Before Rick Ross would tell the world about how much of a boss he is and remind his fans
that every day is the perfect day to Boss up…
No seriously he has tweeted that pretty much every single morning for the past 4 years.
Before he would break the record for Ringtone sales with his first single “Hustlin”
Before Rick Ross would hold his own lyrically with some of the best in the game from Jay
Z to Andre 3000.
Before he would team up with Drake for Ross’s 2 highest charting singles on Billboard “I’m
On One” and “Money In The Grave” and their introspective classics “Gold Roses”
“Free Spirit” “Lord Knows” “Aston Martin Music” and more.
And Before Rozay would have over 4.5 million followers on Twitter and more than 10 million
followers on Instagram
I would have loved to have had Rick Ross perform at my Bar Mitzvah.
Rick Ross grew up “Hustlin” with dreams of one day going “No. 1” and making “Aston
Martin Music.”
When he was “Sixteen” he was playing football but he would “Stay Schemin” to “Push
It” to the next level.
But how did he go from a kid by the “Port of Miami” with a dream, to being “The
Boss” flying out to “Santorini Greece” and pulling up in a “Purple Lamborhgini?”
Well you clicked on the right video.
Ross has had one of the more interesting careers in rap.
In a world where authenticity is crucial, Ross has been able to overcome controversies
with his past, simply by putting out great music.
Whether it’s been about the origins of his name or job as a CO, a lot of Rick Ross’s
life has been put into question.
But 10 albums and a couple of near death experiences later, he is still putting out hits and he’s
still a captivating voice in hip-hop.
But we’re going to go through ALL of that in this video.
What’s going on good people in the comment section?
I hope you’re having one Hecht of a Day, name is Jeremy Hecht, and if you’re new
here and wondering who I am, I’m the LA host for this channel bringing you weekly
content.
Shoutout to everybody watching after school, on their lunch break from work, lying in bed
too lazy to get up for the day yet, and of course my toilet gang.
And shoutout to the fame gang, who have their notifications on and are here early.
This is an updated version of Ross’s bio, we’ve recently done updated versions on
YG, A Boodie, Wiz Khalifa and more so be sure to check those out after you finish watching
this one.
Before we start I’ve got a trivia question for you?
What’s the name of Ross’s most recent kid?
He’s got a great name, and it’s quintessentially Rick Ross to name him what he named him.
So leave your guesses in the comments down below and I’ll see you after the intro.
While William Leonard Roberts the II has become one of Miami’s biggest ambassadors, he was
actually born on January 28, 1976 in Mississippi.
It was there that he spent the first handful of his early years.
But as a child he moved to Carol City, Florida where he was raised.
Carol City became the place that shaped him.
Speaking about the differences between the two areas he said:
It always made me see the world from so many different aspects.
I saw the fast life of Miami, but I also saw the slow countryside of a small, country town
with a small population.
I heard the struggles.
Carol City is a very impoverished area , but is actually the home of some pretty big names
in hip-hop like Flo Rida, Gunplay, Denzel Curry and Spaceghostpurrp.
Early on, Ross would dream about a better life.
After seeing one of his friend’s dad’s pull up in a Mercadez, Ross made a pact with
himself that he would do whatever it takes to get himself a Benz one day.
Seeing so much crime around him, he connected with rappers like Biggie and Luther Campbell.
But his parents also would play a lot of Vinyl records in the household which inspired some
of his more RnB sounding records today.
Ross wrote his first rap over one of those vinyl instrumentals.
Growing up Ross had a job working at a car wash making $30 a day.
He would wash the expensive cars of a lot of the local drug dealers, which served as
more inspiration.
Ross attended Miami Carol City Senior High School where he played football and graduated.
His high school football nickname was “Big Boss.”
He then headed to Albany State University on a football scholarship and studied criminal
justice.
But it was in college that he began taking music more seriously and lost interest in
academics.
He rapped from the persona of a dealer who was running the streets, something that he
fantasized about as a child.
Roberts was rapping under the name Teflon Da Don and made his Suave House Records debut
as a feature on the Erik Sermon song “Aint Shhh to Discuss.”
In the mid 2000’s, he changed his rap name to Rick Ross.
The name was taken from former drug kingpin “Freeway Rick Ross.”
Freeway Ricky reportedly made close to a billion dollars from selling cocaine.
But when he found out that a guy from Florida took his name and possibly some of his story
for profit in music, he sued.
But eventually Roberts won the suit against Freeway and the case was thrown out.
Ross signed to Slip-N-Slide records and toured with Trick Daddy.
His first official single under the label was “Hustlin” which put him on the map.
The song became Gold and rose to number 11 on the charts.
He told the New Miami Times:
I wrote that song in about an hour on some good kush.
Well, you know, nothing you can’t accomplish in an hour with some good kush I guess.
Everyone saw the potential in Ross after his first single and the game’s biggest names
were battling to sign the Boss.
Diddy, Irv Gotti and Jay Z all placed their bids.
But in the end, Hov came out on top, like he usually does.
