Only die-hard Fast & Furious fans may remember that Ja Rule played a substantive role as Edwin in the original 2001 film. His character unfortunately didn’t reappear in 2 Fast 2 Furious or any of the various sequels that followed it. However, things could’ve been different if the Grammy nominee had stayed on for the sequels. The rapper’s character could’ve played a much bigger role, though he was ultimately replaced by franchise staple Tej Parker, who’s played by Ludacris. Almost two decades later, the rapper is explaining why he turned down the opportunity and revealed whether or not he regrets it.
The chart-topping musical artist spoke about missing out on his chance to continue with the decades-long racing franchise while chatting with Insider. Ja Rule — whose actual name is Jeffrey Atkins. was offered the chance to be a lead role in the 2003 sequel alongside Paul Walker and Tyrese. At the same time, he was dominating the music charts with hits like “Always on Time” and “Livin’ It Up.” During the recent interview, he discussed how money played a role in his decision to choose music over the blockbuster franchise:
I was probably the biggest artist in the rap game. I’ll propose this to you: I’m John Singleton. I’m gonna offer you $500,000 to shoot a movie for three months. Or I’m going on a tour and I’m gonna make close to $15 million in the span of less than two months. Well, what you doing? Who knew that there was going to be 10 of them? But even still, I would’ve had to do 10 movies to make that kind of money, or at least eight.