Quantcast

Rick Ross

Larger-than-life Miami native Rick Ross’s stardom has been a long time coming. Growing up in the rough neighborhood of Carol City, Ross - real name William Roberts - juggled amateur rhyming (inspired chiefly by Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G.) and small-time drug dealing with his position as a high-school football star. After briefly attending Auburn University on a football scholarship in the late 1990’s, Ross decided to forgo a potential NFL career and return to Miami where he became heavily involved in the cocaine trade under notorious Miami kingpin Boobie Willams. Around this time he began to seriously establish his rap credentials, forming the Carol City Cartel crew and singing a management deal with local powerhouse Poe Boy Entertainment (Flo Rida, Brisco).

Rick Ross - who takes his stage name from "Freeway" Rick Ross, an infamous Los Angeles drug dealer from the 1980’s - soon became a regular in Miami’s underground mixtape circuit, working with the likes of Trick Daddy and Luther Campbell of 2Live Crew. His fame exploded in 2006 with the release of his first hit single, "Hustlin’", put out by Miami’s own Slip-N-Slide Records. The runaway success of "Hustlin’" prompted Ross to sign a record deal with Jay-Z’s Def Jam Records (Beanie Siegel, Kanye West), who dropped his hotly-anticipated debut album Port of Miami by the end of the year.

Though perhaps not as lyrically skilled or as nimble with his delivery as other players in the game, Ross’s heavy, hypnotic flow and operatic backing beats carried Port of Miami to the #1 spot on the Billboard 200, moving well over 600,000 copies. Standout tracks like "Push It", "Hustlin‘", and "Blow" cultivated Ross’s image as a glamorous and rich drug kingpin, standing in contrast to the rags-to-riches tales of street corner hustling told by other southern emcees like T.I. and Young Jeezy. After a number of high-profile collaborations in 2007 with his homies Fat Joe and DJ Khaled, Ross returned to the studio in 2008 to begin recording his second album.

Rick Ross Videos

Rick Ross Photos

    Views: 13,018
    Views: 3,885
    Views: 3,750
    Views: 2,655
    Views: 1,536
    Views: 1,295
    Views: 1,258
    Views: 1,127
    Views: 1,019
    Views: 997
    Views: 993
    Views: 883
You Must Login to Comment

  • deannaespichan@yahoo.com on Fri Apr 10th, 2009 said...

    yo, my dude you big sexy hot cup chocolate i sip from your cup all day keep making it do what it do
You are not currently a fan of Rick Ross
Rick Ross has
38
fans.