''I Sold Plenty of Records Doing That''
1:30PM ET February 29th, 2012
Contributor : Rayna Dean
A Rocky Williform Company

Rapper Ja Rule may be sitting in a jail cell right now, but there was a time when he was one of the biggest names in the game. And with his success came detractors--most notably 50 Cent--and their favorite criticism of Ja back then was his tendency to 'sing' on his hits. In a recent interview, Ja shared his opinion on the current wave of singing rappers and whether or not he had a role in making it more acceptable for rhymers to do a little crooning.

"I mean, I love it. I love to hear the melodies in the records. Music is music. I think people get that twisted. ‘Ah this is Hip Hop’ or ‘This is rock’ or ‘This is R&B,'" he says. "Hip Hop is the only form of music that can mess with all of those sounds and make for good music.”

“So when I hear it in the music, I smile. I love to hear it, I love to listen to Drake, I love Kanye - all of these artists who make good music, because that’s what it’s all about," he said. "It’s not about putting on a break beat and rhyming over it. That’s where it started, but things elevate, things change. I think I kind of was in that zone. I wouldn’t say I was ahead of my time, because I sold plenty of records doing that.”