Ja Rule sounds like the meanest rapper in da hood, possessing a husky rasp that screams don’t fuck with me. “It’s all about sex, money and murdah”, he exclaims on ‘N***s & B*****s’, which is likely to have been christened with a more politically correct title so it can be sold at K-Mart.
Blood in My Eye is a pretty standard stew of tourette’s syndrome induced rap. Boasting the kind of cartoon cover art that Snoop Doggy Dog turned into a trademark, there is little on offer to drag it out of the predictable gangsta ghetto. It’s a case of grit without wit and boring beats without the groove. As hip-hop and r n’ b pushes forward to embrace the sonic cornucopia of pop, Ja Rule retreats into the tough guy corner we’ve all been boxed into before.