Verzuz Presents: Fat Joe vs Ja Rule 9/14 @ 9PM ET

[Controversy]

Joe has a lot of hits but they didn't resonate with the crowd the way Rule's did

Rule owned his sh*t...he had a good 6 yr run, he was a singing nikka, etc...

 

[Ironman]

in general, I think it was a decent match up, if joe had played it right, could've been an almost even match up.

Joe tried his hardest to be Kiss...but sorry joe, you aren't kiss! Nowhere near the same mic presence or charisma.

You're best when you just telling stories about your life in hip-hop.

It would've been better if there was less shyt talking and more story telling. I was lowkey hoping we'd get some studio stories for tracks...John Blaze, twinz, etc

same with ja, stories about his tracks

Joe coming out too aggressive was the problem it's one thing if Ja also did but he was chill. Agreed a more relaxed story telling vibe would've been dope and Joes songs would have gone over better with the ladies in the crowd. My man came outThem Dusty bytches in the back Your clothes are trash

 

[Deltron]

Unless you're completely bias the only conclusion to draw is that Joe lost. It is what it is. I also thought it was a good match up. Joe was just set on playing his hard hitting street shyt early. And I love those records. But the crowd really wasn't there for that, so he should've pivoted to his more radio friendly shyt earlier. Now just because Joe lost last night doesn't mean Ja songs were better. In front of a different crowd it would've been a different story. Joe is right to apologize to the ladies he insulted. He got a little to aggressive last night. Ashanti and Remy looked good. That song Remy debuted wasn't hitting.

yeah

I'm surprised he ain't try to counter the Ja Rule J-Lo records with the ones he did with her...that would've been something that could've swayed the crowd.

 

[M4T]

Nelly be on some smooth lush shyt

He sounded horrible tho , like how many blunts did he smoke geez.

 

[LevelUp]

Ja rule washed Joe.

 

[Playaz Eyez]

What we learned last night (or were reminded of) was Ja Rule actually had an era and had tons of timeless type singles that’ll always resonate (whether you liked them or not). Fat Joe has hits, and has managed to stay relevant due to the Khaled association and dropping a buzzing banger here and there over the years, but doesn’t have hits that hit like Ja did. There was no Fat Joe era. Also with this particular matchup, it was straight up about the hits, not deep obscure album cuts or radio freestyles like some previous matchups. Fat Joe kinda played himself in that regards. Has anyone looked at a list of Fat Joe singles and features compared to Ja? That list looks

 

[Metal Face]

This was sum mid

Joe played more songs I cared about though

 

[BlueHeffner]

I really think she has some type of legal order against him or something. Only reason he wasn’t in the building was because it was more important Ashanti show up. Definitely an either or situation.

Why couldnt both irv and Ashanti be there?

 

[nieman]

Not saying Jada invented it but in a verzuz setting it's obvious Joe was trying to recreate that feeling with the shyt talk and the tracks he chose but unlike Jada Joe ain't got the charisma and completely read the crowd wrong as well as overestimate the effect his tracks would have on the audience. After Ja Rule started playing his shyt and was getting those reactions joe should of switched strategies. He wanted to look like Kiss but ended up looking like dipset.

He should've switched strategies, however he didn't do anything different from what he always does. He performed the way he always performs, even the ish talkin. He hypes up his tracks, says no one can do it like him etc...hell, he does the same on his albums. It just didn't work for that crowd...a crowd which it never would've worked for to begin with. It was mostly women, and maybe a younger crowd. Hell, Lox vs Dip Set turns out different with that crowd.

 

[Stone]

The thing is Fat Joe and Ja Rule are both artists that are mostly known for hits, not necessarily album cuts.

And Ja is gonna win that every time

 

[Rapmastermind]

Pretty good show. Nice guest features. Ja Rule released 6 straight Albums from 99-04 with nothing but Hit Records. Even after the whole 50 drama he had "Wonderful" and "New York" so he still dropping heat. I'll give it to Ja. Joe selections weren't too bad I just think Ja really focused to make sure it highlighted his career. Joe has a longer catalog overall but it's about the songs you choose in this format. Also Ja's track list literally sounded like a Greatest Hits. Another issue was Joe's biggest Solo hit was "What's Luv" ("Lean Back" was bigger but that was a group song"). That's basically a Ja and Ashanti song. I expect his streaming numbers to do well after this. Also this shows that Ja's catalog has aged pretty well. Ja and Ashanti should consider doing a Joint Album. I think that could work.

 

[Stone]

He did destroy ja with help of Eminem and the biggest label at the time. With that being said ja's music aged better than em and 50s

Not really, Em and 50 just lived long enough to become the villain while Ja’s whole existence got ended.

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

in general, I think it was a decent match up, if joe had played it right, could've been an almost even match up.

Joe tried his hardest to be Kiss...but sorry joe, you aren't kiss! Nowhere near the same mic presence or charisma.

You're best when you just telling stories about your life in hip-hop.

It would've been better if there was less shyt talking and more story telling. I was lowkey hoping we'd get some studio stories for tracks...John Blaze, twinz, etc

same with ja, stories about his tracks

The stories were great in verzuz, but viewers and clearly Joe/ja got gassed off lox/dipset and everyone pretended that was going to be/should be the same energy moving forward. No, that worked for them. I told people the audiences will be different for different artists - the reason I have no clue why people think busta will wash missy, a crowd like that that’s full of lots of women ain’t gonna give busts brownie points for being more hip hop.

Every pairing needs to create an atmosphere that works for them. That’s part of the reason it turned this off, we know they are good friends, the big shyt talking doesn’t come natural from them when shared stories woulda hit better - it was too much acting

 

[nieman]

The crazy thing is Ja's songs didn't even sound good either, but they were still bigger. He hit more with nostalgia. Put it On Me was probably the best performance/song that still sounded somewhat good. I'm Real without JLo was ehhhh...matter of fact, all of his JLo songs. Between Me & You was ehhh. Thug Lovin was trash. A Lot of Joe hit's weren't much better tho

Thinking back, I think Joe did change his strategies though. He didn't play Sh!t is Real...which is something he always performs. And it was actually closer than you would believe..more like 11-8 (12-9 if you count NY)

 

[BlueHeffner]

You know Nelly was in her messages after this was over