Ludacris has played the character Tej in the “Fast and the Furious” franchise since the second installment, but in all actuality, he received the role because Ja Rule felt he was too big to take it on.

“Ja got too big for himself. He turned it down. He turned down a half a million dollars,” recalls John Singleton, the prized director of the film, in an email to Grantland. “He was really big at that time. I guess Murder Inc. was throwing out hits and were making money hand over foot. He was acting like he was too big to be in the sequel. He wouldn’t return calls. I went to the studio to go see him — that’s just my mantra, I deal with a lot of music people. He was kinda playing me to the side and I was like, ‘What? What is this sh*t?’ This was all initiated by me. I then made a call. I called Ludacris.”

And $236 million later, it’s a safe bet that Ja Rule is somewhere watching Furious 7 wishing he was a part of the 16th-highest-grossing movie franchise in history. [Vlad TV]