When VIBE sat down with Rick Ross for the August “Real Rap” issue, the self-proclaimed “biggest boss you’ve seen thus far” still had his credibility intact. There were no allegations of a former life as a prison guard; no other rappers or media outlets calling him out for his shady past, word to Trick Daddy and TheSmokingGun.com.
But what a difference the fame makes. In a special edition of VIBE’s NEXT section entitled “Since I Got Famous…” VIBE talked to Ross about how the life he lives now is different than the one he had before his Def Jam deal. Apparently, he’s always had that beard, and if you got something to say about that, he’ll feed you to his tigers.
VIBE.com: So describe an average day for the biggest boss in the game.
Rick Ross: You know I'm up early in the morning. I start my day off every morning with a strong prayer and a big blunt, just to keep my mind right. Then I just start finding shit to get into. I'm one of them dudes who don't really have calendars; I don't have Blackberry [sic]. I don't have none of those things the average industry people have, because I'm not that dude. I just find shit to go as I go. I think of stuff to do and I just handle business. Everyday I just try to create a new way to go to that next level.
What can you do now, since you've been famous, that you couldn't do before?
Being an up and coming artist, I never did features. I was in the game 10 years and I just made music with my team, Triple C, you know so for me to be able to come up with an idea and to be able to reach out to Jay-Z for "Maybach Music", Lil Wayne for "Luxury Tax", T-Pain, to me that's one of the biggest advantages of becoming successful.
Are you happier now?
Most definitely it's a blessing. Like I say, when something starts as a dream and you actually grind to fulfill that and it actually happens and it comes to pass, it just gives you that certain level of confidence that let you know that you could accomplish anything.
And what was your life like before you got famous, what did that teach you?
It taught me to always stay the same. After my single took off, "Everyday I'm Hustlin'", for my first album I still was doing a lot of the wrong things, but I didn't take that for granted.
In "Maybach Music," you say, "Some things money can't buy." What are those things?
You can't buy happiness. you can't buy love, you can't buy life. My father['s] dead, I got a slew of homeys that dead and gone; I just wish I could see their expression at seeing where I'm at today. 'Cause we done been through so many things in the past. No matter how much money you get you can't bring back those things.
One thing I heard or read you did that you might not have been able to do in the past was pay your daughter's college tuition up front?
I did that for my daughter, my son, and my niece. That's important, you giving them that opportunity. More importantly than just having it set up for them, I think them going through school, knowing that somebody already prepared this for them and expects this from them, it'll raise that bar. And college was something that if it wasn't for sports I would've never considered.
You played football, right?
Yeah, I played football and I got a scholarship and I walked away from it but…Wow, I'm trippin. Where's my ring? Oh, I left it in that room. Yeah, that's something that's real to me and I think most street dudes, that's something we need to be into. You know, if you get street money there's nothing better you could do than invest in a little one. Even if it ain't your kid. There's something that we as real dudes and real G's need to be doing.
You said in "Speedin'" that you're worth $15 million and you're trying to spend it all in one week. How are you going to do that?
That's talking bout my mentality and my aggressiveness for getting money and being successful and my appetite to spend. I want to enjoy shit too. I already got close to a million and a half just in jewelry and homes, it's easy to accumulate that. But that's the little money. Looking at the big picture, that's a little bit of money. But I say that on my records to inspire the streets, to motivate the streets. Just me saying that it open up the mind of somebody that's sitting home and think they got a big plan but when they hear me say that, it will let ‘em know its cool to even think bigger.
What's the most expensive thing you've bought?
Well, I own cars. One of my cars costs close to a half a million dollars. I have extravagant things. My homes. One of my swimming pools is $300,000. I look at all of that as me investing in myself. I feel like long as I can keep my mind strong and keep satisfying my appetite, I'm a keep making money. I'm a money magnet. I feel like that's what a boss's job is to do, is position yourself in a way where you become a money magnet and you could get money even when you not trying to get money. Every day of the week I could sell a verse for 40, 50 thousand dollars. It's just, do I feel like going to get that, or do I feel like doing some of my personal money? We do shows, sometimes we do three shows in a day, a walk-through in the evening at 2 at night. It depends on the workload I want to do. Usually I'm ready for it all.
What's the cheapest thing you love?
Remote control cars - my gas-powered remote control cars. That's one of my things I like to do, smoke good, sit back, jump shit. When my shit flip over, I got somebody waiting down there to get it and turn it back around. That's what we'll do. Some of my homeys, they got they helicopters and shit. They can't land. They scared to let me fly. I damn sure can't land.
I have to ask about that face medallion. Is it true that it cost $200,000?
I'm gonna keep it real, it was a little more than that, but I rounded that down.
Is it a to-scale model of your face?
Yeah. To me, it's just my logo. That's something I stand behind. I live by that and die by that. The streets know, when they see my face, they know what to expect from me. I'm a keep it the same way all the way around. And I just was like, fuck it, lets do it. It's something that's gonna inspire the streets, inspire niggas to make moves, inspire niggas to buy real estate, inspire niggas to be bosses. That's all that is.
If you continue to become a bigger boss, would you get a bigger one?
You never know. I got some shit in the works right now. This one costs two times as much.
What happened with that tiger on your video on your “Here I Am” video?
We was just on the set. The tiger was chillin, and I think the tiger had done got that contact of that good kush, and the tiger was just chilling. The tiger got irritated, but the trainer knew what it was. I'm pretty sure that was only his 200th time getting bit. He bled and shit, but he cleaned it up and we kept shooting. He was good, so I wasn't tripping.
You would never get a tiger right?
Yeah. But I want one of the real orange ones with the black stripes.
Not the white one?
Not the white one. I want the real one. So when you see it you know. I want to feed it haters.
You ever get tired of the beard?
Hell nah. That's my thing. That's before the music. That's that Bin Laden. - Interview conducted by Pete L'Official
For more from this interview, check out VIBE's August '08 issue, on newsstands now.
Vote for Rick Ross in VIBE's Best Rapper Alive tournament at http://www.vibe.com/bestrapper/
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