Jeffrey Atkins Represents Unconditional Love Existence, or so his acronym claims. It is a suitably grandiose boast from the fastest-rising star in hip-hop. The bite-sized Queens rapper can be forgiven for feeling omnipotent, though: in the past 12 months, hit has followed hit.
He even inspired prissy Jennifer Lopez to forget herself enough to say "nigga" on their US chart-topping collaboration I'm Real. The "sensitive thug" persona that served him so well on 2001's Pain Is Love album - and the practice of pairing up with R&B royalty for hit duets - are the mainstays of The Last Temptation.
Bobby "Mr Whitney" Brown emerges from retirement to lay his achingly soulful crooning over Rule's gravel-pit flow on the self-aggrandising (and terrific) Thug Love. Mesmerize deliciously reunites Ja and fluffy Ashanti Douglas, who purred to such effect on last spring's Always on Time.
But the ultimate "duet" is The Pledge Remix, in which he trades verses with the long-departed Tupac Shakur, gamely asserting: "If he was here we'd probably ride together." But Rule lacks Tupac's self-destructive wildness. For all his machismo, he's no thug, more a hip-hop hit machine who won't scare the neighbours.
