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Classic New York hip-hop was the soundtrack at the Resorts World Casino New York City on Saturday (Dec. 13), where Ja Rule and Fat Joe took the stage to perform hits from their respective catalog of hits.
Ja, who was also shooting for his forthcoming MTV reality series, ‘Follow the Rules,’ took the stage with his friends and family in tow. He kicked off his set with a prayer before jumping right into his 2001 duet with Jennifer Lopez, ‘I’m Real.’
The Hollis, Queens, N.Y. native was happy to be back home as he kept the throwbacks coming, performing hits like ‘Holla Holla,’ ‘Between Me and You’ and ‘Always on Time.’ In lieu of the crowd’s excitement, towards the end of his 30-minute set, the former Murda Inc. frontman took time out to acknowledge the nationwide protests in the wake of the deaths of Eric Garner and Mike Brown.
“It’s not just a black thing, it’s not just a white thing, it’s a human thing,” Ja Rule told the audience. “But it’s about us right now, because black lives matter.”
He closed his set with his verse from the anthem ‘New York,’ which also features Fat Joe. However, at the time, Joey Crack was not in the building to join him.
By the time Joe hit the stage, it was almost 11PM and the audience was still hype. Dressed in an all black leather look, the rapper came out to the DJ Khaled banger ‘We Takin’ Over.’
Just when concertgoers started to fuss about Ja and Joe not taking the stage together, they got what they were hoping for. Ja came back out and Joe even got nostalgic, opening up to the crowd about how the ‘Holla Holla’ MC and Irv Gotti believed in him after Big Pun died and critics said his career was over.
“Ja and Irv called me up and said I have something for you. I went up to the hit factory and it was this song,” Joey told the crowd before the DJ dropped ‘What’s Luv.’
By the end of the night, the spirit of the early 2000s was in the air and fans were eagerly asking when Fat Joe and Ja Rule will return with new music.
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