Pain Is Love

• Artist: Ja Rule
• Rating:
• Release Date: October 02, 2001
• Type: Contains explicit content
• Genre: Rap

Review

The few rap-R&B hybrids on Rule 3:36 (2000) paid off large dividends by the time of Ja Rule's next album, Pain Is Love. A day didn't pass between the release of the two albums when Ja Rule's voice couldn't be heard on urban radio, and at the time of Pain Is Love's release in October 2001, he had not one but two singles getting nonstop airplay: "Livin' It Up" and "I'm Real," the latter a Jennifer Lopez song featuring him as a guest rapper. It should be no surprise then to discover that Pain Is Love follows the same formula that had made Rule 3:36 such a commercial success: craft some radio-friendly crossover singles, often featuring pretty young female R&B singers as romantic counterpoints, and then fill out the album with hardcore rap, often featuring Murder Inc.'s roster of secondary rappers, to sustain Ja Rule's thug reputation. Actually, this formula is fine-tuned on Pain Is Love to account for some exceptions -- for instance, the lead single, "Livin' It Up," interpolates Stevie Wonder's "Do I Do" for its crossover-R&B aspect, while the title track recycles an old, generally unheard 2Pac verse to great effect -- and a significantly more balanced album is the result. Plus, there's enough strong material here to encourage full-album listening, as the crossover singles no longer stand out apart from the hardcore rap filler to the degree that they did on Rule 3:36. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Pain Is Love (Skit)		Ja Rule	(1:20)
Dial M for Murder	Tyrone Fyffe, Irv Gotti, Jeffrey Atkins	Ja Rule	(3:32)
Livin' It Up	Stevie Wonder, Irv Gotti, Robert Mays	Case, Ja Rule	(4:17)
The Inc.	Irv Gotti, Jeffrey Atkins	Ja Rule, Caddillac Tah, Black Child, Ashanti	(3:56)
Always on Time	Irv Gotti, Jeffrey Atkins	Ja Rule, Ashanti	(4:05)
Down A** B**ch	Irv Gotti, Jeffrey Atkins	Ja Rule, Chuck	(5:31)
Never Again	Jeffrey Atkins	Ja Rule	(4:18)
Worldwide Gangsta	M. Mitchell, Irv Gotti, Jeffrey Atkins	Boo, Ja Rule, Gotti, Caddillac Tah, Black Child	(3:20)
Leo (Skit)		Ja Rule	(2:18)
I'm Real [Murder Remix]	Rick James, Corey Rooney, Irv Gotti, Javier Lopez, LeShan Lewis, Jeffrey Atkins, Troy Oliver	Ja Rule, Jennifer Lopez	(4:12)
Smokin and Ridin	Irv Gotti, Jeffrey Atkins	Ja Rule, Jodie Mack, O-1	(4:51)
X	Missy Elliott, Irv Gotti, Jeffrey Atkins	Tweet, Missy Elliott, Ja Rule	(5:02)
Big Remo (Skit)		Ja Rule	(:19)
Lost Little Girl	Irv Gotti, Jeffrey Atkins	Ja Rule	(5:00)
So Much Pain	Irv Gotti, Jeffrey Atkins	2Pac, Ja Rule	(5:03)
Pain Is Love	Irv Gotti, Jeffrey Atkins	Ja Rule	(5:04)

Credits

Chuck (Performer), 2Pac (Performer), Boo (Performer), Paul Bushnell (Bass), Brian Gardner (Mastering), Carl "Butch" Small (Percussion), Tweet (Performer), Glen Marchese (Mixing Engineer), Case (Performer), Brian Springer (Engineer), Brian Springer (Mixing Engineer), Irv Gotti (Producer), Irv Gotti (Executive Producer), Irv Gotti (Mixing), Lil Rob (Producer), Gemi Taylor (Bass), Patrice Reynolds (Administration), Tyrone Fyfee (Producer), Deidre Graham (Marketing), Ja Rule (Vocals), Ja Rule (Rap), Ja Rule (Main Performer), Ja Rule (Executive Producer), Jennifer Lopez (Performer), Darcell Lawrence (Production Coordination), Jonathan Mannon (Photography), Gotti (Performer), Caddillac Tah (Performer), Black Child (Performer), Chris G.O.T.T.I. (A&R), Ashanti (Performer), Chuck (Performer), Jodie Mack (Performer), O-1 (Performer)

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