On this day 25 years ago, October 2, 2001, Ja Rule released Pain Is Love, the Murder Inc. album that turned the Queens rapper into the hottest crossover act in hip hop. It dropped through Murder Inc. and Def Jam, with Irv Gotti as executive producer and the man behind most of the beats, per Wikipedia.
Knocking Hov Off the Top
The numbers were loud from day one. Pain Is Love debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 361,000 copies sold in its first week, ending Jay-Z’s three-week run at the top with The Blueprint. It was the fastest-selling rap album of 2001, went on to be certified 3x Platinum by the RIAA, and had sold more than 4.6 million copies in the U.S. by 2007.
It also got Grammy love, earning a Best Rap Album nomination (OutKast’s Stankonia took the trophy) plus Best Rap/Sung Collaboration nods for its first two singles.
The Records That Ran 2001-2002
If you were near a radio or BET’s 106 & Park back then, you couldn’t escape this album:
- “Livin’ It Up” featuring Case – The lead single flipped Stevie Wonder’s “Do I Do” and peaked at No. 6 on the Hot 100, per Wikipedia.
- “Always on Time” featuring Ashanti – The big one. It hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 for two weeks in early 2002, Ja’s highest-charting single as a lead artist and Ashanti’s first No. 1, per Wikipedia.
- The third single with Charli Baltimore – Released in March 2002, it kept the Murder Inc. run rolling into the spring.
The guest list told you where Ja’s lane was: Ashanti, Case, Jennifer Lopez, Missy Elliott, Tweet and even a 2Pac appearance on “So Much Pain.”
The IAHHM Take
Critics were mixed at the time; the album sits at 59 on Metacritic. But Pain Is Love was never made for critics. It was made for the club, the car and the countdown shows, and it nailed all three.
This album perfected the formula that ruled the early 2000s: a gruff rap verse paired with a smooth R&B hook. Ja and Irv Gotti didn’t invent the thug-love single, but they mass-produced it, and you can hear that blueprint in a lot of what came after, from radio rap to today’s melodic street records.
Twenty-five years later, “Always on Time” still hits at every throwback party. Ja’s legacy got complicated in the years that followed, but for one fall in 2001, nobody in rap was bigger.
What’s your favorite cut on Pain Is Love? And does Ja get enough credit for his run? Let us know.
Go deeper: watch Irv Gotti and Ja Rule talk growing up hip hop, revisit yesterday’s On This Day on Public Enemy, and browse more IAHHM Classics.
Sources: Wikipedia: Pain Is Love | Wikipedia: Always on Time | Wikipedia: Livin’ It Up
