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Hindsight as they say, is always 20/20 and looking back at Ja Rule’s career, even the brokest guy in the room has some sort of opinion on the former Hip-Hop superstar’s fall from grace.

It would call for an entirely different discussion to dissect how 50 Cent conquered his Queens enemy on the music front but for this episode, the “Holla, Holla” rapper’s acting career has surfaced back into water cooler fodder, in the wake of the mighty return of the Fast & Furious franchise.

Grantland recently chopped it up with John Singleton, the director of the franchise’s second installment, 2 Fast 2 Furious. During the heart of the interview, he gave some relatively unknown insight on how Ja Rule and (presumably Irv Gotti) dropped the ball on being a part of a blockbuster universe.

“Ja got too big for himself. He turned it down. He turned down a half a million dollars,” Singleton revealed to Thomas Golianopoulos. “He got 15 grand to be in the first movie. He was really big at that time. I guess Murder Inc. was throwing out hits and were making money hand over foot. He was acting like he was too big to be in the sequel. He wouldn’t return calls. I went to the studio to go see him — that’s just my mantra, I deal with a lot of music people. He was kinda playing me to the side and I was like, ‘What? What is this shit?’ This was all initiated by me.”

At 23-years-of age, Singleton became the youngest person and the first African–American to ever be nominated for an Academy Award in 1991 for his directorial debut, Boyz n the Hood. He also discovered a diamond in the rough working with burgeoning rapper Ice Cube in his first acting appearance. After experiencing the star power of Hip-Hop firsthand, Singleton wasn’t about to let Ja Rule crumble his mission–no matter how big he was at the time. He made an impromptu casting choice that forever changed the franchise.

“I then made a call,” he remembered. “I called Ludacris. I said, ‘Hey, Luda, I haven’t met you before, but I like what you’re doing right now.’ Luda was all humble, excited to meet me. I said, ‘I’m doing this movie and I’m wondering if you want to be a part of it.’ He goes, ‘What? Yeah! Anything you do I want to be a part of.’ That’s how Ludacris got in 2 Fast 2 Furious, and the rest is history.”

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Ironically, history is still being made. The latest installment of the franchise, Furious 7, just became the ninth biggest box office opening of all-time with $143.6 million in its opening weekend. Still, Singleton didn’t harbor any grudges (especially since 2 Fast 2 Furious went on to gross $236.4 million). He eventually ran into Rule York down the line.

“Ja Rule not doing 2 Fast 2 Furious changed Ludacris’s life,” Singleton continued. “Years later I saw Ja Rule at the Source Awards and we joked about it. I took him under my arm and said, ‘Man, when I call you, you listen. I ain’t calling you for no bullshit.’ He said, ‘Yeah, man, I’m sorry about that.’ He apologized. I love Ja. I still think Ja has a lot of personality and can come back in a different way.”

As the Grantland interview continues to make its rounds across the Internet, Ja Rule has been updating his social media accounts as if it didn’t happen. Obviously it’s a painful reminder on how hindsight sting can never be fully healed with time.

Photo: Universal Pictures