Early life

Atkins was born in the Queens borough of New York City.[2]

He was raised as a Jehovah's

Witness by his mother, health care worker Debra Atkins,[3]

and grandparents. When Atkins

was five, his mother gave birth to a stillborn baby named Kristen, leaving him as an only

child. (He talks about Kristen in the song "Daddy's Little Baby.") Atkins attended Public

School 134 in Hollis, a school he has described as having a predominantly black student

body. He said he got into many fights at the school because of his small size, so his mother

transferred him to Middle School 172 in Glen Oaks, which he described as a "white

school".[4]

Atkins earned his GED in February 2012.[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queens,_New_Yorkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Cityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ja_Rule#cite_note-allmusic-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ja_Rule#cite_note-Ebony_140-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Department_of_Educationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Department_of_Educationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollis,_New_Yorkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Oaks,_New_Yorkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ja_Rule#cite_note-MTV-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEDhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ja_Rule#cite_note-5