Customer Reviews

The Last Temptation

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(24)
1 star:		(125)

 

 

When Jay-Z surfaced Ja Rule in 1999, you could tell he would be a big mainstream sucsess. This theory was proven correct on his debut album "Venni Vetti Vecci" which was pure thug rap. He then felt the need to change his style and guest performances from the likes of Jigga, to female artists including the likes of Ashanti. This was purely for commercial sucsess, because on the radio Ashanti is always going to come off really well. The 2000 album "Rule 3:36" was just bareable. "Pain Is Love" was played in my CD player once, and has been collecting dust on the rack ever since. "The Last Temptation" is the shortest yet and the worst yet.

I awarded it three stars becuase Ja Rule has done a good job on tracks like "Thug Lovin'" and "Murder Reigns". Other than that, he's really not bringing anything new to the rap scene. It is blataintly obvious that he bought this out so he could rack a few million so he could have an expensive Christmas. If you read the productional credits in the booklet, you'll see that a lot of samples were taken from tracks written by the likes of Ralph Saadiq. Ja Rule has falen to the level where he doesn't even write his own stuff.

It's quite insulting to major rap fans who spend almost all there money on rap, that Nas would put himself at such a questionable descion to perform with Ja, seeing as he is a rap legend. The use of 2Pac was a good idea, but Ja Rule has to face it: He's not 2Pac and he's not Biggie Smalls. Ashanti was also featured with these rap greats and is possibly the only female to cme off well on this album, besides Charlie Baltimore. I loo forward to her debut album "The Diary". Chink Santana and Alexi are really go nowhere rappers.

I won't be buying anything with Ja Rule on it until he stops the pop and goes back to rap. Don't spend your money on this please, but buy the new Snoop or Jay-Z albums. Ja Rule is just a commercial pop artist at the momment. And why wasn't Irv Gotti featured?

Oh no, Ja Rule wanted to do a real street sound album, but he did a real pop sound album, again! Please, it's the best time to end your career. If you wanna make a great present for christmas for the people, stop your career!

Come on dmx I mean Pac I mean Rule...

...So Im just gonna give him a star to drop this tool's ratings..."it's murda!"...and he's finally killed himself.

Ok, Ja Rule gets 1 star for being able to make so much money off such wack shiyt. Thats worth one star. The album is softer than a Hush Puppy yet Ja portrays himself as a SUPER OG x3 SUPER THUG! I would NOT recommend this CD to anyone, unless you consider Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake "hip hop". However, I must take my hat off to Ja Rule for making so much scrilla and having no musical talent whatsoever. Smart dude. I have no rapping skills either, maybe I can put out my "First Temptation" album and scream MURDA MURDA all over the tracks and sell millions! Let me get this right, Ja Rule wants ME to spend MY money, so I can listen to this garbage and make HIM rich. No way pal, I'd rather give my 15 bucks to the Salvation Army this holiday season. HOLLA HOLLA!

This new Ja Rule album is awful. He gets progressively worse with each effort-somebody PLEASE stop the madness.

Since 1999, Ja Rule has gone from hardcore gangsta rap ("Venni Vetti Vecci") to mild pop ("Rule 3:36") to complete pop ("Pain Is Love") and now to an unknown kind of rap/pop style that will probably lose way more fans than gain. "The Last Temptation" is Ja Rule's supposed 2nd to last album before retiring from music to persue his movie career. (Did you ever see "Half Past Dead"?, that should tell you how his movie career is going). Like me, most of the people buying "Last Temptation" thought it would be another all out pop record, nothing but songs like "Always On Time" and "I'm Real (Remix)" but we were wrong. To let you know as much as possible, i have rated each track:

"Thug Lovin'" (featuring Bobby Brown) - This song was a real suprise for me. I never thought Bobby Brown would appear on a Ja Rule album. But for the most part, Ja delivers some of his better raps and Bobby adds some more flare to it to make an otherwise pop song a more hip-hop/pop song.

"Mesmorize" (featuring Ashanti) - Of course, an Ashanti track was necessary for the album, wasn't it Ja? Well, at last you did an alright job, for me, this song was better than "Always On Time" which also featured Ashanti. This is a sexed up duet that actually makes you want to dance. My style rating for it is POP.

"Pop N****s" - When i saw the title i knew Ja was trying to do a really gangsta rap song, when i turned it on i also thought that. Until that undeniable Neptunes beat that makes it an instant POP record. This was actually, to me, a pretty good track. Instead of reflecting Ja being totally gangsta (which hasn't happened since "Venni Vetti Vecci") or totally pop, this song reflected Ja being rap/pop again.

