Nobody in their right mind could have predicted 20 years ago that not only would the Fast & Furious franchise still be ongoing, but it would be one of the highest-grossing properties in the history of cinema having banked upwards of $7 billion. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20 for a reason, but Ja Rule claims he has no regrets in turning down a key role in the series.
The rapper, actor, and key player in the infamous Fyre Festival scandal revealed in an interview with Insider that he was offered a major part in 2 Fast 2 Furious, but he turned it down because he didn’t feel signing on for the street racing sequel was a worthwhile financial investment on account of the money he was making on tour.
“Everybody has become the Monday morning quarterback: ‘He missed out on doing 10 Fast & Furious movies. That’s okay. I’m fine with that. 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.”
The part of Tej eventually went to Ludacris, who has been a key component of The Fast Saga for two decades and counting, whereas Ja Rule hasn’t released a studio album in over a decade after failing to sustain his early-to-mid 2000s fame in the long run. Even at that, he remains adamant he made the right call.
“I was probably the biggest artist in the rap game. 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? But even still, I would’ve had to do 10 movies to make that kind of money, or at least eight.”
Ja Rule’s loss proved to be Ludacris’ gain in a major way to undersell it somewhat, with at least one more Fast & Furious blockbuster still to come, and the promises of even more spin-offs beyond that.
