 Cent took another shot at his longtime enemy Ja Rule, this time over the latter’s performance at the BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards.
Ja, 47, seemingly referenced Jesus Christ’s crucifixion during his performance at the Wednesday, September 6, event in Miami Beach. At one point, he was lashed to a wooden column as backup vocalists — wearing white choir robes — surrounded him.
50 couldn’t resist mocking his fellow rapper’s display, sharing his scathing review of the performance via Instagram on Thursday, September 7. “Look at this s–thead,” wrote the 48-year-old alongside a video from the awards show. “Is he supposed to be Jesus. 😆 WTF you can’t make this s–t up. LOL so stupid!”
50’s brutal take on the show is just the latest skirmish in the pair’s long-running feud, which dates back to 1999 when Ja was allegedly robbed by one of 50’s associates. The duo have traded barbs in their lyrics over the years, but 50 — whose real name is Curtis Jackson — has more recently made headlines for his elaborate methods of pranking Ja.
In October 2018, for example, 50 purchased 200 tickets to one of Ja’s concerts, scoring the seats for $15 each in a Groupon deal. The seats were then unused, leaving the first four rows empty at Ja’s Arlington, Texas, performance.
Ja — whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins — publicly took the incident in stride, tweeting, “I get under @50cent skin… 😜 I love it!!!”
50 later said the prank “wasn’t a big deal” despite the headlines it made. “Now you gotta test your showmanship, when you come and there ain’t nobody in the front seats,” he explained during a January 2019 interview on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. “You gotta still perform like everybody’s here.”
Host Stephen Colbert correctly summed up the situation, joking, “You do not want to f–k with you. That is beautiful.”
Two years earlier, 50 weighed in after Ja was involved in the Fyre Festival debacle, which led to cofounder Billy McFarland serving more than three years in prison after he was convicted of wire fraud. “Can’t do nothing right,” 50 wrote via Instagram in April 2017. “LOL.”
The People Behind Fyre Festival: Where Are They Now?
The 2017 Fyre Festival became a punchline after defrauding its attendees and just generally being a complete disaster. The idea for the music festival in the Bahamas came to entrepreneur Billy McFarland, who wanted to promote his Fyre app, which helped users book music talent. McFarland partnered with Ja Rule to create the event. The […]
Ja, who co-organized the failed event, initially faced more than a dozen lawsuits over his involvement, but he was dismissed from a class-action lawsuit against the event’s organizers in 2019.
McFarland, 31, recently announced plans for a second Fyre Festival, which he claims will take place in 2024. Tickets began selling last month, with prices ranging from $499 to $7,999, despite the fact that the event does not yet have a venue or date.
