S. Samuel
Former Murder Inc. star Ja Rule recently reflected on serving time behind bars and dished on what stood out the most while away from his family to do time for a gun conviction.
Despite the handfuls of interviews detailing his time locked up, Rule said unless you have been to jail yourself, the experience is indescribable.
“I could explain it all day, but people still won’t understand what it’s like to eat the food. What it’s like to be told what to do on a daily basis, have a curfew, have to go to bed at 11 o’clock. Can’t see your family, can’t see your friends,” he told HipHollywood. The rapper, who served two years for gun possession and failure to pay taxes, shard with HH that the time served was well spent. “I read a lot of books, got my mind right. Took my GED while I was in there, got that,” he explained. “You spend a lot of time with yourself, learning about yourself, who you are. The people you have hurt on the outside, the people that are actually doing this time with you. People don’t realize you’re not doing that time alone,” the rapper said. (Hip Hollywood)
Reports this week claim Jeffrey Atkins would like to put out a microwave-based recipe book people could get their hands on following the stint behind bars.
Ja Rule — who served two years in jail for tax evasion — made an unexpected appearance on Geoffrey Zakarian‘s SiriusXM show, “Food Talk,” and dished about cooking in the can. Zakarian was interviewing guests including Guy Fieri, Bobby Flay and Marcus Samuelsson during the New York City Wine & Food Festival when Rule rocked in. Like so many stars, Rule said he wants to write a cookbook. But in his case, all the dishes must be “microwavable.” “He explained that while behind bars he learned to cook anything and everything in a microwave,” said a spy at the show, which airs Wednesday. (New York Post Page Six)
A few days ago, Rule admitted he invested a majority of dining time into cooking up his own dishes while in the pen.
“Nothing else to do man, workout, everyday, all day,” Ja said when asked how he kept in shape during his prison bid. “That’s it. [The food?] Protein. Eat a lot of protein. Eat a lot of fish, a lot of salmon — [the food inside] is not too good but you get packages and stuff like that. You can eat pretty good. You can eat decent enough. Yeah. I ate everything. In jail, they’re pretty crafty. We made lasagna, we made cheesecakes, we had lots of things. I really didn’t eat prison food. I didn’t go to the chow line too much. We usually just cooked in our dorm. Yeah, yeah, we cooked our own stuff. So what we made was pretty decent. It wasn’t bad.” (TMZ)
Recently, Rule revealed he no longer did drugs following his stay in jail.
Fresh out the pen, Ja Rule sat down with his old pal Wendy Williams for his first daytime interview since his two-year prison stint. The 37-year-old rapper opened up about why he went to jail, how he spent his time behind bars (getting his GED, domestic work), and how his fellow prisoners reacted to him. “When I got there, people actually had a lot of admiration for me, a lot of love for me. It was a really different experience,” he said. Wendy also asked what he thought of artists such as Miley Cyrus glorifying drugs in their music. “We as artists, we have the right to express ourselves,” said Rule, who is now drug free. “I also believe that we have the obligation to the youth to be somewhat responsible in what we say on records.” (Rap-Up)
Back in August, Ja said the worst part about his lengthy bid was missing key moments in his family and friends’ lives.
“I guess I’d have to say those nights you’re just locked in your cell, by yourself, and you’re missing out on what’s going on outside. I would call home and I’d be missing birthdays or anniversaries. I’d speak to my homies and they’d be out and about, doing what they doing. You kind of say, “Damn, I’m really locked up, I can’t enjoy the things that are meaningful in my life, I can’t enjoy the small things in life.” You in a situation that you can’t control. Then there were situations like [Superstorm] Sandy and [Hurricane] Irene, where we was getting heavy storms at the house and all the lights and things are down, trees and power lines are down. My family had to pick up and go to a hotel. Those are the situations that I handle when I’m home and my wife had to step up to the plate, play father and mother during those situations. She’s a soldier, so she made it happen, but I’m sure she wishes that I was there. You’re helpless in those situations.” (Complex)
