![]() It sparked a bidding war with Def Jam Records, headed by Jay Z, winning the battle and signing Ross to a highly publicized record deal. The single was eventually certified gold, an impressive feat for a brand-new recording artist. The first proper single from Ross, "Hustlin'," became a smash hit, due to the hypnotic line, "every day I'm hustling," repeated throughout. Ross is an incredible rapper.” 'Hustlin’' Heats Up, Def Jam Records Deal The CEO of Slip-N-Slide, Ted Lucas, would later praise Ross’ solo breakthrough, which happened after he left the label: “I never doubted him musically and lyrically. While he appeared as a guest on several labelmates’ projects, his only solo release would be the promo-only single "Just Chillin'" in 2003. Ross later moved to the Miami-based record label Slip-N-Slide, which released music by hip-hop favorites like Trick Daddy - whom Ross would later tour with - and female rapper Trina. Ironically, Ross worked as a corrections officer in Florida for almost two years (something he initially denied when it was revealed, but later accepted), but the lure of hip-hop music and the lavish lifestyle of the drug dealers he saw throughout his youth led him in another direction.īefore adopting the Rick Ross persona, he’d made his debut on former EPMD member Erick Sermon’s 2000 compilation Def Squad Presents Erick Sermon, appearing as Tephlon on a track called "Ain’t Shhh to Discuss." He was eventually signed to an independent Southern rap label, Suave House Records, whose acts also included the popular underground duo 8Ball & MJG. He took his performing name from stories he heard of a drug trafficker named "Freeway" Rick Ross. Although he attended Georgia's Albany State University on a football scholarship for a year, Ross started writing rap lyrics that romanticized drug dealing, an act that he saw as a child. Raised in Carol City, Florida - an impoverished area of north of Miami - Ross gravitated to the music of street-oriented rappers like Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G., Luther Campbell and Ice Cube. Ross was born William Leonard Roberts II in Coahoma County, Mississippi, on January 28, 1976. While a controversial figure, Ross is held in high esteem within the music industry, signing deals with P. He remains a prolific artist, both as a solo performer and as a guest, and his Maybach Music Group has put out albums by artists including Wale, Meek Mill, French Montana and Teedra Moses. He's had his fair share of legal tussles, as well as the obligatory rap beef (with 50 Cent). As goes one to-the-point line on Port of Miami 2’s “Gold Roses”, “I know it seem odd/But money amazin’.Rick Ross is a rapper and label boss from Mississippi who has received Grammy nominations but also had his background called into question. Even as he made room to reflect on mortality (2019’s “I Still Pray”), race (2015’s “We Gon Make It”) and politics (2017’s “Santorini Greece”), you always knew where his heart was. Ross worked steadily throughout the 2010s, easing into a more reflective version of his persona-in 2018, he’d ended up on life support after collapsing in his home-without sacrificing any of his outsized grandeur. By 2009, he’d started the Maybach Music Group, following the rapper-to-boardroom path paved by artists like JAY-Z and Birdman by 2010’s Teflon Don, his skills as had caught up to his vision. In 2008, his brief past as a corrections officer-18 months, starting at age 19-surfaced, loading new coals on the ever-ongoing conversation about biography and authenticity in rap. But it’s good TV nevertheless.īorn William Roberts in 1976, Ross started rapping in his early twenties, with “Hustlin’”-then self-released-sparking a bidding war that landed him on Def Jam. “Am I really just a narcissist/’Cause I wake up to a bowl of lobster bisque?” he asked on 2011’s “I Love My Bi***es”. Even as he toned down the supervillainy, Ross remained larger than life, luxury incarnate. Few artists were as perceptive in capturing the genre’s turn towards new-money excess, the move from the streets-in Ross’ case, Carol City, Florida-to the exurbs, to cars that outprice helicopters and houses the size of airplane terminals. When Rick Ross’ “Hustlin’” came out in early 2006, it almost seemed like a joke: How could you make something so gonzo and still keep a straight face? This wasn’t rap as lyricism or verbal documentary, it was rap as pro wrestling, summer blockbuster.
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