Freeway Ricky Ross, the notorious former drug kingpin, recently took to the airwaves to share his grievances about rapper Rick Ross appropriating his identity.
During a candid conversation on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Freeway Ricky detailed his frustrations, recounting the legal battles over his name.
The rapper Rick Ross transitioned from a corrections officer to a Hip-Hop heavyweight, collaborating with some of the industry’s most recognized names despite a past marred by allegations of misconduct in his former profession.
“He was a corrections officer… but when he got some money, they all forgot about it,” Freeway Ricky Ross said. “You got gangsters doing records with him… people who say they hate snitches doing records with the police officer.”
During an interview with AllHipHop, Freeway Ricky Ross said the rapper visited him in prison and asked for his blessings to use his name.
When Freeway Ricky Ross refused permission to the rap star, he simply took the name.
Freeway Ricky expressed outrage at the rapper for adopting his moniker without permission or acknowledgment.
“Anytime I’m around, he disappears,” Freeway Ricky Ross said about how the rapper Rick Ross avoids him. “How would you take my name and not have the decency to ask me? He won’t even admit that he stole the name.”
Freeway Ricky sued the rapper for $10 million but lost the case due to his criminal background.
Freeway Ricky Ross could not legally trademark his name because he became popular due to “illegal activity.”
As a result, Freeway Ricky was required to cover the rapper’s legal fees, totaling approximately $1 million.
“I owe them a million dollars,” he revealed. “Got a million-dollar judgment against me because I had to pay their legal fees.”
During the podcast, Freeway Ricky also reminisced about his past, speaking on his involvement in the drug trade and the controversial ties with the CIA’s role in the crack cocaine crisis during the Iran-Contra affair.
The story was chronicled in “Freeway: Crack in the System,” a documentary that tells the story of how Rick Ross became a major drug kingpin in Los Angeles during the 1980s crack cocaine epidemic.