Ja Rule reflects on aging, family and hip hop history during Tel Aviv visit

Ja Rule headlined Hangar 11 in Tel Aviv on Thursday night, capping a visit to Israel last week in which the 50-year-old rapper spoke candidly about growing older, his legacy, and his memories of hip hop's most turbulent era.

Fresh off a flight he said he spent binge-watching Marvel series and running through a Batman marathon, the rapper arrived for an interview bundled in a hat and dark sunglasses, though his broad smile remained unmistakable. He said the decision to travel to the region at a tense moment came down to community. "I came to celebrate and enjoy myself," he explained, noting he first checked with friends who have ties to Israel. "I asked them, 'Is it okay to come here? Is everything alright?' And they said, 'Yeah, absolutely.' And here we are."

On stage, he said, his aim is to give audiences "what I call an emotional rollercoaster," promising: "we're going to dance, and we might even shed a few tears."

Much of his reflection centered on his granddaughter, Bella, who had just turned six months old. He admitted he had walked back the idea that she call him "Big Poppa" in a nod to the Notorious B.I.G. "I'm 50 now, so it really doesn't matter to me what Bella decides to call me," he said, adding that Grandpa, Gramps or any funny name she comes up with would be fine.

Grandfatherhood has pushed him to reconsider his workload. He recalled being constantly on the move when his own children were small and said he is unsure whether Bella will ever see him perform. "By the time she's old enough, I'll likely be in my 60s," he said. "I'm not certain if I'll keep working as hard as I do now, even at 50. Then again, you never know."

His thinking about slowing down was upended at the funeral of music industry titan Clive Davis. Speakers described Davis as stubborn and determined, still discussing releasing music weeks before his death, and Alicia Keys recalled that at 67, after being let go from his job, Davis started over and discovered her, Mario and other artists. "At that moment, I realized I wasn't done yet," Ja Rule said.

He also revisited the East Coast-West Coast feud, recalling that he was in the room at a music video shoot when Biggie first heard Tupac Shakur's diss track "Hit 'Em Up," brought in by Lil' Cease. "It was personal," he said, describing Biggie as "a very sensitive person." With recent landmark convictions reviving the Tupac murder case, he said he hopes Biggie's killing will also be solved: "I really hope so. Yes, I really hope so."

At Hangar 11, arriving just hours after final vote counts concluded in the 2026 elections, the crowd came with one goal: to dance and escape. Despite a long delay stretched out by numerous opening acts, Ja Rule delivered an energetic set built on short snippets of his catalog and tributes to his formative '90s influences, pausing occasionally to ask, "Tel Aviv, what's happening?" The night dissolved into what felt like rare, unfeigned euphoria, a collective release before the audience landed back on the ground of reality.