Rich Dudes│Ja Rule's $6 Million Net Worth

• Rapper Ja Rule has built an over $6 million net worth from his music career, as well as investments in NFTs, crypto, stocks, and real estate.
• His web3 projects include digital art NFTs, a token-based live streaming app for celebrities, and a physical NFT marketplace called Flipkick.
• A portfolio like Ja Rule's could outperform traditional investments over the past five years.

Ja Rule is an American rapper, entertainer, and entrepreneur with a net worth of around $6 million. Born Jeffrey Bruce Atkins on February 29, 1976 in Hollis, Queens, NY, he got his start in 1999 with the group Cash Money Click. In the 2000s, Rule signed with Murder Inc. Records, run by Irv Gotti, and released several chart-topping singles, including "Always on Time," "What's Luv?" and “Put It On Me.”

Ja Rule net worth at a glance:

These days, Ja Rule is best known for his interest in DeFi and the lingering shame of Fyre Fest, but in the late '90s and early '00s he was one of the most popular rappers on the charts. His distinctive voice could be heard on tracks with everyone from Jay-Z to J.Lo, and his 2nd solo studio album—Rule 3:36, released in 2000—debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 and sold 276,000 copies in its first week. By 2001, it was certified Triple Platinum.

From humble beginnings in his early life, Ja Rule became one of the best-known rappers of the 2000s. His career brought plenty of highs—like being nominated for two American music awards and selling 30 million records worldwide—and many lows—like serving jail time for tax evasion and facing a $100 million lawsuit over Fyre Fest.

But in both his professional and personal life, Ja Rule has remained optimistic, determined, and creative, and his investment portfolio is a reflection of that attitude. Let's see what he's holding.

Ja Rule has investments in a variety of assets, mainly real estate, stocks, and web3 ventures into NFTs and crypto. While Rule has been transparent about what he's invested in, we don't have exact numbers for each of these asset classes. But we have investigated to help us make the best estimates we can.

Based on the estimated values of his assets, we picture Ja Rule's portfolio breakdown as:

We'll get into each asset class and how much we estimate his holdings to be.

Although he has several NFT ventures to his name now, Ja Rule's made his first forays into non-fungible tokens without knowing what he was collecting. He began buying NBA Top Shot NFTs to add to his sports card collection, but it wasn't until a friend explained the project that Ja Rule started learning about NFTs.

Top Shots were a gateway to Ja Rule's own NFT projects, including a marketplace for artists and a collection celebrating the Black experience in the US.

Flipkick

Flipkick.io is a marketplace for cryptographically authenticating artworks to register them as physical NFTs, meaning tokens that are linked to tangible works of art. These tokens can be traded or resold like any other NFT, or they can be redeemed for delivery of the physical artwork.

Ja Rule partnered with Robert Testagrossa and James Cropcho to launch Flipkick in 2021 and kicked things off by selling a memento of one of his worst investments. His five-foot-tall oil painting of the Fyre Fest logo sold as a physical NFT through Flipkick for $122,000—nearly one-fifth of its reserve price of $600,000.

And the buyer got a bonus item: a handwritten note from Rule that reads, “Fuck this painting.”

Rule's stake in Flipkick isn't publicly known and we don't have concrete information of the company's value yet. The platform is similar to Americana, which raised nearly $7 million and has five investors. Their user interface and experience are superior to Flipkick's, so we estimate that Flipkick has raised about a quarter of that funding. That puts their value at around $1.75 million.

Rule's co-founders likely hold larger stakes than he does. Testagrossa has a decade of experience in cryptocurrency development and entrepreneurship and Cropcho brings 15 years of programming to his role as Chief Technology Officer. They work together at Bridgehold Capital Management, as well.

All things considered, we put Rule's investment in Flipkick at around $580,000.

Club Cards

In early 2022, Ja Rule began hyping up a new NFT project: Club Cards. These NFT trading cards feature other popular NFT collection characters, like Kongs, MetaSharks, and Rascals. The series is ongoing and each feature is released in a new Wave. In addition to the NFT, buyers get access to exclusive contests and prizes, from physical swag to a trip to New York and VIP tickets to a Ja Rule concert.

Ja Rule owns 12 Club Cards of his own with an average price of 0.013 ETH, which puts his holdings at an estimated 0.156 ETH.

The Painted House

This NFT platform co-founded by Ja Rule and his business partner, Herb Rice, released a collection of 1,000 NFTs designed by artist Nick Davis. The Black Is Beautiful collection is Davis's celebration of Black culture and history, featuring nods to artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat alongside imaginative portraits.

Rule included a bonus for all NFT holders to be executive producers on a new, limited release track, as well.

The collection was also attached to a societal investment. 10% of primary sales were donated to five historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Ja Rule matched the donation, bringing the total to $50,000.

