Ja Rule could be the man right now — no tax issues, no career ended by 50 Cent. The former Murder INC rapper appeared in the first Fast and Furious film in a bit part that earned him a cool $15,000, 2 Fast 2 Furious director John Singleton told Grantland.
However, when approached to appear in a starring role in the sequel, Ja Rule turned it down.
“I just felt it wasn’t the best move for me as far as what I want to do in Hollywood right now,” he told MTV at the time, in September 2002. “I’m really trying to do this acting thing very seriously. And, you know, sometimes every move is not the right move.”
Unbelievable right?
When Ja Rule turned down the $500,000 offer to star in 2 Fast, Singleton revealed to Grantland that they called up Ludacris instead.
The rest is millions of dollars in movies sales and a franchise that has changed the careers of everyone involved. Ludacris went on to star as Tej in 2 Fast as well as Fast & Furious, Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7.
Furious 7 just hit theaters and was Universal Pictures International’s highest-grossing Thursday ever with a whopping $25.5 million earned at the box office, according to Deadline.
Ja Rule’s most recent studio album, Pain Is Love 2, was released in 2012 and peaked at 21 on the Billboard charts.
