S. Samuel
Former Murder Inc. artist Ja Rule recently spoke on the popularity of rappers singing on records and why his catchy choruses from the early 2000's helped pave a lane for artists to follow.
Co-signing rappers/singers like Drake, Rule downplayed his vocal ability.
“Drake can sing, man,” Rule said in an interview. “I always admit it. I’m a shallow singer. But I think that’s what attracted people to what I was doing, because I made you feel like you too could do this. I’m not blowing Luther Vandross notes over here! You could do what I’m doing. I think that’s what made it pop music. I think for the people, that’s what made it popular, that they were able to sing along with it and they weren’t intimidated by singing along to it because it was a guy that can’t sing.” (RapFix)
Last month, Rule publicly taunted rap rival 50 Cent for taking after him and singing on records in the past.
“@50cent talked about me singing but that n*gga sure be hitting that high note lol My STUDENT!!!,” Rule tweeted March 23rd.”
“Lmao The PUPPET MASTER @50cent u still P*SSY at the end of the day haha!!! Follow Me!!!” (Ja Rule’s Twitter)
Not a huge fan of crooning, Fat Joe previously talked about wanting Kanye West to give up singing.
“I love hip-hop music, there’s really nothing I can’t do as far as musically,” Joe promised in a May 2010 interview. “I’m in the studio so much that I know how to make all types of music. I could make you a Dirty South smash hit right now. I can make you a New York banger to the highest level…My favorite rapper is Kanye West and when he did the singing album, I purposely didn’t buy it. I was like, I’m protesting it man, I’m boycotting it. I ain’t with that sh*t. I want the Kanye rapping about his moms, rapping about this sh*t.” (Ozone Magazine)
Despite his skills, Drake has said he favors rapping over singing.
“I could never really take singing on the road the way I can take rapping on the road,” Drake said in a June 2010 interview. “I can’t get on stage and blow people away with my range and vocals. I’m a studio singer because I can convey emotion and I have unique melodies, so that’s kind of what I pride myself on, but that’s where it stops. I make music more for people to listen to rather than to hold me as an R&B artist. Not to wish that I couldn’t sing better. If I could sing like Trey [Songz] then yeah, I’d definitely just want to be a singer. If I could do anything, trust me, I wish I could just sit at the piano and sing.” (VIBE)
Check out some recent Ja Rule footage below:
