Vaguely past-their-best rappers getting arrested in New York on gun charges are a little bit like buses; you wait ages for one and then two come along at once – plus they shoot you if you don't have the right change and they never smile.

Last night in Manhattan, the NYPD managed to arrest both Ja Rule and Lil Wayne on gun possession charges in two separate incidents, it's been reported. However, as unrelated as the arrests go, we can't help shake the feeling that Ja Rule and Lil Wayne were planning to meet up in an abandoned carpark for a gunfight which would end their long-running feud  over which rapper had the lousiest Hollywood career. It's thought that Ja Rule had angered Lil Wayne – who was leading thanks to his cameo in a forthcoming golfing comedy – by making a sequel to his Steven Seagal movie Half Past Dead in the knowledge that no rapper could ever make any movie as inept as that.

In the past when the police have made two arrests on rappers in one night, chances are that both rappers would have probably been Busta Rhymes, who's shortly going to be standing four trials at once. But last night the NYPD struck it lucky, somehow managing to arrest gravel-voiced, famous five years ago rapper Ja Rule and gremlin-voiced, not really famous ever rapper Lil Wayne both on the same night. The New York Daily News reports:

Ja Rule and two others were in a luxury car that was pulled over just after 10:30 p.m. Police said a .40-caliber pistol was recovered from inside the vehicle. The Queens native, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, is known for dissing rival rappers 50 Cent, Eminem and Dr. Dre in his songs. Just an hour later, police said cops witnessed rapper Lil Wayne and another man smoking marijuana. Upon being searched, police found a .40-caliber pistol.

While the police are saying that both arrests were completely separate and unrelated, we're understandably a little bit surprised at the near-synchronicity of the arrests. Really now – rappers? With guns? Whatever next. Honestly, if it wasn't for Obie Trice shooting himself, Beanie Sigel getting shot, Cam'ron getting shot, Suge Knight getting shot, Snoop Dogg being arrested with a gun, Fabolous getting shot and Busta Rhymes' bodyguard getting shot, we'd have trouble believing that rappers even knew what guns were.

However, the ramifications for these arrests are much greater than they may at first seem. With both Busta Rhymes and Snoop Dogg both facing jail sentences for various wrongdoings, Ja Rule and Lil Wayne were the natural heirs of their popsong guest-rap crowns. But now both Ja Rule and Lil Wayne have been arrested on gun possession charges too, that means there'll soon be a backlog of popsongs with empty gaps where a guest-rap should be. And, since nature abhors a vacuum, how long can it really be before all popsong guest raps are taken on by Brian Harvey from East 17 and this man?

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Rappers Arrested On Gun Charges - New York Daily News