Rainy Dayz

Ja Rule wrote "Rainy Dayz" in response to the September 11 attacks in his home city of New York. He told Complex, "I went in my basement in my studio and put that record together because that’s how I was feeling about the situation. I felt like the nation—us as a country, us as people—we were going through a rainy day. It will pass but today this is what it is. Speaking to TRL, he said, "It’s basically about how we feel going through life. But [in] these times, especially right now [with] what’s going on, it kind of fits. On the record, I’m basically saying that it’s these rainy days that we spend a lifetime trying to wash away. Just waiting for the sun to come and shine again. But until then, come smile for me. So that’s the kind of vibe that [the song] is on.^[1]

The track was originally written for TLC for their fourth studio album 3D, but the group turned the track down.^[2] Group member Tionne Watkins commented on this, saying "It wasn't that I didn't like the song, it was more so that I felt like I've already been there, done that, and I was just on another page at the time". References to TLC being the group in mind when the track was written can be heard in the lyrics "We’re always livin’ so crazy and sexy and cool" (in reference to their album CrazySexyCool) and "Baby didn’t they tell you before about chasin’ those waterfalls" (in reference to their 1995 single "Waterfalls"). The track also has a reference to the Marvin Gaye song "What's Going On."

BET.com wrote of the song: "Mary more than makes it her own, turning pain into hope in the course of a four-minute song—a major theme of both this song's album and Mary's career arc."^[3] Jason MacNeil, writing for PopMatters, noted that "Rainy Dayz" begins "with a horrid pace and structure, but thankfully moves into a much better vibe as some dense layering and keyboards gives it a decent tune."^[4]