Q+A Ja Rule One of the world's best-selling rap artists, the 27-year-old Queens native is the voice of CBS Sports' 2003 NFL promotional campaign.

SI: Can Shaq or Iverson rap?

Rule: Not too well. But you know, they can ball pretty
hellaciously.

SI: We hear you and Jerome Bettis are tight.

Rule: Yeah, me and Bettis is cool. Bus, he's my guy on Madden
NFL. I play with Pittsburgh, and nobody runs like the Bus in the
game.

SI: Have you name-dropped any athletes in your lyrics?

Rule: Yeah. Bettis. Michael Jordan. Iverson. Bettis is in a song
called Race Against Time, Part 2. It's on a new CD coming out.
I'll give you the actual line: "It's time we're racing/The Devil
is running like Bettis/And got his guns out/Looking for ways to
behead us."

SI: You're only 5'6" or so. Did you have trouble getting picked
for hoops?

Rule: A little bit, but I always had a crazy handle, so if they
needed a ball handler, I'd usually get down.

SI: How would P. Diddy be as owner of the Knicks?

Rule: He'd be better than the owner we got now. Puff would be
good because he loves New York.

SI: When you're hanging with Puff or Jay-Z, do you guys ever talk
sports, or is it simply chicks and cash?

Rule: It depends what the topic is. Right now we're probably all
sitting around talking about Kobe.

SI: So where do you guys stand?

Rule: Kobe's innocent. Kobe's another good friend. And quote me
on this: Leave Kobe the f--- alone.

SI: Is there more trash-talking in rap or in the NBA?

Rule: I think it's a tie.

SI: What's the most impressive thing you've ever seen an athlete
do?

Rule: When I was younger, I went to a Knicks game, and Michael
Jordan threw Patrick Ewing's s---into like the fifth row. It's a
famous clip.

SI: In 2001 you rapped for Jennifer Lopez on her songs I'm Real
and Ain't It Funny. How good an athlete do you think J. Lo is?

Rule: I think she's a pretty good athlete, but that ass is so
big, it might hold her back in certain sports. But then again
Serena's ass is big, too, so J. Lo would be good in tennis.
Serena versus J. Lo! Now that would be a tennis match.
--Richard Deitsch

For more from Ja Rule, go to si.com/scorecard.

COLOR PHOTO: DAVE RUSSELL/CBS (JA RULE) Bus is his guy