TSS PRESENTS FIFTEEN MINUTES WITH RICK ROSS
"Fifteen Minutes With..." By Beware on December 4, 2007 at 11:47 amIt’s not everyday you get to talk to a millionaire.
Recently, I had the chance to do just that when speaking to Dade County’s Rick Ross, who shared what it feels like to have that kind of monetary clout, rising from the bottom up and how music has helped keep his money fresher than a box of Arm & Hammer. Through constant grinding, dedication and self-motivation, this former trafficker and current hustler has made it to a point in his life where counting his possessions & blessings takes more than one hand…and more time than the interview allowed. Does that mean he’s content?
Hell no baby. He’s the boss.
Ross: What’s up, B?
TSS: Rick, man, how you doin’?
Ross: I’m good, baby, I’m good.
TSS: Excellent. You sound good. How’s that weather down there in Miami?
Ross: Actually, I’m up in here in New York. I’m freezing right now.
TSS: I hear you, man. I’m wearing two coats today, here in Michigan.
Ross: Believe that.
TSS: Alright, well, lemme jump into this, because I know this your last interview for the day. Your first major album, Port of Miami, is about 100,000 records shy of the platinum mark. With record sales so low lately, at what point will you consider your new album, Trilla, a personal success?
Ross: Just me, you know, when I look at Port of Miami not being platinum, but when I perform, the way the tours be, the way the concerts be, it’s like I sold five million. You know, to an artist, that’s what’s important to me, you know what I’m saying? It’s important, of course what I sell, as the business aspect, but as the artist, just watching the people react and respond to my ideas and my concepts…that’s what I love the most. I love the fans and the reactions more than the money.
TSS: Definitely. So, while sales are obviously somewhat important to you, it’s really more about the fan response and making quality music, in general?
Ross: Yea, making the best music. And, you know, we gonna sell records, that’s what we do, ‘cause da best. But, I just love when I get reactions. Lot of times I done been on tours with artists who sold a lot more records than I have, but when I come out there and say, ‘Whip it, whip it,’ I get a louder response. And, you know, that’s just something money ain’t gon’ buy.
TSS: For sure. I feel that. Your last album, Rise to Power, was a compilation of material you did while you were on your previous label, Suave House. Because they released when you weren’t even on the label, it didn’t receive much of a push. Can you explain the situation behind that record?
Ross: That was some music I did in, uh, ‘97, ‘98. Tony Draper, when I was on Suave House, he broke bread and we always had a real relationship, just as real niggas. And, you know, he kind of went under the weather for a while, and when he resurfaced with this, I gave him my blessings and he released it. I looked at it as a collective edition for Rick Ross’ real fans who really wanted to hear what he sounded like when he was 18-years-old and 19-years-old.
TSS: From I’ve what I’ve heard a lot of people say, that’s a real good album if you want to hear some real Rick Ross spittin some lyrics. Not as mainstream. Did you learn anything from that experience with Rise to Power?
Ross: Um, yea, it was just fun for me to just listen to a lot of the old songs, you know what I mean?
TSS: Yea, to see how you’ve grown as an artist.
Ross: Of course, yea, of course. Just thinkin’ back to those times, remembering those times. It was just one of them things, you know?
TSS: Alright, yea. Seeing you are the self-proclaimed ‘Boss,’ you’re obviously on top of your business game. When it came time to pick and choose a major label to sign with, you had numerous options, but when you sat down with Jay-Z and Def Jam, it was obviously a wrap. What was that meeting like? Were you star struck at all, or was it just business as usual?
Ross: You know, I’ve been a fan of Jay a long time, but I came up there about my money. We put the star stuck shit to the side for a minute and we just talked like businessmen. What was best for Rick Ross, and the future of everything I was doing at the time. That’s what was important. We sat down and all got on the same page, and we made it happen. Jig, he was more than just a rapper, you know?
TSS: Yea, most definitely. You were one of his first recruits to Def Jam, right?
Ross: Yea, I was one of the first, I believe.
TSS: You were quoted in an older XXL, saying that you need ten million dollars a year just to live. Considering you weren’t even signed to a major label two years previous, how can you justify a number that gaudy?
