In was the early 2000s, Ja Rule enjoyed chart dominance. But as quickly as he rose to the top, his downfall came even quicker. It was the emergence of a Queens rapper by the name of 50 Cent, and his verbal onslaught against Ja Rule, that contributed to his popularity decline.

Years after his very public beef with 50, Ja is still making music. However, while reflecting on the feud, he can't help but notice how similar the rapper's music has become to his musical peak. According to Ja, 50 Cent is "doing his best Ja Rule impression."

During an interview with Australia's Rhyme and Reason magazine, he explained how things changed.

"When people are jealous, and they see something that's doing well, they wanna throw stones at it. They wanna try to make a mockery of it," Ja explained to the mag. "It's funny that the same people that throw stones and make a mockery of it, do the same things. They sound the same, they look the same when they come out doing it. I'm kinda flattered when I look at 50 do his thing, because I know he's doing his best Ja Rule impression. It's kinda cute."

Despite the long, drawn out war of words, Ja Rule says he doesn't hold any animosity towards 50 any longer. Instead, he's focused "moving on", and that's what he thinks everyone else should do as well.

"I'm not thinking about it," he said of the beef. "I'm moving on with my life. That was five years ago, six years ago. We've thrown so many things at each other, back and forth, back and forth. It's think it's really getting tired, people are getting tired of hearing about it. I'm personally getting tired of hearing about it. He's doing what he's doing with his life, and I'm doing what I'm doing with my life. I think we should all move on.

"I've never really liked any of his stuff. I never really thought he was the sh** (laughs)," Ja continued. "He had a couple good records here and there, but they sounded like Ja Rule records."

In his own career, the rapper has been hard at work on a new album. After leaking his long delayed eighth album, The Mirror, online in July, Ja has been working on the follow-up to his successful 1999 debut, Venni Vetti Vecci.

The new project is called Venni Vetti Vecci 2010.

"I'm trying to take it up a notch. I'm trying to do something a little different," Ja said of the upcoming album. "Maybe I could have some of these spaces in time ... you know how you get music sometimes? And it sets the tone, the mold of what's going on in that era? People relate to it in a way that they never forget it because it took them through something? I got a couple of albums that, I feel, have done that for people. I've had people tell me, "This album helped me get through sh**," and whatever, whatever. This album, I really wanna make it for the people, for the public, so they can enjoy.

"We ain't getting money off of rap records like we used to. So, when I'm doing it now, it ain't for the money. It's for the love, because it ain't out there like that. You can ask any rap artist out there that's doing it, the record business is not what it used to be. When you see an artist like myself, when we going out and going abroad doing it, I do it for the love. I do it 'cause I love making music," he continued.

At press time, there was no release date for Venni Vetti Vecci 2010, nor has Ja found a home for the record. However, in the interview, he stated that he was close to closing a deal, which he said would be strictly for distribution.

To stay updated with Ja Rule, follow him on Twitter @RuleYork.