Ja Rule: hip-hop star tells

* Why Rapping Is Tougher Than It Looks

* How Playing By His Own Rules Has Made Him Famous

* The Reason He Had To Settle Down.

Sensitive thug are words hip-hop star Ja Rule says people often use to describe him. It's safe to say that those words best suit the 5-foot-6 performer who isn't afraid to let the world hear his rugged "shower singing" as his emotions flow in delivering a rap.

Being Ja Rule is a full-time job, the popular performer says, and being in a profession like rapping requires even more effort. He isn't afraid to step outside of the hip-hop field to write a pop song for say Jennifer Lopez or Enrique Iglesias. He isn't afraid to let people know that he is a husband and father of two. And he isn't afraid to show that he has feelings while standing his ground in a music genre most noted for its "bad boys."

Recently Ja Rule talked to JET about why rapping is tougher than it looks, how playing by his own rules has made him famous and the reason he had to settle down.

"I heard somebody tell me that what I do is easy," Ja Rule tells JET as if insinuating that the guy who made the comment doesn't have a clue. "That kind of made me laugh knowing how hard that I work. It's definitely a hard job. The flash is all people see. It's 10 percent show and 90 percent business. I only get to do what I enjoy for a minute."

Working hard for Ja Rule means not seeing his wife, Aisha, or their two children, Britney, 6, and Jeffrey Jr., 20 months old ("Lil' Rule"), for weeks at a time. He was in the home stretch of a 12-city Pain Is Love promo tour, at JET press time, and was looking forward to the following week of vacation.

"She's going to meet me in the airport," Ja Rule says, his deep voice expressing delight at the thought of seeing his wife. "We're going to leave from the airport and take a plane to Puerto Rico. It's real crazy. I haven't seen my son and daughter in a while, but I speak to them on the telephone every day. But I'm working and I'm on the road. This is what it takes to be married to Ja Rule. It's tough on my wife, but we get it. We make it. We take our time outs too."

The son of Debra Atkins, a single mother who worked in health care and reared her only child as a Jehovah's Witness, Ja Rule grew up knowing that he wanted to be somebody well seen. He began by crafting a stage name. He took the first initials of his birth name, Jeffrey Atkins, to create Ja. Observing that the Rastafari word for God is Jah, he came up with Ja Rule, which he says means that he is God's rule.

The Hollis, Queens, native was hungry and ready for stardom when he signed to DefJam Records in 1998 after a previous record deal went sour.

That same year fans were introduced to his talents when he wrote the hook and performed on the song Can I Get A ..., which featured Jay-Z and Amil. The following year his debut solo album, Venni Vetti Vecci, was released. It sold one million copies and featured the song Holla Holla.

Rap fans liked him, but a good majority considered him to be a DMX and Tupac clone because of his similar bottomless voice, aggressive rap delivery and even clean-shaven head.

Ja Rule wasn't having that. So he headed back into the studio. This time he would play by his own rules.

On his sophomore album, Rule 3:36, Ja Rule decided to do something no rapper would dare to do. He decided to sing. He would sing emotional rap duets. He even changed his look.

"I let my hair grow out when that album came out. I got tired of people saying I was trying to be like this one or that one," Ja Rule points out. "That's how that whole [singing] style came forward. I wanted to do something on the next album so that people wouldn't compare me. I call it hip-hop soul. I'm like every normal person who wants to sing, but can't sing. I harmonize and do my own way of singing. I can't sing. It's just something I developed on my records.

"People are saying that I'm showing my sensitive side. I'm not afraid. I'm not scared to pour my emotions out on records. A lot of rappers are afraid to touch on more sensitive subjects when they are making records because they have these images to uphold. I'm not about imagery. I'm me. I enjoy being me and that's why I make records like that."

Between Me and You (featuring Christina Milian), Put It On Me (featuring Vita) and I Cry (featuring Lil' Mo) were some of the tunes he penned which transformed him into an overnight success across the board.

Just before the release of his third album, Pain Is Love, Ja Rule pulled off his most stunning play. He penned an entire song, I'm Real, for the sexy Latin superstar singer-actress Jennifer Lopez. Then they teamed up for her follow-up song Ain't It Funny.

Since that time, artists have been clamoring like crazy to have Ja Rule write a song for them. More recently he wrote Rainy Dayz, a duet he performs with the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul Mary J. Blige. At JET press time he was headed to Florida to work on the song Turn Off The Lights for Latin music heartthrob Enrique Iglesias.