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An outlaw's route to mainstream
Rap artist Ja Rule, who headlines Bay Fest in Vinoy Park this weekend, has gone from ''threat to society'' to pop success.
By TONY GREEN
© St. Petersburg Times
published May 2, 2002
[Publicity photos]
Ja Rule
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ST. PETERSBURG -- Rap's mainstream status is old news, sure. But it doesn't hurt to be reminded of it every now and again. Take, for example, the three-day, three-stage Chrysler Jeep Bay Fest, featuring multiplatinum rap artist Ja Rule, set to kick off in St. Petersburg's Vinoy Park on Friday.
It wasn't so long ago -- a few years, in fact -- that Rule (a.k.a. Jeffrey Atkins), Jay-Z and DMX copped a threat-to-society pose on the cover of rap glossy XXL. Fast forward to the present, and there's Ja Rule again. Only this Ja Rule is sharing the Bay Fest bill with retro rockers like Journey and .38 Special, country belter Hank Williams Jr., boy band O-Town and pop-rockers Hootie and the Blowfish, Nickelback and Sugar Ray.
On one level, Ja Rule's pop-safe status represents the ultimate victory for a once-outlaw musical culture. Ten years ago, one couldn't imagine an artist who heads a label called Murder Inc. headlining a corporate-sponsored event like Bay Fest, even one as successful as Ja Rule, who claims membership in both DMX's Ruff Ryders and Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella family.
Journey
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Since debuting on Mic Geronimo's Time to Build in 1995 Ja Rule has released two top-selling albums. He has become a hype man to some of the hottest stars, lacing tracks by Jennifer "J.Lo" Lopez (I'm Real) and Jay-Z (Can I Get a . . .). He has even moved into cinema, landing a role in the hip-hop action flick The Fast and the Furious.
But crossing over has its ups and downs, says hip-hop and pop culture critic Jeff Chang. His problem with Rule isn't his pop status, just that his route has come at the expense of his identity.
"The thing about Ja is that he is moldable," said Chang, former editor at 360Hiphop who has contributed to Source, Vibe and the San Francisco Bay Guardian, among others. "The problem is, you don't really get a clear feel for where he is really coming from. He can do the hard core growl like DMX, then sing on hooks with J.Lo. He talks a lot about his street background but still has this crossover sex appeal.
"The thing is, you don't get a lot of sense of who Ja really is, or is trying to be, other than a pop star."
His pop culture power moves turn off rap stalwarts, who, despite rap's wide acceptance, still regard the mainstream music scene with an arched eyebrow.
But Rule's thug-with-a-heart image jibes perfectly with his fans, who have helped push his latest album, Pain Is Love, past the triple-platinum mark. It's this broad fan base that Bay Fest organizers looked at when they selected him for the lineup.
"One of our main goals was to create diversity in the lineup," said Chris Cantwell, Bay Fest's executive director. "We wanted to create entertainment that could hit from young to old, from all demographic groups, and Ja Rule definitely had the crossover audience that we were looking for."
Bay Fest certainly covers all the musical bases, with dozens of bands representing a full range from country to rap to teen pop to retro-rock, throwing in Battle of the Bands contests for good measure.
Cantwell's company hired West Palm Beach-based Fantasma Productions to handle the staging for this enormous event, which has never before been held in St. Petersburg.
"They are famous for being absolutely ruthless as far as getting things running smoothly," he said. "They have complete logistics crews for each stage and are total bulldogs when it comes to getting acts in and out and set up."
Often, more acts means each band gets very little time to perform. Not at Bayfest, where all the headliners will perform 60-75 minute sets, Cantwell said.
Other acts will perform shorter sets, with the competitors in WMOR-Ch. 32's Battle of the Bands playing just three songs each. The contenders are the finalists from a 150-band field, culled over a six-week selection process, in the country, alternative, bar band, girl band, rock and pop categories.
The idea that would become Bay Fest was hatched two years ago. How it wound up in St. Petersburg is a story worth hearing.
"Our company, SC Marketing and Events, was originally just into sports events," said Cantwell. "But one thing that we noticed was that the games themselves were terrific, but people really loved the parties and festivals that sprang up around them."
So, two years ago, the group started planning a music-centered event that was set to kick off in Orlando in February 2002. Everything was set to go until Sept 11.
"After that, a lot of our sponsors pulled out. They could see how the economic landscape would be affected," said Cantwell. "Then the folks at Clearwater Jeep contacted us about bringing the event to the bay area."
After considering the Ice Palace and the Raymond James parking lot, they finally "fell in love" with the Vinoy Park location.
"We felt this was the perfect place to hold it," said Cantwell. "It's the perfect spot for growth, and we can't wait for everything to get under way."
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