There is arguably no hotter rapper in the game than Rick Ross. A week ago he had the #1 album in the country (his fourth #1 album) and his Maybach Music Group label put together a solid sophomore album, Self Made 2, which peaked at #4 of Billboard 200 charts earlier this summer. Ross has managed to put together a stable of impressive rappers, with many of them holding down different regions of the country. Ross hasn’t looked back since hitting rap fans with the single “Hustlin” six years ago, a song that nearly shut the whole summer down. But Rozay’s rise to the top has been filled with more than its share of controversy. Rap beefs, a prior career in law enforcement and an accusation of identity theft should have destroyed his career years ago, yet The Boss doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. In fact, he’s only gotten stronger.
Let me begin by saying that I enjoy Ross’ music. I fought it for awhile, but was eventually won over by 2009’s Deeper Than Rap and 2010’s Teflon Don. His latest work, God Forgives, I Don’t is just about on par with his last two albums, which proves that one of his strengths is his consistency. Much of the production on these three albums has been outstanding; the instrumentation on “Maybach Music IV”, for example, seems almost regal, and matches the persona Ross has built for himself.
The persona Ross has built for himself…does anyone else find a problem with this?
Strategic planning and marketing is all well and good, but this is not the same Rick Ross that was introduced to the world. Props to Ross for switching his style up, it was clearly a good business decision. But as a hip-hop fan, I prefer a rapper that doesn’t try to insult my intelligence on a daily basis.
One of the cardinal sins of the entire hip-hop culture is to affiliate yourself with any type of law enforcement. Rick Ross did this. Another is to fabricate your past. Ross did this too. In fact, he stole the entire identity of real life drug kingpin Freeway Ricky Ross and has successfully masked it under a cloak of luxury rap. Somehow, he’s gotten a pass on all this…from nearly everyone except Freeway Ricky himself.
Freeway Ricky has been in the process of suing the rapper Rick Ross (government name William Roberts), along with Warner Bros for improper use of his name and image. Rozay was on the cover of Rolling Stone this week, and addresses his former life as a corrections officer in Miami in the interview, a fact that was exposed several years ago and played up by 50 Cent during their beef in 2009. Ross proceeded to publicly deny this on several occasions, even though photographic evidence soon surfaced online.
Sidebar: Notice what happens in the above video. In order to skirt the question, Ross attempts to redirect the conversation back to music. He also dismisses the notion of being a CO as just a “rumor”. More importantly, he says people are simply trying to “attack my character”, thus indicating his awareness of the taboo of a law enforcement affiliation within the world of hip-hop. Then he references one of his partners who was recently on Cops in an attempt to maintain some level of hood authenticity. It’s not until the interviewer asks the question a second time (which could’ve been several minutes later due to the video edit) that Ross finally makes his denial.
50 would proceed to link up with Ross’ son’s mother Tia Kemp and produce a video where she confirms his past life in law enforcement and claimed that his money was lookin’ funny in the light.
In his Rolling Stone interview, Ross admits to having been a CO and gives his side of the story:
For the first time, Ross talks about his past life as a corrections officer – an opportunity, he says, to “wash my hands” after his best friend was sentenced to 10 years for trafficking cocaine and heroin:
“This was my best friend, who I ate peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches with, and pork and beans with, my buddy, my partner, my number-one dude. Suddenly I’m talking to him over federal phone calls. Hearing the way it was building, I knew I couldn’t take nothing for granted,” says Ross. “My homey’s father was a huge influence on my life, too…He was the one who was like, ‘Yo, go get a job somewhere, man. Go be a fireman. Or go be a fucking corrections officer. Just go sit down somewhere.”
One person that is not buying this? Freeway Ricky Ross. In an interview with Allhiphop.com, Freeway Ricky responded by saying:
“The answers in this Rolling Stone article were BS, this is scripted to make it look like he had some struggle… No one tells you to go be a correctional officer before all the other jobs that build our community, especially not when their son just got convicted for a long sentence.”
Freeway continued, “They especially won’t say it when their son just got convicted for a long sentence behind unfair drug laws. They tell you get a job, and don’t do crime. They don’t say ‘William my son is in jail for 20 years for a nonviolent offense, save yourself and go become his guard. Be a correctional officer.’ William never sold drugs, so the whole idea he had to wash his hands is never cleared up. Why would you wash your hands for somebody else selling drugs, that you happened to know? Rozay needs to read Michelle Alexander’s book New Jim Crow to understand why that’s the case, and his real place in the crack epidemic. He also never tells us a name for this created friend. This is a disrespect to everyone who actually lived the game, people are serving 20 years all because they had to for survival, and this guy is using my life and name this way.”
So far, Rick Ross has done his best Mike Vick impersonation, managing to escape both 50 Cent’s and Freeway Ricky’s attempts (both on the mic and in the courtroom) at thwarting his reign over the rap game. Then again, impersonations appear to come easy for him.
Ross and MMG are on top right now, but should he be? And what does that say about the current state of Hip-Hop?