He signed Ross to Def Jam with a multi-million dollar deal.
His debut album “Port of Miami” was released in August of 2006 and debuted at #1 on the
US Billboard 200 chart selling nearly 200k albums in its first week.
Ross became close with fellow Miami native DJ Khaled and they teamed up together for
multiple collaborations.
In 2008, just when everything seemed to be going as planned for Ross, some controversy
sparked.
MediaTakeOut released a picture of a young Ross in uniform, and it wasn’t his high
school football jersey.
It was a picture of Roberts working as a correctional officer.
At first Ross denied it was him in the picture saying:
Online hackers put my face when I was a teenager in high school on other peoples' body.
If this s*** was real don't you think they would have more specifics, like dates and
everything?
But the evidence he asked for came out shortly afterwards.
Evidence was found that Ross worked there for 18 months from December of 1995 until
he resigned in June of 1997 where he was making a salary of around 25 thousand dollars per
year.
He graduated from the DoC training academy, which included the completion of 540 hours
of training and was assigned to the South Florida Reception Center in Dade County.
As you can guess, hip-hop had a pretty strong reaction.
In a genre that had NWA screaming F the police and Jay Z referencing his negative interactions
with the law on 99 Problems, you can bet that many people were skeptical of Ross’s past.
I don’t think that people would have been that upset at his past if he came out and
mentioned it from the beginning and if he wasn’t claiming to be living a life of drug
dealing and street life in his music.
The dissonance between the two lifestyles just seemed a little suspicious and people
began to question whether any of what Ross said on records was true.
But while all of this was going on, in January of 2008, Ross was actually arrested on gun
and marijuana charges.
8 months later, he was sued by DJ Vlad who claimed Ross attacked him when he started
asking him about being a correctional officer.
Vlad ended up having a broken eye socket, a broken nose and nerve damage.
So at least we know Ross can fight!
And Vlad was given 300 thousand dollars in damages.
But fighting with Vlad, that’s one thing.
Fighting with the most notorious troll in the rap game is a whole other battle.
50 Cent was never one to back down from battle and was often the one to instigate them, so
he didn’t seem too afraid to go after a former correctional officer.
It was all love at first between the two rap moguls as 50 congratulated Ross on his number
one album.
But Ross became upset that 50 looked at him a certain type of way at the 2008 BET awards
even though 50 Cent claimed to not even remember Rick Ross being there.
Classic 50.
I guess Ross decided there might be some beef and on "Mafia Music", threw some shots at
50 Cent.
50 was probably delighted to hear the diss as he seems to get excited about beef.
He decided to lean all the way into Ross’s past and released songs, got Ross’s baby
mom involved and created a full on cartoon show called "Officer Ricky.”
50 is a psychopath.
The way he was so calm and maniacal talking about that whole beef was hilarious.
And even today, in 2019 the two are going back and forth.
Do you guys think this beef will ever end?
Let me know in the comments down below.
But ultimately whether you think 50 won in terms of pettiness and creativity, Ross get
making an impact in the game and he did it solely by making great music.
He kept putting out hits.
Ross went on a run of singles, videos, albums and features that most rappers can’t match
in terms of catalogue.
In 2009 he dropped “Deeper Than Rap” which included Maybach Music 2.
The album reached number 1 on the US Billboard 200 so it seems like 50 wasn’t slowing down
Ross’s sales.
He followed that up with what many consider to be his best album “Teflon Don” which
included “Aston Martin Music” with Drake and “Free Mason” with Jay Z, which in
my opinion is Ross’s best verse of all time.
In a close second I have his verse on Kanye’s “Devil In A New Dress.”
What do you guys think his best verse is?
Ross kept putting out bodies of work that impressed fans year after year and his name
became solidified in the game.
But always working so hard can catch up to you.
And in October of 2011, Ross suffered 2 seizures.
Six months later, he had another one and was admitted to a hospital in Birmingham Alabama.
He took it as a sign that he needed to do something knew he had to prioritize his health
above all, dropping 90 pounds to save his life.
But his health continues to be a problem.
In 2018, Ross suffered a heart attack and was placed on life support.
So wishing Ross nothing but the best and hope his health is in a better place now.
In September of 2015 Ross proposed to his then 22-year-old girlfriend Lira Galore with
an 11-carat, $350,000 ring.
In the end the engagement was called off but it seems like it’s still nothing but love
from Ross:
Ross has 4 children with his most recent baby being born last year with his girlfriend Brianna
Camille.
His son’s name is Billion.
Billion Roberts, that kid is born to be great there’s no doubt about that.
And there you have the answer to the question from the beginning of the video.
Most recently, Ross dropped his album “Port of Miami 2” bringing things full circle
in his career and it seems like Ross will continue
But as for the rest of the video, that’s all I got for you.
Let me know who you want me to cover next in the comments down below and I’ll try
and make those videos for you.
You can also follow me on Instagram and let me now there.
Dream Good, Live Better, I’ll see you in the next video and if nobody’s told you
yet today, I love you.