Ja Rule was released from prison back in May, and Complex sat down for an interview with the Queens rapper earlier this week. During the Q & A,
Ja discusses his prison stint, beef with 50 Cent and Eminem, Trayvon Martin, and watching the Knicks.
Ja didn’t do regular lock-up. He was with others in PC (protective custody) away from the general population. Another benefit of PC was being able to watch a ton of basketball, like every Knicks game this season.
Reports said you had friends up there—other celebrities that were in PC with you.
Absolutely. I was there with [former Tyco International CEO] Dennis Kozlowski, [former New York state comptroller] Alan Hevesi, Larry Salander, the art tycoon. They were all good guys. Me and Alan, he’s a Knicks fan like me, so we watched a lot of Knicks together, never missed a game. We talked politics. The election was going on while I was locked up, Obama and Romney so we would talk a lot about that. Hevesi is a Democrat so we were on the same side [Laughs].
Havesi is the former New York State Comptroller originally hailing from Queens, so the connection with Ja makes sense. He was sentenced to 1-4 years for a “pay to play” corruption scandal involving the New York State Pension Fund.
We’re not sure watching the Knicks made prison enjoyable for Ja or Hevesi. But the Knicks weren’t bad this year and Ja was released the same day as game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, which the Knicks won.
Would watching your favorite basketball team help you get through prison?
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