Ja Rule is reflecting on the early days of his career and admitting there are plenty of financial lessons he wishes he had learned sooner.
The New York rapper built a catalog full of timeless hits and remained a staple in Hip-Hop despite the highs and lows of his career. During a recent interview, Ja looked back on his 2011 legal troubles, explaining that his lack of financial knowledge ultimately led to his prison sentence.
His story serves as a reminder that success and money don’t always come with financial literacy.
“I did my state time for the gun charge, and then as soon as I got released, the feds came and got me for failure to file taxes. I was doing some crazy sh*t. I didn’t understand money at the time.”
Ja went on to explain that he mistakenly believed cash payments from performances didn’t have to be reported to the IRS.
“I would do sh*t like, ‘Yo, you’re giving me $250,000 for the show. Bet. Give me $50,000 in cash and send the other $200,000 to the sh*t.’ In my mind, that 50 is free cash. I don’t know why I thought that. I just thought if you gave it to me in cash, it ain’t on the books. And so I did that to the tune of $3 million f*cking dollars.”
Looking back, Ja Rule says the experience taught him valuable lessons, he’s since moved forward with a much better understanding of how to manage his finances.
