________________
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of AllHipHop.com
_________________
I met Freeway Ricky Ross once and was taken aback by his short stature. I mean, he loomed larger than life in my mind, but upon sight, here was this frail man, barely standing 5’6″ and maybe 150 lbs. soaking wet. This is the guy that wreaked havoc on South Central Los Angeles in the 80’s? This is the cat who was gettin’ three million dollars a day off that raw-dog (cocaine) while, at the same time, helping the C.I.A. destroy and decimate a whole generation of black people—for nothing more than for filthy lucre’s sake?
This is why I’m having a hard time being sympathetic towards Freeway Ricky Ross and his lawsuits against rapper Rick Ross aka Ricky Rozay. And so far, Freeway don’ lost two hearings on the matter. Most would agree that rapper Ricky Rozay bit Freeway’s steez, yea, his whole persona down to the bald head and Osama beard, but is this lawsuit worthy? According to two courts, no!
RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Freeway Rick Ross Issues Statement On Rapper Rick Ross & Authenticity In Hip Hop
Freeway Ricky Ross suffers from the “Apostle Paul Complex.” This is his dilemma. How can I (or you) be sympathetic to a man who’s caused such harm to his own people while his biggest concern is receiving monetary gain off of a name and lifestyle that was detrimental to his own people? (I’m starting to sound like Minister Paul Scott! God forbid!) Freeway is the Apostle Paul to the hip-hop world I tell you!
For those who remember their Bible learnin’—the Apostle Paul (Saul), before he allegedly met Jesus was a piece of scum! Dude went around the countryside harassing his own people (the Jews) and putting them in jail and oftentimes killing them. Oh, he was one bad m###! And then a day came where he flip-da-script, but by then, it was too late to repent to his own people, so he took his message of salvation over yonder (to the gentiles). He may have met Jesus on the “Road To Damascus” and alla dat! But the Jews weren’t trying to hear none of that newfound religiosity he was preaching! “N####! You kilt my mama! You put my daddy in prison! You raped my sister and you murked my dear ol’ grandma! F### you, your dirty drawhs and the religious garbage you’re spitting!” That was the sentiment of most law-abiding Jews of that time. Nobody was sympathetic just ‘cause you had a change of heart! Take that s### over there!
Similarly, this is Freeway Ricky Ross’s problem. Okay! You’ve changed. You’ve paid your debt to society and now you wanna do good. Great! Now you want this hip-hop generation to side with you against Ricky Rozay over your name and forget what your name stood for—the death of a people! You don’t want Rozay profiting off your name, yet you profited off the backs of welfare mothers and had your people strung out on the devil’s dick! (Drugs)
We’re supposed to be sympathetic towards you just ‘cause a n#### wants to use your dirty name to bolster some street-cred in the rap game? Would you be this gung ho if Ricky Rozay was not a dope (no pun intended) artist (‘cause he is!) and makin’ money off your “perceived” persona?
Gangster rap invented this persona, so what Ricky Rozay did in “adopting,” “plagiarizing,” “biting” and stealing another man’s image was far from out of the ordinary! The rap world is full of rappers named “Gotti,” “Noriega,” “Capone,” “Scarface,” and “Don,” who swipe the names of legendary criminal white guys to feign gangsterized—and even Rick Rozay’s arch-nemesis 50 Cent, who stole his name from the original 50 Cent—a lil n#### with the heart of a lion who was killing people catching bodies all over New York! So really, how much different was Rick Rozay’s actions, other than denying that he was using the moniker of a dude from the West Coast? Why he went through all the double-talking and obfuscation is anyone’s guess. (And we already know why Rozay denied all the correctional officer stuff. S### was bad for business, but a n#### like me would’ve flipped it and said, “Yeah! I was a correctional officer and knew Noriega, the real Noriega and was gettin’ intel and bricks from that n#### when he was locked up in Miami!” How dope of a back-story would that be for a rapper?)
Since I’m from Miami—from the same hood as Ricky Rozay (Carol City) let me clear some s### up for you folks from around the country. When you’re not from a certain city you don’t have the proper knowledge and/or understanding of that city’s crime underworld. You don’t know who the players and pushers and D-boys and all their captains and lieutenants and shooters are. (There are levels to this s###!) Where Rozay fit in that pantheon of miscreants is debatable, but indeed, contrary to the popular belief of 50 Cent dick-riders, 18-months as a correctional officer does not discount for a life of thuggery, chicanery and criminality. And what kind of fool would associate himself with a criminal enterprise responsible for 35 deaths just for a rap career? Get ya mind right! This is “deeper than rap!” Ricky Rozay was in the underworld deep! So much so that he rapped about his affiliation to the murderous Boobie Boys gang proudly. He rapped of Boobie’s incarceration, “… when they snatched Black [Boobie], I cried a 100 nights, he got a 100 bodies, serving a 100 lifes.”
How could a fraud be this respected in the streets—still? Miami ain’t soft! Them n##### from “The Bahas” and Carol City would’ve long dealt with Ricky Rozay for the perpetration of name-dropping and affiliating himself with something he was never part of.
And so, Rozay messed up and chose the name of a ghetto-star from the Left Coast who wants a come-up off his licentious lifestyle, believing that Rozay was never “about that life” from the first.
And now we are left to our own devices. We are expected to shun the man who borrowed his name from a former drug dealer and praise the man who destroyed many communities and people from peddling dope. This is that thingy about Freeway Ricky Ross that rubs me the wrong way. I have respect for Freeway for things he’s doing to better his community and hip-hop, but it’s now time to drop this lawsuit thingy and move on. You f##### up in life and this is part of the punishment–seeing another n#### rock your name and fame. Accept it and own it!