Ross: You see when I said that, I felt that like, for me to fight, I gotta’ win, you know what I mean? When you think big, and you speak things in existence, anything is possible. Actually, I remember when both me and DJ Khaled, they like, I told them we was the best. And they was like, ‘no.’ It took us a long time, but we here. With DJ Khaled, they like, ‘An Arab DJ, how he gonna play Black music?’ And I said, ‘I’m just telling you, we da best, man. We think big, we act big, everything we do…big.’ And that just was my mindset. I’m one of them niggas that really smoke that good good weed, and I really drift off into those worlds, and places. I go there. When I make my music, that’s what I do, for real. I’m the boss. I came from nothin.’
Now, we putting out independent documentaries, now we puttin’ out albums, now my DJ the biggest DJ in the business, now me and Birdman fittin’ to do a movie. So, I look at it like, long as I keep thinking big, and stay trill at the same time, just making the best music, everything we want to accomplish, we can accomplish. If that’s what I want to accomplish, getting’ ten M’s, that’s nothin.’ That’s too easy.
TSS: Well, man, that’s a great point of view. It sounds like you need to put out a self-help book for certain people.
Ross: Yea, man, for real, that’s what it is. You can’t feel sorry for yourself, and don’t expect me to feel sorry for you. I’m one of them dudes, that, I felt like ain’t been asleep in fourteen years, you know what I’m sayin? I got that appetite, and that’s what we gonna’ do, we gonna’ win big, we gonna’ get money, we gonna’ be the biggest and that’s what it is. Straight up.
TSS: Alright, that’s legit. With so many zeros in your bank account, how hard is it to budget your money?
Ross: I’m just gonna’ say that it’s real hard. My bank account, I like to let my bank account live, you know what I’m talking about? I like to get…I like my street money. I’m in this business, so…I can do so many different other revenues of gettin’ income. I like to let my bank be my bank money. But, everyday I’m on the phone for income. I need new money everyday. That’s how you keep from spending your money. You can’t spend your money, you gotta’ make money.
TSS: You can’t let it get stagnant, right?
Ross: Yea, yea. You can’t let it get stagnant. You gotta’ keep fresh ones.
TSS: What type of relationship do you have with your accountant?
Ross: My private banker, man, we super cool. I got a private banker and my accountant. I got the best accountant in the world. I wanna’ give him a shout out, Floyd Thomas Accounting Services, out of Atlanta, GA. Print that, he might save somebody’s life, that you know.
TSS: Got that. Besides your house, and any cars, what’s the most expensive thing you own?
Ross: Uhm…(long pause)…homes, cars, boat…I dunno. That’s a good question. There’s a lot of shit I gotta’ think about.
TSS: (Laughs) Man, you’re making me jealous.
Ross: My girl was just telling me about a painting. What’s the name of the painting, baby? (Woman responds in background, “A Basquiat”) She want me to get a Bas-qui-at.
TSS: A Basquiat? Oh, that’s a good investment right there.
Ross: A painting, she keepin’ with…(Woman emphasizes, “Jean-Michel Basquiat.”)…she trying to convince me to get a painting. I’m not going to do it though.
TSS: I think that’s a good idea, man. You’re talking about getting your money right, that’s an investment right there. That just grows by itself, you don’t even got to touch it.
Ross: Yea, you don’t. It does grow.
TSS: On the flip side of that, what’s the least expensive thing you own, that means the most to you?
Ross: Um…uh…damn…I dunno. That means the most? I dunno about that one.
TSS: Alright, well you dwell on that one, and if it comes to you, you let me know, alright?
So last question coming up. At what point in your life did you realize that you’d never have to worry about everyday things, like food, shelter, hospital fees, clothes, hospital fees, things like that, ever again? How’d that feel?
Ross: Naw, I ain’t never got to that point. Everyday is still a constant grind. The game is serious. Life is serious, and I take it too seriously, I’m going to feel that I’m that comfortable. That’s why when you hear me in my songs, I talk about gettin’ the money. But when I talk about it, I talk about worrying if it stops ever. That’s that everyday hustle and drive in me. That’s what keeps me motivated everyday to get up. I don’t ever wanna’ think that way. I don’t care how much money I got.
Rick Ross’ newest album, Trilla, will be in stores on 2.19.08.
For more info, visit www.myspace.com/rickross.
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52 Comments
michigan in the house! Im sorry I had to say that.
what up doe!
