Ja Rule Digs Into Hard Work Life

The success of last year’s Hard Knock Life tour was a breakthrough for live hip-hop after a decade when rap acts had a hard time being booked in arenas, even as part of a package show. It opened the door for a wave of arena rap tours, including the Cash Money Millionaires-headlined Jingle Ballers Jam.

One thing Hard Knock and Jingle Ballers had in common is Ja Rule, who performed as part of Jay-Z’s show-closing set on the former and has his own spot on the latter. Rule will be rapping in a smaller venue Thursday when he makes a headlining appearance at the Los Angeles finals of Kool Mixx, a national competition for up-and-coming DJs.

Not that the rapper--who got his big break by appearing on Jay-Z’s “Can I Get a . . . “ single in 1998--minds staying busy. The New York-based performer has been putting in a lot of time in Los Angeles, where he recorded his second album, 2000’s “Rule 3:36.” The collection is much more lively and optimistic than his debut album, 1999’s bleak but powerful “Venni Vetti Vecci.”

“I was in a different atmosphere when I recorded my second album because I was in L.A.,” he says. “It was bright and sunny every day. I was in a good environment, and it helped me make a brighter record.”

The album’s first single, the playful “Between Me and You,” was one of the most played songs on urban radio, and the album has now sold more than 1.4 million copies.

But Rule hasn’t focused on Southern California just for the weather. Like several other rappers, he has his eye on the movies. His performance as a thug in last summer’s rap-themed drama “Turn It Up” earned critical acclaim, even though the film was a box office bust. He was also one of the most energetic stars of “Backstage,” a documentary on the Hard Knock Life tour that also arrived in theaters during the summer.

A role as a Manhattan street racer in the upcoming “Fast and the Furious” and a spot opposite Denzel Washington in the cop drama “Training Day” are the next steps for Rule. At this point, he hasn’t had roles that stray too far from his street image, but that doesn’t bother him.

“It’s funny how people always say that you get used in the business,” he says. “But my thinking is that if nobody can use you, then you’re useless. You want to be useful.”

Rule also co-directed the video for “Put It on Me,” the second single from “Rule 3:36.” The project, which shows the rapper writing and speaking to his girlfriend from jail, is a stark contrast to the video for “Between Me and You,” which showed a man being pursued by several women.

“I wanted to do something different from a video where I’m just getting the girl, which is what everybody is used to seeing me in,” Rule says of the clip for “Put It on Me.” “I wanted to hit home with this one because it’s a real-life situation.”

Rule, who is also a member of the group the Murderers, hopes to release his third album by the end of May. He will be recording “Furious,” the first single for the “Fast and the Furious” soundtrack, and is also solidifying a deal for his own MI2 Records, an offshoot of Murder Inc. Records, the Def Jam Recordings subsidiary for which he records.

Even though he has plenty on his plate, Rule is happy to be enjoying success in both music and film.

“I think people are starting to feel my various forms of expression,” he says. “I want to better myself. I call it the [Michael] Jordan theory. I think he was one of the best self-motivators ever. Even when he was on the top of his game, he found a way to get better. I want to elevate and step up my game.”

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* Ja Rule appears at Kool Mixx with DJ Dayvers, DJ Yeroc, Still Will and DJ Topic, Thursday at Cub Soho, 333 S. Boylston St., L.A., 10 p.m. Free. (213) 989-7979.