Ja Rule says he turned to drug dealing when he was 16 to help support his mother who was a drug addict at the time.
“She couldn’t really lean on any family for financial help. At that moment, I knew that I was willing to do whatever I had to do to help. What I seen at first as a success was drug dealers. They had cars, they had money, they had women, and I was like, ‘Alright, I’m in.'” At that time, Ja was about 16 years old,” the rapper explained.
“The music was always there. I dropped out in the 11th grade, I said, ‘I could make a G a week, I’m cool.”
Ja reportedly said he received a $50K advance for his first record deal and that he spent $40K on a registered nurse to look after his mother.
“I went to tell my mother that I had the deal and she told me she was diagnosed with cancer, the same day,” said Ja. “We don’t give up on our family, we fight the fight.”
