Songoftheday 10/10/22 - I love my life, I love my wife, a bad time to prevail It overwhelmed me, I'm livin' in hell but livin' wealthy

 

 

"I Cry" - Ja Rule featuring Lil' Mo

from the album Rule 3:36 (2000)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #40 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 2

 

Today's song comes from rapper Ja Rule, whose sophomore album Rule 3:36 had already spun off two crossover hits on Billboard magazine's pop Hot 100 chart with "Just Between Me And You" with Christina Milian and "Put In On Me" with rappers Lil' Mo and Vita. The third single from the disc, "I Cry" also features Lil' Mo, who by that time had scored her own top-40 pop hit as a lead with "Superwoman Pt. II" in the summer of 2001. The song was written by Ja Rule, Lil' Mo, Robert Mays, and producer Irv Gotti over a sample of the O'Jay's album track "Cry Together" from 1978, which gave Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff writing credit as well. The maudlin soul of that sample feeds into the theme of the new record, which has Ja Rule trying to show his "sensitive side". Mind you, this includes lots of bragging on the things he'd do which has weaponry and breaking the law involved, before Lil' Mo comes in with the chorus. All and all it's a love ballad for the gangsta scene, and the pair play their Romeo and Juliet parts ably. The radio/video version, though, omits Lil Mo's rap verse while the video adds the element of a friend's murder...

"I Cry" became the third top-40 pop crossover hit from Rule 3:36 in June of 2001. The song just missed the top ten on Billboard's R&B Singles chart at #11, while rising to #25 on the Rap Songs list. On the radio, the track hit #8 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, and #25 on the dance-oriented Rhythmic list. 

Another track from the album, "6 Feet Underground", was released as a promo single, and sold enough to reach #25 on the Rap Songs chart. Both Ja Rule and Lil' Mo will return to the series.

(5/10)

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In 2008, rapper LL Cool J interpolated part of Ja Rule's "I Cry" for his own single "Cry" from his Exit 13 album, which he brought in Lil' Mo for. The single "bubbled under" the R&B Singles chart at #119...

 

 

And here's Ja Rule and Lil' Mo performing the song on the Verzuz series in 2021...

 

 Up tomorrow: R&B Divas shake their ass to Stevie.