It's 2018 But It Sounds Like We're Getting A Ja Rule And Ashanti Album

ET- All these years later, Ashantiand Ja Rule are still making sweet music together. The duo behind “Always on Time” (2001) are gearing up to create a collaborative full-length album, the singer confirms to ET. “Listen, me and Rule, it’s so funny because we’ve been talking about that for so long, but I think now he’s like, ‘OK, now it’s time to do it,'” she told ET’s Nischelle Turner at the BET Awards on Sunday. “So we’re going to carve out the time and make it happen.” Ja Rule set the speculation in motion after tweeting a response to JAY-Z and Beyonce’s surprise Everything Is Love album, tagging Ashanti and writing: “I think we should do one of these joint albums.”   The duo recently got together in the studio for The Hamilton Mixtape, joining forces on the song “Helpless.” In an interview for ET’s Interviews Under the Influence series in November, Ashanti revealed that the characters of Eliza and Hamilton were actually inspired by her relationship with Ja Rule.

Wait what? What year is it? I will say though, I was a Ja Rule fan once upon a time. This was before My President Curtis Jackson and his mighty band G-Unit members burst onto the scene and killed Ja dead. This was the late 90s/early early 2000s. I really liked the idea of Murda Inc Records. They were the first hip hop “group” I gravitated towards. Ja, Irv Gotti, Ashanti, Lil Mo and Charli Baltimore. I would come to find out later that they were a bunch of frauds but Ja Rule made the perfect type of music for a kid my age.

I was about to be flooded with hormones and ‘Holla Holla’ was my favorite song (I couldn’t get enough of watching Ja run beside a bouncing car)

And how about ‘Put It On Me’

And ‘Between Me & You’

These songs were HUGE. For awhile Pain Is Love was my favorite album. But then of course 50 Cent showed up in 2003, dropped Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ and it was a WRAP for Murda Inc Records.

However, I’m not so blinded by my love of 50 Cent that I can’t see the bangers Ja and Ashanti made over the years.

Mesmerize? Banger.

Always On Time? Banger.

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Wonderful? Banger.

So there’s still hope this album can be a banger. It should be noted that the last of those songs came out in 2004. So it’s been a hot minute since Ja and Ashanti did anything. Although they did perform at the Barstool Sports Super Bowl party recently and that’s a huge gig. It’s still gonna be tough for them to reclaim the magic from the early 200s but I’m all for watching them try. And I’m guessing My President will have some thoughts so I’m excited for that.