"The Pledge-Remix" (featuring Ashanti, Nas, and 2Pac) - First off, this is not a gangsta song. It's another IG produced pop single that is supposed to come off a little bit more edgier than it is. Truth is, the original "Pledge" was actually a pretty edgy, gangsta type of song, considering it had Cadallac Tah to back it up. This time its Ja and his friends. Ashanti, who for all i care, should not have been on this track. This isn't the first time Murder Inc. has put her in a bad place, remember "The Inc." from Ja's Pain Is Love album, that was another mistake. Nas, who raps better than on some of the songs we've heard from him lately, still doesn't appeal to me. Since the Jay-Z beef, i can't seem to dig any Nas or Jay-Z songs that much. 2Pac, who isn't in the song but for 5 seconds near the end, should not have been placed here. If Pac were still alive, i doubt very much he would have done a track with Murder Inc., and espicially with Nas. Overall, my first disappointment of the album.

"Murder Reigns" - Probably the most annoying chorus that a song ever had, plus the fact that every time i listen to it i have to dig out my Toto records and play "Africa" to remember that it was a good song before Ja got a hold of it. Ja raps OK, but that doesn't make up for the annoying chorus and the sample of Toto's "Africa". Style rating is rap/pop.

"Last Temptation" (featuring Charli Baltimore) - My thought is that Charli should replace Ashanti on the Pledge-Remix. This song, which is another Toto cover ("Funky Sensation"), is actually pretty good. The party like beat along with some of Ja's better raps and Charli's raps make it a pretty hot song. Style is pop.

"Murder Me" (featuring Cadallac Tah & Alexi) - Probably the slowest song on the album, including Alexi's vocals, i think its a huge disappointment. Ja doesn't rap worthy enough to please me and Tah's raps still don't make up for an unforgiveable slow song. This is a pop song for sure, just get ready to hit that track SKIP button a couple times.

"The Warning" - Another gangsta attempt that comes off half gangsta and half wanksta. Just SKIP it, it's not worth wasting your or anyone's time, a huge disapointment. I don't even know what to define it as.

"Connected" (featuring Crooked T) - Another worthless gangsta attempt, these are the kinds of songs that are ending your career Ja. Why do you continue to make such awful songs?

"Emerica" (featuring... Santana) - Three in a row, another worthless peace of garbage track that is defintely worthy of the SKIP TRACK button.

"Rock Star" - Ok, not a... gangsta rap song, but even worse, a [bad] rap/rock song. Ja, you are not a Rock Star as you say in this song. You are a pop star, pure pop all the way. If you wanna laugh out loud at Ja's attempt to rock out, then listen. If you don't feel like wasting anymore of your time, SKIP.

"Destiny (Outro)" - It took me awhile to decide i really wanted to keep listening to the cd after tracks 7-12 made me sick, but i listened to this brief outro rap and was pleasently suprised. It was definitely a good beat. (Neptunes, of course) and was definitely some good raps from Ja. A very addictive beat for sure. Anyway, it was a good rap/pop song.

That's it for my review, i hope you now can make your decision on buying the album or not. Keep a look out for Charli Baltimore's album "Diary" and Cadallac Tah's debut album, they will both be out soon.

first let me just say. For all the other reviews that says this is actually hip-hop? you all need to do your homework on actual real hip-hop music. Second of all he is not a rapper and do not dare call him an MC. He is a pop star, and with no idea of real hip-hop is. Grand Wizard Theodore, Kool D.J. Herc, Afrika Bam., Mos def, Jurassic 5, etc. would even tell you guys straight up how he puts out wack stuff just trying to push some stupid sells.
How dare he have the dignity to make us listen to that GARBAGE?
NO SKILLS WHATS SO EVER. for anyone who likes this wack bastard, please listen to de la soul, common, talib kweli, the roots, jurrasic 5, tribe called quest, run dmc, etc. to understand what hip-hop culture really is. KRS-one straight would tell you this is not hip-hop. SO JUST PLEASE STOP!

Words can't describe how horrible this album is. I bought it thinking it would be like one of Pac's CD's, but I was wrong. Ja does not even come close. Don't get me wrong, I liked Ja's first CD, but that's about it. The only good song on here is the Pledge with Nas. One song out of an entire album? Save yor money for Nas's Godson or the Snoop album.

I wish people would stop calling Ja Rule a wannabe Tupac because that is an insult to Tupac. Their names shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence. What happened to Ja? He's fallen a long way since "Holla Holla." Every single he releases now is a collaboration with some female singing about relationships. Does Ja think his fan base is stupid? Does he think no one will notice that he is just remanufacturing the same song over and over. Ja should just release an R&B album where he is singing on every track because you know that's all he wants to do. You can put Ja Rule in the same category as LL: former hard rappers who lost their street cred by trying to pass pop records off as hip-hop. ...