A few years ago, he was the target of Houston rapper Slim Thug as the two battled over the nickname “The Boss”. He was also sued over the usage of the name Teflon Don for his fourth solo album. On that album, Ross’ second single B.M.F. (an acronym for Blowing Money Fast, although it has been widely assumed that the letters have a second meaning, Black Mafia Family) featured Rozay yelling, “I think I’m Big Meech, Larry Hoover…”, on the hook. Big Meech and Larry Hoover are two notorious gangsters and were the former heads of the street gangs Black Mafia Family and the Gangster Disciples respectively. Rapper Young Jeezy, who is close with Big Meech, initially took exception with the record and retaliated by saying on his mixtape track Death B4 Dishonor, “How you blowin’ money fast, you don’t know the crew?/ Oh, you part of the fam? Shit, I never knew.” Jeezy later backed off the notion that he and Ross had beef, but the damage had already been done.
In addition to being a talented artist, Rick Ross appears to be a habitual line-stepper when it comes to his authenticity and his relationship to drug lords of the past.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a rapper who isn’t from the streets, didn’t sell dope and isn’t strapped 24/7. Frankly, too many rappers claim to have been dope dealers (which to some degree is also a reflection of hoods around the country) and the over-glorification of that lifestyle in rap is quietly becoming a cancer within the genre. There is certainly a place for Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco and to some extent, Soulja Boy in rap music.
This persona worked for Ross though. He’s worked extremely hard to cultivate the image that he was heavy in the dope game and is really bout this life, and was long before he ever started rapping. He’s received financial backing, a co-sign or even a verse from nearly every respected and or big name in the industry, including (but not limited to): Jay-Z, Diddy, Nas, Dr. Dre, Lil Wayne, Drake, T.I., Kanye, Wiz Khalifa, Ludacris, Raekwon, Pusha T, Fabolous, Styles P and Jadakiss.
Sidebar: I would be more understanding of this if Ross was an exceptional lyricist. But most of the time he’s average to me. This guy shares my views on Rozay as a lyricist.
These relationships have helped Ross put together a string of very good, if not excellent albums. And while Ross typically gets eaten up by his features (though there’s no shame in getting outshined by the likes of Andre 3000, Nas and Jay-Z), it all plays into the hood regal mentality.
I got the most money. I got the biggest budget. So I’ll have the best producers, the best rappers and the best R&B singers on my album.
Once upon a time, there seemed to be some sort of vetting process within hip-hop that would have filtered out guys like Ross long ago, and therein lies the elephant in the room of Rick Ross’ career. On some level, the industry must need him. They need his music. They need his personality. They need his sound. They need his voice. People WANT to work with Rick Ross because it raises their profile and makes them relevant.
“I am 100% confident that if he had started off as a rapper and named himself William Roberts, and rapped about being a correctional officer, he would have never been successful.”- Freeway Ricky Ross
Have we possibly reached a point that none of this even matters anymore? A guy appears to have fabricated an entire back story, yet he’s accepted by fans and peers alike. Maybe rap has evolved to the point that violating the G code isn’t a big deal. Jay-Z once said he’s sick people with their now & later raps,”rap about it now, hope you get it later.” But Jigga overlooked this with Ross and actually signed him to Def Jam when he was CEO of the label in 2006.
It’s all about the bottom line.
Hov also famously once said, “You can’t knock the hustle.” And isn’t that all Rick Ross is doing? He hustled his way to the top of the rap game by hook or by crook (see what I did there?). If I told you fame, riches and notoriety awaited you as a musician, and all you had to do was steal someone’s identity and disrespect some of the principles rap music was built on, you might just do it. Actually, A LOT of people would do it and not think twice about it.
Even fellow Miami-Dade County resident Trick Daddy is conflicted on the issue. Back in February, Trick told Ozone Magazine, “Think about someone who has a clean [criminal] record who graduated at the top of their class. They have a clean driving record and always say “yes ma’am” and “yes sir.” If he gets on a record and tells all these lies about robbing and killing and dope dealing and you fall for it, and later you find out [it was a lie], he should be punished for that.” However Trick, who once toured with Ross when both were on Slip-n-Slide Records, went on to say, “I said it before and I’ll say it again. I’ve always been a fan of the man’s talents. I never really had a problem with it. I think what blew [the whole situation] out of proportion was that he had a problem admitting it.”
The truth of the matter is the man makes great music and is probably the hottest rapper in the game. In light of all these facts, several questions still remain:
Is the rap game better off with or without Rick Ross? Should the public admire his tenacity and his focus on climbing to the top by any means necessary? Or should the public be ashamed of themselves for letting a fraud infiltrate a once proud fraternity? Should we be upset that he built his career in this manner and, by dominating the airwaves, is taking away the spot of another artist that has a real story to tell? OR, is Rick Ross the victim? Perhaps Ross is simply the spawn of the current state of hip-hop. After all, this is big business, and this thing is bigger than Rick Ross.
Rozay probably isn’t the only rapper to launch a career this way, but he’s clearly done it better than anyone else. He did what he had to do to get to the top, and in a six year run that doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon, the only people to really pulled his card are 50 Cent and Freeway Ricky Ross (and to a lesser extent Trick Daddy Dollars). Rick Ross is the Barry Bonds of rap music.
This is HHSR’s first Referendum piece. The people have to decide once and for all, is Rick Ross’ behavior acceptable, or not? Maybe at the end of the day music is the only thing that should matter. If that’s true, then Rick Ross truly is the Teflon Don.