Ja Rule faces driving charge

Rapper Ja Rule was arrested and charged with driving with a suspended licence, New York police said.

Ja Rule, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, was pulled over early yesterday in his Mercedes-Benz on Manhattan after he was spotted changing lanes without signalling, police said.

Ja Rule, aged 28, of Saddle River, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to driving with a suspended licence and paid a €450 fine and court fees.

Prosecutors told the judge that the rapper had an open warrant in Queens from 1996 for resisting arrest.

The judge ordered him to appear in Queens Criminal Court on July 7 to respond to that warrant.

Ja Rule and his lawyer refused to comment after the hearing.

The deep-throated, multi-platinum rapper has also acted in several movies, including The Fast and the Furious and Half Past Dead.