Special Reports

Broadway Shockers 2016: Ja Rule and Ashanti Reunite on a Broadway Stage

The iconic ’90s R&B duo is performing together for the first time in years — singing a showtune.

Ja Rule and Ashanti join their voices on Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Helpless."
Ja Rule and Ashanti join their voices on Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Helpless."
(© Judy Tint)

Broadway's Hamilton is well known at this point for breaking down the walls between theater and mainstream entertainment with hip-hop and show tunes (like when creator Lin-Manuel Miranda hosted SNL). But with the recent release of The Hamilton Mixtape, an album of songs inspired by the hit musical, those boundaries have all but evaporated. The blurring of pop culture and stage culture reached what might be its apex when iconic R&B duo Ja Rule and Ashanti reunited at Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre (Hamilton's home turf) to perform their rendition of Miranda's "Helpless" at a special #Ham4Ham event celebrating the CD's release.

The mini-concert (which also featured performances by Black Thought, Joell Ortiz, Regina Spektor, and Andra Day) was something Broadway audiences (or hip-hop music fans) could never have predicted. But it turned out that the unprecedented event felt shockingly right. Just ask any of the 1,300 fans who lined up on 46th Street for a shot to be in the room where it happened.

For tickets and more information, click here.

Featured In This Story