Lately, Ja Rule has been getting more attention for throwing homophobic insults at 50 Cent than for anything related to his music. However, the Queens, New York rapper took a vacation from the pettiness to speak up for New Yorkers in a protest against New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). The conditions for public housing residents has been reportedly awful from safety to sanitary issues and, according to the New York Daily News, 80% of NYCHA’s public housing residents lost heat or hot water at some point this past winter.
At a rally outside City Hall on Tuesday (Feb. 20), Ja Rule joined council members Ritchie Torres, Alicka Ampry-Samuel, and other activists. “City Hall, New York City, the mayor, the governor, they should all be ashamed of themselves,” Ja Rule said. “These are Americans, New Yorkers living in third-world conditions, and it should not be this way. I know what it’s like to not have heat, not have water, be evicted from my home.”
Protestors are demanding more funding for public housing fixes and Ja Rule agrees. “Let’s shut the city down. We ain’t paying no more rent until these situations are dealt with. No heat, no hot water — no money, no rent!”
The current budget for boiling and heating improvements in public housing is $200 million, but protesters argue that’s not enough. They say they will continue to put pressure on NYCHA, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo until their demands are met.
You can check out more of what Ja Rule had to say in the clips below.
Kudos to Ja Rule for using his platform for good.
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Ja Rule Takes A Break From Beefing With 50 Cent To Fight Against Public Housing Conditions was originally published on globalgrind.com
