Fat Joe Verzuz Ja Rule

9.15.21

Fat Joe, Ja Rule Verzuz 9.14.21

Fat Joe and Ja Rule took over New York City last night for an epic Verzuz Battle. Joe was in the crowd and The Lox Verzuz Dipset battle, and was seeming to have an amazing time. Ja Rule was the perfect person to come and battle against Joey Crack. His presence has been felt at Verzuz through the Ashanti battle, reminding everyone of all the hits they had together, let alone tapping into his entire catalog. Ja and Joe each have massive hit records from the early 2000s, and have a good friendship today. Would it stand the test of hits battles? You’ll find out when you continue reading this recap.

The battle can be found on the FITE app rewatch for free. You will need just over three hours to watch the whole night, but the battles starts just around the one hour mark. Fat Joe makes fun of Ja Rule’s fashion, specifically about him wearing cardigans. Tonight, Ja opted for a black tee and denim. Joe wore a brown and orange Louis Vuitton jacket and pant set, definitely the winner of the battle when it came to the fits.

A lot of trash talk went down during the fight. Fat Joe telling Ja Rule to do some of his own songs, Ja telling Joe he had no real hits. The back and forth was outrageous, especially once Joe brought Remy Ma out as the first surprise guest. Ja continued to play on the idea of Remy carrying Joe, though he ended up bringing out Lil Mo and Vita two rounds later. Things did get a little iffy when Joe told Ja to feed the girls, insinuating that they are no longer relevant, and likely no longer wealthy. However, he made sure to double back on this later and praise the women. Fat Joe brought out Nelly in later rounds for Get It Poppin', which surely got the crowd going.

To make things even more poppin’, Ashanti made her well-expected surprise guest. She preformed two songs with Ja, and What’s Luv with Joe. Ashanti looked amazing, and sounded incredible. Her performances were fantastic, and I truly want her and Keyshia Cole to run back their Verzuz after this performance. During their time, the ladies had fun, but it was in the midst of COVID, both had gone through COVID scares, and each performed virtually, sitting on chairs. I am not sure people understand that Ashanti is STILL it, and we need to see her continue to perform in this light. She had so much fun, and was fantastic. Fat Joe gifted Ashanti and Remy Ma new Birkin bags for their performances. Between Ashanti’s all black leather dress and Remy’s yellow cheetah print puffer coat and biker shorts, the ladies may be winners of the night, for real.

The only way to end this Verzuz battle was the two praising each other, and performing New York, New York. As a final surprise guest, Jadakiss came through for his verse and shut the whole place down. This might honestly have been my favorite Verzuz to date. Below is a round by round, who I am calling the winner. Ja was heavy in the early rounds, but Joe picked up the pace quick after his brief intermission.

Round 1: Fat Joe – “Flow Joe” vs. Ja Rule featuring Jay-Z & DMX – “It’s Murda”

Ja Rule came through with some heat for round one. A for sure win.

WINNER: Ja Rule

Round 2: Fat Joe – “My Lifestyle” vs. Jay-Z featuring Ja Rule & Amil – “Can I Get A…”

WINNER: Ja Rule

Round 3: LL Cool J featuring Keith Murray, Fat Joe, Foxy Brown – “I Shot Ya Remix” vs. Jay-Z featuring Ja Rule & DMX – “Murdergram”

WINNER: Ja Rule

Round 4: Big L featuring Fat Joe – “The Enemy” vs. Ja Rule – “Holla Holla”

WINNER: Ja Rule

Round 5:  MOP featuring Remy Ma – “Ante Up Remix”/Fat Joe & Big Pun – “Twins (Deep Cover 98) vs. Ja Rule featuring Christina Millian – “Between Me & You”

WINNER: Ja Rule

Round 6: Fat Joe featuring Remy Ma – “All The Way Up” vs. Ja Rule featuring Case – “Livin’ It Up”

The first guest appearance. Remy looked amazing, and this hit was probably the biggest hit of 2017.

WINNER: Fat Joe

Round 7: Fat Joe featuring Nas, Big Pun, Jadakiss & Raekwon – “John Blaze”/Big Pun featuring Joe – “Still Not A Player” vs. Ja Rule featuring Charli Baltimore – “Down Ass Bitch”'

The dynamic crew here cannot be beat. Joe is getting into his grove now.

WINNER: Fat Joe

Round 8:  Fat Joe featuring Jeezy – “Ha Ha (Slow Down)” vs. Ja Rule featuring Lil Mo & Vita – “Put It On Me”

This was a really cool moment. The ladies looked amazing, the crowd sung word for word.

WINNER: Ja Rule

Round 9:  Fat Joe featuring Puff Daddy – “Don Cartegena” vs. Ja Rule featuring Bobby Brown – “Thug Lovin'”

WINNER: Fat Joe

Round 10: DJ Khaled featuring T-Pain, Ludacris, Fat Joe – “All I Do Is Win Remix” vs. Ja Rule – “So Much Pain”

WINNER: Fat Joe

Round 11:  Ja Rule – “The Crown”/J.Lo featuring Ja Rule – “Ain’t It Funny Remix” vs. Fat Joe, DJ Khaled, Amorphous – “Sunshine (The Light)”

WINNER: Ja Rule

Round 12: Ja Rule – “Down 4 U” vs. Fat Joe & Dre – “So Excited”

This track from Fat Joe is one of my favorites that I tend to forget about sometime.

WINNER: Fat Joe

Round 13: Ja Rule – “Destiny (Outro)” (The Last Temptation album) vs. Fat Joe, Cardi B, Anuel AA – “YES”

WINNER: Fat Joe

Round 14: Mary J Blige featuring Ja Rule – “Rainy Dayz” vs. Fat Joe featuring Chris Brown – “Another Round”

WINNER: Fat Joe

Round 15:  Ja Rule – “Clap Back” vs. Fat Joe featuring J. Holiday – “I Won’t Tell”

WINNER: Ja Rule

Round 16: Ja Rule featuring Lil Mo – “I Cry” vs. Fat Joe featuring Nelly – “Get It Poppin'”

Nelly popping out was unexpected, where the ladies was a given. I really liked this move, definitely pumped up the energy.

WINNER: Fat Joe

Round 17: Ja Rule featuring Ashanti – “Mesmerize” vs. Fat Joe featuring Ashanti & Ja Rule – “What’s Luv?”

You can not go wrong either way, with Ashanti on both tracks this round. I love both tracks, but felt her performing Mesmerize a bit more.

WINNER: Ja Rule

Round 18: Ja Rule featuring Ashanti – “Always On Time” vs. Fat Joe featuring Lil Wayne – “Make It Rain”

Fat Joe mentioned how long this song was topping charts for. This song will be screamed in the clubs, bars, anywhere it is played, for the rest of time. Always On Time is incredible, but it is just on a different level of energy that we needed to decipher in these late rounds.

WINNER: Fat Joe

Round 19: J.Lo featuring Ja Rule – “I’m Real” vs. Fat Joe featuring Remy Ma – “Lean Back”

Fun fact, Lean Back was the first track I ever downloaded onto my MP3 player. And I told Joe that when I met him once (not realizing at the time he was probably like wow I have been around a lot longer than that!). All Ja Rule/Ashanti tracks are top tier, but Lean Back is the anthem.

WINNER: Fat Joe

Round 20: Ja Rule featuring Fat Joe & Jadakiss – “New York”
WINNER: Tie

Fat Joe: 10

Ja Rule: 9