Rapper Ja Rule is serving a two-year sentence for attempted criminal possession of a firearm (a loaded .40 was found in his car in 2007)—plus another four months for tax evasion—and he seems pretty upbeat. At least, that what this exclusive interview and video from the Daily News suggest: "The Queens-raised rap star says disgraced pol Alan Hevesi and corporate greed poster-boy Dennis Kozlowski took him under their wings. From Kozlowski, he got stock tips. From Hevesi, he heard about the perennial impasse in Albany. They watched Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert together." Ja Rule said, "Outside, you don’t meet guys like this every day. This place is amazing."

This place being the Mid-State Correctional Facility in upstate Oneida, N.Y., where Ja Rule has studied for his GED (he got it two weeks ago). Apparently Kozlowski, the former Tyco chairman whose excess was infamous, offered his tutoring help and also told Ja Rule to buy airline stock: "Koz just got out on work release. Not to say I wish he was still here. But [he and Hevesi] both great, smart guys.”

His nickname for Alan Hevesi, the former State Comptroller brought down by accepting bribes from firms who wanted a piece of NY State's pension business, is "Hevey." As in: "Hevey’s a Democrat like me, so that helps. He told me how it’s like pulling teeth with the two parties trying to get bills passed."

The rapper was philosophical, "We’re from totally different walks of life. But when you’re here, you’re here."