Ennnh, I’m not big on Florida hiphop (I find the shit fucking annoying most of the time!) but I have to big up Rick Ross a bit. He’s probably the only rapper out of MIA that I can tolerate, besides Trick Daddy. On a side note there’s a new Mick Boogie & Young Chris birthday dedication mixtape to Jigga:
http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=1034447201&msgid=4994209&act=7P4N&c=39946&admin=0&destination=http://www.mickboogie.com/
http://www.zshare.net/audio/3862059f5ac47b/
Trae – Life Goes On
Snippets
yo…did yall hear about these rumors about pimp c? wtf??
pimp c dead? holy hell no
http://www.tmz.com/2007/12/04/rapper-pimp-c-found-dead-in-hollywood-hotel-room/
??
head over to tmz.com…there’s a posting up on their homepage about it.
hopefully, this is just a rumor gone bad. i guess we’ll be reading/hearing more as the day goes on.
http://rapidshare.com/files/74117603/Westside_Connection-The_Best_of_Westside_Connection-_RapGodFathers.com_.rar
http://www.mediafire.com/?er1g7h12whj
Tragedy Khadafi mixtape, entitled Stray Shots.
damn, if it’s areal rumor !!!
fuck!! UGK 4 LIFE !
nAh, after Spice One in hospital, Pimp C ? nah please, …
Bitch the game belong to me!!!
^ best Greums post ever!
“Bitch the game belong to me!!!” = classic
Nah its true…. :-(
Looks to be as a cocaine overdose…
R.I.P. Chad Butler aka PIMP C
True Legend,
… damn
UGK 4 LIFE!!!
Rest in fuckin’ peace, homie
See the pimp free.
http://www.zshare.net/audio/5361393adfd03c/
jayz i know P.O. remix
rip pimp c
Goddamn…although I stopped being a major fan of UGK a long time ago, this is the saddest news I’ve heard in a long time. The fucked up part is that he JUST got out of jail, and they JUST released a new album.
R.I.P. to Chad Butler
Whoa.
Spice 1 shot & now Pimp dead, all in one day?
Not a good day.
Spice 1 got shot?
Thankfully he survived, I think.
But seriously…what the fuck is going on?
yo…in honor pimp c, i’m offering this zshare file of him calling up to an atlanta radio show to explain his statements on how atlanta wasn’t the south.
http://www.zshare.net/audio/2833955bb6adc1/
while it’s quite funny, I’M BEGGING THAT SOMEONE PLEASE UPLOAD that file file of him calling into a houston radio station and threatening some local pimp who was down there talking about him. i need that shit on my ipod.
FUCK COCAINA ! ITS NOT A NIRVANA
FUCKIN’ BULLSHIT !
damnnnn, …
why coca why pimp c why homie !!! why
sniff… not hiphop!
pff, but a legend, but not a legendary death
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimp_C
memento mori ! memento !!!
We luv ya muzak, one luv .
Peace
premonition?
http://www.zshare.net/audio/5373330235a51b/
Nowyouknowmaybe
nowyouknowit
…
Fuuk!
http://i.realone.com/assets/rn/img/9/6/9/3/9183969-9183972-slarge.jpg
Nowurefree!
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y115/Rizmatic/freepimpc.jpg
RIP
@ myself. i found it. here’s the interview…and he was calling into dallas not houston…
http://www.zshare.net/audio/1716404611a87b/
this is so classic. i miss him already.
Yo!!! This is why I love “The Wire”! Last season!!! Starts January 6!
No embeds! LOL!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20G17K_0ghU&feature=related
They have posted comments on both of their myspace pages… Hmmm… Sad…
pimp C found dead in hotel room
http://www.tmz.com/2007/12/04/rapper-pimp-c-found-dead-in-hollywood-hotel-room/
Confirmed by a local station here in the ‘H’
R.I.P Pimp C…
Jesse Jackson said it best at the eulogy of Sean Taylor, we are living in a burning house, and not doing anything to put out the fire. The fire of drugs,sex, money, murder, and hate are rageing out of control. America is on fire, and if we as a nation and as a people cannot come together and fight the fire with the waters of unity, love, respect, and peace, the we to will be consumed. AMERICA IS ON FIRE.
GOD is LOVE, LOVE rev.joe
that sh*t’s f*cked up…
R.I.P.
