Hee, hee…the AllHipHop Staff thought they were going to have the final word on 2009. They were so wrong. Here are the final 2 words.
Rick Ross.
The name causes calamity.
The name causes hate.
The name causes scorn.
The name causes debate!
People hated on Ross so badly, they thought AllHipHop named him the King of the South. Read it here. He wasn’t even deemed the King of the South in 2009, but the Ill Community’s mob mentality took over, when the reading should have been fundamental. We appointed Lil Wayne the “King of the South,” but the readers simply wanted to talk about the BAWSE! He is the “Illseed Person of the Year!”
In the not so distant future, Rick Ross was just another rapper that rhymed about a lot of cocaine. Sure, there was a bit more to him, but he seemed to be another dude that did cocaine rap to me. All that changed with the 2008 revelation that he was once a correctional officer at a jail facility in Miami. It was the worst-kept secret to come out of Florida. Ross was finished, but it actually made him a bigger star. People couldn’t stop talking about him.
Then in ’09 Ross plucked 50 Cent’s nerves when he said:
“I love to pay ya bills, can’t wait to pay ya rent / Curtis Jackson, baby mama ain’t looking for a cent / Burn the house down, you gotta buy another / Don’t forget the gas can, jealous stupid motherf***er.”
– Rick Ross
A risky, but brilliant chess move by Ross.
There was blood in the water and the biggest shark went for a swim.
When it was all said and done, the water was crimson red, but somehow Rick Ross lived through 50 Cent’s retaliatory attack.
Embroiled in a beef with the King of Beef is a death sentence for most. 50 Cent threw everything at Ross, save actual bullets. The boss didn’t die. He didn’t die.
What Ross did…
He did something that people wanted…he made a damn good album with Deeper Than Rap. I never liked the title but the album was dope. I’ll go so far as to say that anybody that calls it wack is a straight up, die-hard, self-loathing HATER.
Deeper Than Rap was fashioned like others before it (think Notorious B.I.G.) with the distinct ability to balance hardcore Hip-Hop with commercial gems. Sure, he never crossed over fully, but that didn’t stop him from selling a cool 158,000 units his first week out (about the same 50 Cent would go on to sell his first week). When the year was over, Ross had sold 401,000, making him the 4th top selling rap act of 2009. I suspect even the haters picked up Ross on the merits of his music, not his past job.
Heads up…
I have a revelation for some people.
Your favorite rapper isn’t all that he is represents in his raps. I am certain people would actually want their favorite coke rapper to have sold insane amounts of coke rather than just rap about it. Sure, they want rappers to actually do crimes they speaketh, because if they don’t…they are frauds. Right? I mean, your parents go to work and act “fake” for their manager and co-workers so what’s the big deal? Blah!
For me, I never thought Rick Ross was anything more than a rapper. If he is, that’s cool for those that need that. But, I just liked the damn album and am grown enough that I don’t need him killing anybody in street wars. Can people just enjoy the music? Raekwon did an album that talked about coke and we know he’s not in it like that. Dr. Dre was never a gangster and we’re waiting for him like he’s Santa Claus.
Even more, I like how Rick stood in the eye of the storm and didn’t blink. Well, when he first heard 50 go at his baby moms he definitely came out of his cool, but that was about it. Other than that, Rick and crew just kept releasing songs, videos and kept it about the music.
Moreover, Rick Ross even picked a fight with Eminem and the Detroit rapper side-stepped him for Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon. No shots to Em, but…hey…I would have loved to have see that one go down.
What is life without a villain?
Rick Ross is the person that you hate to love and love to hate, an honor once held by Ice Cube.
I’ve said it hundreds of times: “They keep us talking, but if we stop talking about them then they should worry!”
Rick kept people talking and, truth be told, hate is better than the indifference.
Long live the hate!
Long live the music!
Long live THE BAWSE!