Ja Rule Reacts To Ashanti's Number One Debut

NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) - Murder Inc. Records star Ja Rule told that he isn't surprised that his labelmate Ashanti landed at Number One on the Billboard 200 albums chart, but he was shocked by how well Ashanti's album sold.

"I'm not surprised, you know? It kinda shocked, you know, the number 503 (503,000), you know, but we knew she was going to do pretty well, so we're all very happy and she's crushing them right now," he said. "I really think it's the biggest first-week debut ever for a female R&B artist, so we're holding some weight over here right now, definitely."

Ja Rule also shared that he hopes to tour this summer with Mary J. Blige, but if that doesn't pan out he might tour with Ashanti and the rest of the Murder Inc. roster.

In related news, Ja Rule recently penned an untitled duet for City High's Claudette Ortiz and Enrique Iglesias. He will also begin filming The Fast And The Furious 2 in the coming weeks, hopes to release his next album, The Last Temptation, in early 2003.