Secondary sales will continue to support HBCUs, with 10% pledged to an impact fund that will be selected by the project community.

The collection is sold out and Ja Rule owns 1% of it with 10 NFTs in his gallery. The latest sale was for 0.2 ETH, so we estimate Rule's holdings to be worth 2 ETH.

The ICONN app

Rule also announced an ICONN token that can be used within the app to tip creators and purchase access to their content.

According to Crunchbase, Rule is one of two investors for the project, and similar projects like eResonate Media's social network have raised about $2 million. It's reasonable to assume that ICONN has a similar valuation and that the stakes are equal, so we can estimate he holds $1 million in the company.

Interested in collecting NFTs? Head to OpenSea for a one-stop shop for digital collectibles, gaming items, digital art, and other blockchain-backed digital assets.

OpenSea is a decentralized marketplace that allows you to buy, sell, and trade NFTs worldwide. You can also create and sell your own digital assets, and earn royalties every time they're sold on the secondary market.

Another piece of the Ja Rule portfolio consists of his investments in various stocks. He's been vocal about investing in stocks on Twitter and in interviews, so we know about many of the stocks he holds.

There's speculation that Ja Rule held GameStop stock, though he made a point of saying he had not invested in the company. However, during the Great GameStop Pump and Dump of 2021, Rule was a major voice encouraging investors to hold their stock. He was critical of Robinhood during the controversy, as well.

Robinhood and Rule go way back—he started investing through the platform in 2014 and has a referral deal with the platform that gives him and the users of his code free shares in various stocks.

We don't know how much Rule has invested in any of these stocks, though. Based on his other holdings and overall net worth, we can assume that he has at least $1 million in stock investments and that it's split somewhat evenly among these companies.

TradeStation helps investors optimize their trading strategies across practically all markets. They provide robust data on assets as well as tools to make sense of it all. Through their platform, you can access stocks, ETFs, futures, options and more.

TradeStation is the ideal platform for trading and tracking fluctuating markets.

NFTs aren't Ja Rule's only web3 assets—he's also enthusiastic about investing in cryptocurrency. Rule has called crypto and DeFi "the next obvious step in economics." He's said that he holds Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, and Solana, though he hasn't disclosed how much he's invested in any of these.

He shared that he bought into Bitcoin early on, at a time when people—including himself—were still unsure and nervous about it. We estimate that he purchased it between 2013 and 2016.

Based on the fact he has a little more than $1 million in NFT startups, it’s reasonable to assume that he's invested about $1 million in crypto, as well.

If venturing into web3 feels intimidating, get started in the right direction.

Kraken is one of the oldest and largest crypto exchanges, but that doesn't get in the way of their mission to make crypto investing easy for all investors. Their intuitive interface and extensive library of educational resources will help you navigate blockchains, web3 and the metaverse. You can buy and sell more than 185 cryptocurrencies on Kraken.

The largest piece of Ja Rule's net worth is his real estate, both in size and in value. Just 45 minutes away from his hometown of Hollis, Queens, the Atkins family lives in a 6,000-square-foot mansion on a two-acre lot in Saddle River, NJ.

The area is well-known to celebrities who want to be close to New York City while having the space for sprawling luxury. Rule's neighbors have included Russell Simmons, Rev. Run of RunDMC, Rosie O'Donnell, Mary J. Blige, and many more. Rule's house was purchased in 2001 for $1.875 million, but it's recently been valued at $2.3 million.

Commercial real estate has an average ROI of +9.5% and is known for hedging against inflation and bringing consistent monthly cash flow. You can invest in income-producing real estate projects with EquityMultiple, a commercial real estate investing platform for accredited investors that has distributed $240.3 million to investors to date.

EquityMultiple offers expert asset management for the lifetime of your investments so you can stay informed and prepared. Invest today and enjoy the best of both worlds—growth and income.

Ja Rule has learned a lot in his metamorphosis from entertainer to entrepreneur. Let's sum up his philosophy.

1. Pay your taxes…

Or risk being clowned by 50 Cent. Ja Rule went to jail for tax evasion in 2011 and is currently on the hook for a $3.1 million back-tax bill from the IRS. That's a sizable chunk of his net worth, not to mention a whole lot of NFTs he's not buying.

2. Keep learning but use your experience, too.

Some of the best investments are only available to those creative enough to think outside of the box and seek them out. Take NFTs and crypto for example. Don't be afraid to learn new things, but don't ignore your own wisdom in the process.

3. Don't let the next big thing take off without you!

Remember that Rule bought into Bitcoin even when it still seemed suspect to most of the world, including him. Decentralization is gearing up to be an important part of the next five to ten years, so don’t miss out on investing in the ecosystem while prices are low.