I think Ghostface Week needs to be postponed, and Pimp C week should start now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HUUzptjc4U
interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWTkkatwmcg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfBxF6y77zU&feature=related
With Master P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w3UblYw8fA&feature=related
UGK – Wood Wheel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sQxFsblruE&feature=related
Pimp-C “Knockin doors Down” uncut
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlJeenvBKa8&feature=related
Project Pat,Three 6 Mafia,U.G.K.-Sippin On Some Syrup
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3PgZ9bqShc&feature=related
UGK featuring Outkast-Int’l Players Anthem (I Choose You)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mHPVwjVjGM&feature=related
UGK “The Game Belongs To Me”
TRIBUTE!
pimp c week starts!
ugk time !
rip
death is a new life …
^^^ as much as I love Ghostface, that seems only right…
RIP PIMP C
another one down :(
GAAWWDAMNNNNNNN. WHY????
http://www.xxlmag.com/online/?p=16889
lil weezy
http://www.spinemagazine.com/index.php?task=reviews
http://realtalkny.rawkus.com/2007/12/topic/topic/news/rip-to-pimp-c/
yo, please
make a new article, on “C”
C for Cocaina, unfortunately
a true waste, rip
thx
I had to read the comments, i kinda knew Rick wouldn’t get this many comments so fast… but damn.
fifty cent and g unit doing blow?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yIvaZyansg&eurl=http://www.index.hr/xmag/clanak/video-50-cent-pred-koncert-uhvacen-na-bijelom/36
Big Pimpin’ C
” Uh, smoky-eyed, torn up, keepin’ it lit up in my cup
All my cars got leather and wood
In my hood, they call it buck
Everybody wanna ball, holla at broads at the mall
If he up, watch him fall
Nigga I can’t fuck with y’all
If I wasn’t rapping baby I would still be ridin’ Mercedes
Chromin’, shinin’, sippin’ daily
No rest until whitey pays me
Uh, now what y’all know bout them Texas boys
Comin’ down in candied toys, smokin’ weed and talkin’ noise “
Yo RIP PImp C, UGK for life bitch!!! They’re the reason I started to fuck with the South no lie, real talk. As much as I love Tony Starks (no homo) I feel Pimp C/UGK Week is most appropriate now as well. God bless the dead yo, one love. Peace.
“AIN’T NOTHIN’ FUCKIN’ WITH TEXAS”
Pimp C
greums its…smoked out pourin up keepin lean up in my cup…
Damn its a messed up day Rip Pimp C
“I’m still Pimp C bitch”
Man, makes you shake your head is disgust that this happened
ross whattup!
http://paidandpopular.blogspot.com
Pimp C – Heaven
http://www.zshare.net/audio/5373330235a51b/
againn’forevaa
Pimp C – Living this life
http://www.zshare.net/audio/53752137056511/
for the last time, here
Rest In Peace
UGK – UnderGround Kingz
“They speak about respect, integrity with humility and honor. The same topics as enters the pimps, the hoes and the muscle cars but with a certain passing. A quite simply modern and adult glance on their environment, the Street and the South.
Soul and Blues. Bun B and Pimp C. The mixture is perfect.”.
RIPIMPC
Clipse and UGK are probably the only 2 groups right now that had me hyped everytime they put something out. I check for everything they drop, I scour the net for every new joint and feature…I download AND purchase their releases….I don’t check for that many acts like that nowadays…this is fucked up…Dude will be missed.
RIP to the GOD Pimp C
R.I.P Pimp C
Long live the Pimp!!
Face Off
1. (00:02:11) Omarion & Bow Wow – Face Off
2. (00:03:18) Omarion & Bow Wow – Hood Star
3. (00:04:45) Omarion & Bow Wow – Girlfriend
4. (00:03:09) Omarion & Bow Wow – Hey Baby (Jump Off)
5. (00:03:57) Omarion & Bow Wow – He Ain’t Gotta Know
6. (00:03:19) Omarion & Bow Wow – Bachelor Pad
7. (00:04:58) Omarion & Bow Wow – Listen
8. (00:04:10) Omarion & Bow Wow – Can’t Get Tired Of Me
9. (00:02:53) Omarion & Bow Wow – Number Ones
10. (00:03:57) Omarion & Bow Wow – Baby Girl
11. (00:03:32) Omarion & Bow Wow – Take Off Your Clothes
12. (00:03:25) Omarion & Bow Wow – Another Girl
http://rapidshare.com/files/74233605/OBBFORCD.rar
Didn’t know if anyone would want this, but I figured WTF.
I hope Bow Bow is getting another ghostwriter. With T.I.’s recent problems. Faceoff could be his last rodeo.
R.I.P Sweet Jones The Godfather of Trill
SWEET JONES FOR LIFE BITCHES!
Rick Ross sucks.
Drug kingpins are punk bitches.