Ja Rule stars in “I’m In Love With A Church Girl,” which hits theaters this Friday, October 18. The Source Magazine sat down with Ja Rule to discuss his latest film, his upcoming album and his faith.

Film Synopsis: Cars. Good looks. Mansions. Money. Women. Miles Montego has it all. Including a past. He was the king of the streets and a high-level drug trafficker, although he has attempted to distance himself from the past life, but the DEA and his old partners aren’t convinced. Miles still rolls with his old friends and colleagues, causing the feds to question his retirement status. When Miles meets Vanessa Leon, a woman who is different than every other woman he’s met, he is drawn to her beauty and her faith. She is a “church girl” in every-sense of the word. Finding himself torn between a life that he knows and a love that he feels. As Vanessa experiences his lavish lifestyle, mobster-type friends, gun play, and encounters with past women, Vanessa must reconcile her faith in God and her growing love for Miles. Both are tested to their last ounce of faith and strength in God and each other. God continues to chip away at Miles through struggles from his past, having to live up to his reputation, feelings of unworthiness, the death of his mother, federal charges, his friends being indicted, the strain on his relationship with Vanessa, almost losing her in a near fatal car accident, and finally the spiritual breakdown that brings him on his knees to face God one-on-one.

Q: How much of your character Miles is present inside of you?

There’s some similarities, me and Miles are similar in a lot of ways. That constant struggle, looking towards God and having to fight these demons inside. I could relate to that in a lot of ways.

Q: How exactly did reading the bible in prison help you not only get through your time there, but also prepare you for life post prison?

That story is like the legend that keeps growing. It is somewhat true, I started reading the Bible and I got to about (halfway in), and then my Bible got stolen. And then I moved out of that prison as well, but yeah I read most of it (laughs). It’s a long book.

Q: So the parts that you did read, do you feel like it helped prepare you for life post-prison at all?

In some ways, you read some of those stories and for me, those stories are uplifting. Some are not so uplifting, some are devastating. But they’re definitely stories to take with you throughout life, to understand “okay, this could be this way but don’t get yourself too down because it can also lead you here.” And I think the Bible’s good at that. The Bible has a lot of stories of redemption, second chances, a lot of stories of failure, stories of success. And those are the things you go through in everyday life so you can kind of relate.

Q: From this day forth, what do you want the rest of your legacy to be defined as?

Just that I put out a great body of work throughout my career. That my body of work was inspiring to a lot of people. While I was in prison I got a lot of letters from fans that just thanked me for my music getting them through certain periods, dark periods of their lives. And for me, that’s what it’s all about. That’s why I do what I do, because you want to inspire people throughout your craft, whether it be films or music. I’m definitely hoping when I’m done that that will be my legacy. That Ja was a great artist, he inspired a lot of people, and left us a great body of work.

Q: You’re working on the Renaissance Project now right?

No. Renaissance Project I was going to do before I went to jail. I still have the Renaissance Project, it’s just in the stash right now. I don’t know, maybe I’ll release it, maybe I won’t. I’ve kind of moved on to my “F*ck Fame” project. Which I have no date on yet, I’m not in a real rush. I’m just taking my time, make sure I make the right records. I’m a perfectionist, I like to do things the right way. I definitely want to make sure that the music is right, the way I want it before I put it out, before I present it.

Q: Tell me one thing that’s worked for you in the past musically that you’ll bring to this album, and tell me something new that you think will make this album different from all your previous work?

On “F*ck Fame” there will definitely be that melodic flow, that female duet record that I’ve made so well. I think that has kind of become the industry standard now, if you don’t have one of those records, you may not per say have a hit record on your album. And I think that’s kind of how the labels kind of look at that situation. So I definitely have some of those records that I recorded, beautiful records. But for me, I don’t look at it as that, I look at it as music. As good music, I don’t go in to make records like “I want to make a record that’s going to cater to the chicks” or “I want to make a record that’s radio friendly.” I just don’t think like that, I let other people do that because that’s what they’re paid to do. My job is to go in there and create great records. Whether it be what they call a “street record” or what they call a “commercial record,” I don’t think of it as that. Like I said, I go in with how I’m feeling for that day and make those records. When I made “Put It On Me,” I made that for my wife. I didn’t make that with the idea that “this could be a good record (for the label),” that just wasn’t my thought process. When I made “Clap Back,” I’m not thinking “yo, I got to make this crazy street record.” Nah, I was going through something and I wanted to clap back (Laughs). That’s how I make my records, I’m very passionate about it and I make them from very real places. It’s just not contrived like “this is what we’re going to do today.” It’s not like that, what comes out, comes out. You could listen to my whole body of work, all my albums and you could tell where I was at that point in my life and what I was going through because the records speak for themselves.

Q: How involved is Irv Gotti with your current project?

Gotti, we’re partners. He has Visionary and I have Maven-Visionary. We’re very much into doing things together. As much as we’re doing things together, we’re doing on our own as well. I think that’s the dope dynamic of what we’re doing right now versus when we did Murder Inc. which was everything Murder Inc.  It was just as much mine as it was his. A lot of people don’t really understand that, they think I was just an artist but I was very much involved in everything that went on. I had a piece of the company and everything. It was very much me and his project, me and his thing. Now, I think what we’re doing is so far advanced from what we were doing that it’s going to show once we package it all up and put it all together.

Q: Can we expect any big name Collabs with “F*ck Fame?”

It’ll be a few people.

Q: How often do you think you’ll be doing movies from now on?

Very often. I got some great projects in the works right now, I’m real excited about it. So you guys just hold on tight, man. We’re going to do something real special in the next year or so.

Q: And do you think you’ll be playing roles similar to the one in this movie or a wide array?

A little bit different (than this one). I put on a little size so we’re going to do some action stuff. We may have a little fun with it.

Q: Any shout outs?

“Church Girl,” in theaters, October 18^th, come as you are. Check it out.

-Jagpal Khahera