Rapper Ja Rule Gets Advice On Stocks, Education In Prison

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Rapper Ja Rule has been getting advice behind bars from two once high-powered men: ex-New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi and ex-Tyco International CEO Dennis Kozlowski.

The rapper's real name is Jeffrey Atkins. He's serving two years for gun possession at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Oneida, N.Y.

He tells the Daily News in an interview: "Outside, you don't meet guys like this every day."

The high school dropout says both men have urged him to pursue higher education.

The rapper says Kozlowski also advised him to buy airline stock and study business.

Ja Rule will be taking college-level courses later this month.

Hevesi was convicted in a pay for play corruption scheme. Kozlowski was convicted of fraud and larceny involving more than $100 million in bonuses.

Rule, 35, pleaded guilty in December 2010 to attempted criminal possession of a weapon, resolving a nearly 4-year-old case.

Police said they found a loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic gun in a rear door of his $250,000-plus Maybach sports car, which they'd said they'd stopped for speeding as he left a star-laden concert at Manhattan's Beacon Theatre on July 22, 2007.

What advice would you give Ja Rule, Alan Hevesi or Dennis Kozlowski?  Share in the comments section...

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