Pain Is Love 2

Ja’s least successful studio album, and released 8 years after R.U.L.E., PIL2 is a concept record designed to “test” the listener, to see if they’re really listening, he revealed during his book Unruly. The concept is Ja takes two separate pills: one designed to enhance his fame and his life, the other which gives him a bad trip, as shown on tracks like “Drown.” This mimics his real life drug use, which ceased when he was incarcerated.

The record was released while he was in jail, saying:

My back was against the wall. I didn’t think we’d have time to do what I set out to do, but it came together much better than I could ever imagine.

“Real Life Fantasy” was the only single released from the album, which may have contributed to it being a sales and chart bomb. It sold 3,200 copies in it’s first week, and hasn’t been spoken of since in terms of charts, or even by the rapper himself. Channel 7 was the sole producer on the record, and Ja and him wrote the majority of the record, with a little help from the featured guests, all of whom are relatively unknown.