Ja Rule says he has no regrets about turning down a lead role in '2 Fast 2 Furious,' despite the franchise since raking in $7 billion: 'I was the biggest artist in the rap game'
Getty/Aaron J. Thornton
- Ja Rule told Insider he has no regrets about walking away from the "Fast & Furious" franchise.
- The rapper had a small role in the first movie in 2001 but turned down $500,000 for the 2003 sequel.
- Ja said he turned down the money because he could make nearly $15 million touring.
Ja Rule has no regrets about walking away from the "Fast & Furious" franchise, despite its enormous success.
The "Always On Time" rapper made a brief appearance as Edwin in the franchise's first movie, "The Fast and the Furious" in 2001, but he turned down an offer of $500,000 to return in a lead role in "2 Fast 2 Furious."
John Singleton, the director of the second installment, said in 2015 that Ja felt he was "too big" for the role.
After Ja's rejection, Singleton turned to fellow rapper Ludacris, who stepped in to play a new character named Tej Parker.
Luda has now starred in seven of the franchise's 11 films (if you count "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw"), which have grossed over $7 billion worldwide.
"I don't at all," Ja responded when Insider asked if he regrets his decision in hindsight.
"Everybody has become the Monday morning quarterback: 'He missed out on doing 10 'Fast & Furious' movies,'" said Ja, who last year launched his VIBES Concert Series, which sees iconic artists perform their classic albums with a live band while telling the stories behind the music.
"That's okay. I'm fine with that," he added.
"I'm Ja Rule, the amazing artist that has had an amazing career, an amazing songwriter. That's who I am. That's who people see me as. That's who I want to be revered as."
Getty/J. P. Aussenard; Universal
Explaining his decision to reject Singleton's offer, Ja said it was both the absence of Vin Diesel, who also snubbed the film to instead star in "The Chronicles of Riddick," and the money.
"I was probably the biggest artist in the rap game," he said. "I'll propose this to you: I'm John Singleton. I'm gonna offer you $500,000 to shoot a movie for three months. Or I'm going on a tour and I'm gonna make close to $15 million in the span of less than two months. Well, what you doing?"
"Who knew that there was going to be 10 of them?" he added. "But even still, I would've had to do 10 movies to make that kind of money, or at least eight."