Ja Rule

Name at birth: Jeffrey Atkins

Ja Rule's 1999 solo debut album, Venni, Vetti, Vecci, launched the hit single "Holla Holla" and made the 23-year-old a hot new icon of "thug rap" style. Born Jeffrey Atkins, he grew up in the tough, drug-riddled Hollis neighborhood of Queens, dropped out of high school and began building a music career under the nom de rhyme Ja Rule. His second album, Rule 3:36 (2000), included the hit duets "Between Me and You" (with Christina Milian) and "I Cry" (with Lil' Mo); Pain Is Love (2001) included the hit "Always on Time," a duet with his protege Ashanti. As Ja Rule racked up hit after hit, he became the poster artist for Murder, Inc., the music label overseen by controversial producer Irv Gotti. (Murder, Inc., a sub-label of DefJam Records, was later renamed as simply "Inc.") Ja Rule also stayed in the news thanks to his violent verbal feuds with rappers DMX and 50 Cent. In 2003 Ja Rule released his fourth album, Pain is Love. Onscreen he has appeared with Vin Diesel in the summer hotrod flick The Fast and the Furious (2001) and with action star Steven Seagal in Half Past Dead (2002).