Freeway Ricky Ross: Name Check
What’s in a name? Everything.
It can be haphazardly given, a carefully contemplated nom de plume or even a wayward nickname that sticks, but eventually your name will come to represent the many facets of your being. "Freeway" Ricky Ross—the man serving out a bid in the Texarkana Federal Correctional Institution for drug trafficking—takes pride in his name. He earned the Freeway moniker when gaining his legend running a multi-million dollar cocaine ring that spanned from South Central LA to the Midwest and beyond in the 80's. Google it if you need evidence.
Meanwhile, Def Jam/Slip-n-Slide artist Rick Ross’ (né William Leonard Roberts) name rings heavy in the Hip-Hop game; initially for rising to the top of a crowded rap heap but most recently for leaked photos depicting his alleged stint in the late 90’s as a Corrections Officer. Holding down a square gig isn’t anything to clown but in The Boss’ case, the uniform doesn’t jibe with the former drug kingpin image that permeates his music. But the real dilemma isn’t Ross’ resume (really, how domounting evidence to the contrary.
No matter where you stand in the Rick Ross as fraud debate, Freeway Ricky Ross is at least one individual with legit qualms about the matter. The artist Rick Ross’ name is a blatant ode to Freeway Ricky Ross, but it’s not a juxtaposition the latter endorses. Via e-mail with Ricky Ross we asked the reformed drug dealer with eyes on flipping his fame for positivity questions pertaining to his feelings regarding Rick Ross-gate and Hip-Hop’s overall infatuation with the drug trade. Pay heed, because it get no realer.
AllHipHop.com: How did you get in contact with the artist Rick Ross: did he reach out to you or did you reach out to him?
Freeway Ricky Ross: I have friends that work at a lot of magazines and right before he got ready to blow up I got a lot of mail asking me how I felt about him using my name and asking me if I wanted to holla at him. So one of my boys gave me his number. No, he never reached out to me.
AllHipHop.com: You’ve mentioned having spoken to Rick Ross a few times before, what were the conversations about and what did you take from them, as far as his character? Did you ever implicitly say you were not okay with him using your name?
Freeway Ricky Ross: The conversation was basically about him using my name. The first couple of times he talked real cool. I really couldn't talk to him the way I wanted to because all my phone calls are monitored and I was under investigation at the time. But I told him it would be best that we have a sit down. He [explained] to me how he picked my name and that he definitely owed me. He said that the first thing he did was mention my name on a record. And when he did that people's ears perked.
This is probably true, a lot of people probably don’t know he knew my name, but in ‘96 there was a media [blitz] with me. I made every major newspaper in this country. I also made all the talk shows. I was doing three or four interviews a day. So we agreed that we would do a sit down in the visiting room and discuss what was going on with our situation. Here is the address that he gave me to send the visiting forms to: [REDACTED] Hialeah, Fl as well as a phone numbers. 305-[REDACTED] or 786-[REDACTED].
He just tried to reach out to me about three weeks ago before all this stuff hit but I refuse to have contact with him. What was really surprising with the whole conversation with him [was] that even though he was in the studio a numerous of times when we spoke, he not once asked me if I would say a few things on his album. I never requested, because it was kinda of odd cause I had talked to a lot of rappers and they wanted me to say something on their album and was willing to pay without me asking.
No I never told him it was ok to use my name. I told him I wasn't trippin but we needed to sit down and talk. Cause I would never be involved with a Millie Vanilli. I built this name to what it is today to where I can go to any prison in this country and get saluted.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE INTERVEW
Freeway Rick Ross>C.O. Rick Ross REAL TALK!
It can be haphazardly given, a carefully contemplated nom de plume or even a wayward nickname that sticks, but eventually your name will come to represent the many facets of your being. "Freeway" Ricky Ross—the man serving out a bid in the Texarkana Federal Correctional Institution for drug trafficking—takes pride in his name. He earned the Freeway moniker when gaining his legend running a multi-million dollar cocaine ring that spanned from South Central LA to the Midwest and beyond in the 80's. Google it if you need evidence.
Meanwhile, Def Jam/Slip-n-Slide artist Rick Ross’ (né William Leonard Roberts) name rings heavy in the Hip-Hop game; initially for rising to the top of a crowded rap heap but most recently for leaked photos depicting his alleged stint in the late 90’s as a Corrections Officer. Holding down a square gig isn’t anything to clown but in The Boss’ case, the uniform doesn’t jibe with the former drug kingpin image that permeates his music. But the real dilemma isn’t Ross’ resume (really, how domounting evidence to the contrary.
No matter where you stand in the Rick Ross as fraud debate, Freeway Ricky Ross is at least one individual with legit qualms about the matter. The artist Rick Ross’ name is a blatant ode to Freeway Ricky Ross, but it’s not a juxtaposition the latter endorses. Via e-mail with Ricky Ross we asked the reformed drug dealer with eyes on flipping his fame for positivity questions pertaining to his feelings regarding Rick Ross-gate and Hip-Hop’s overall infatuation with the drug trade. Pay heed, because it get no realer.
AllHipHop.com: How did you get in contact with the artist Rick Ross: did he reach out to you or did you reach out to him?
Freeway Ricky Ross: I have friends that work at a lot of magazines and right before he got ready to blow up I got a lot of mail asking me how I felt about him using my name and asking me if I wanted to holla at him. So one of my boys gave me his number. No, he never reached out to me.
AllHipHop.com: You’ve mentioned having spoken to Rick Ross a few times before, what were the conversations about and what did you take from them, as far as his character? Did you ever implicitly say you were not okay with him using your name?
Freeway Ricky Ross: The conversation was basically about him using my name. The first couple of times he talked real cool. I really couldn't talk to him the way I wanted to because all my phone calls are monitored and I was under investigation at the time. But I told him it would be best that we have a sit down. He [explained] to me how he picked my name and that he definitely owed me. He said that the first thing he did was mention my name on a record. And when he did that people's ears perked.
This is probably true, a lot of people probably don’t know he knew my name, but in ‘96 there was a media [blitz] with me. I made every major newspaper in this country. I also made all the talk shows. I was doing three or four interviews a day. So we agreed that we would do a sit down in the visiting room and discuss what was going on with our situation. Here is the address that he gave me to send the visiting forms to: [REDACTED] Hialeah, Fl as well as a phone numbers. 305-[REDACTED] or 786-[REDACTED].
He just tried to reach out to me about three weeks ago before all this stuff hit but I refuse to have contact with him. What was really surprising with the whole conversation with him [was] that even though he was in the studio a numerous of times when we spoke, he not once asked me if I would say a few things on his album. I never requested, because it was kinda of odd cause I had talked to a lot of rappers and they wanted me to say something on their album and was willing to pay without me asking.
No I never told him it was ok to use my name. I told him I wasn't trippin but we needed to sit down and talk. Cause I would never be involved with a Millie Vanilli. I built this name to what it is today to where I can go to any prison in this country and get saluted.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE INTERVEW
Freeway Rick Ross>C.O. Rick Ross REAL TALK!
BBB@BFochs.com
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