Rapper 'rules' with street rhetoric

It's ironic Ja Rule and Louis Farrakhan's interview based on the overblown battle between Ja and 50 Cent aired on MTV the same week Blood in My Eye dropped, since Ja's main direction is assaulting back at hip hop's hottest act, 50 Cent.\nJa wants his street rep back. R & B vocals from Ashanti and Lil' Mo are gone, focusing all eyes on Ja's street rhetoric. \nIt's refreshing to see Ja back in the form that made him one of Def Jam's premier artists. Ja spits for the fellas again, dissing Shady/Aftermath and proclaiming "my new best friend is my pistol." Def Jam has the hottest team of producers in hip hop, meaning even if you aren't feeling Ja's delivery, which is at times faulty, songs like "Things Gon' Change" will at least put a pulse in your spine. \nStill, Blood in My Eye lacks any real party jams, which may be the point, since Ja is seemingly trying to peel from being a pop icon. The album closes with two freestyles from Ja and Hussein. Freestyling on a produced album isn't exactly impressive since chances are it's been rehearsed, recorded and engineered a dozen times, but it's just another attempt to get Ja some lost credibility. Generously, he's halfway back.