Rick Ross
Working across genres that include trap music, mafioso rap, gangsta rap, Southern hip-hop, hardcore hip-hop, and dirty south, Rick Ross has built a career as a rapper, musician, composer, songwriter, music executive, and entrepreneur operating in English within the United States music industry.
Born William Leonard Roberts II on January 28, 1976, in Clarksdale, Coahoma County, Ross attended Miami Carol City Senior High School before going on to Albany State University. He also has a background as an American football player. From those formative years he developed the range of professional roles that now define him, moving from performer and songwriter into the broader territory of music executive and businessperson.
Those overlapping identities — creative, commercial, and executive — remain the most concrete way to describe what Ross does. As a music executive and entrepreneur, his work extends beyond recording and composing into running and shaping the business side of the industry. He is known professionally as Rick Ross, a name that has been attached to activity across multiple hip-hop subgenres throughout his career as a United States citizen.
Quotes by Rick Ross
Rick Ross's insights on:
The rollout of a classic has to have the heart of all the people working it. There's no way they can have their heart in it if they don't believe in it.
As artists, we are blessed to be able to make money but, on the same note, are held accountable for our federal tax obligations just like everyone else.
When I used to sit in the office with Jay Z and L.A. Reid... we would negotiate back and forth and discuss music. You're sitting in front of someone for hours. It's all about being passionate. Everything begins with yourself.
I always made a few records in the past - 'Aston Martin Music,' 'Diced Pineapples' - that the ladies would always be able to appreciate.
It's pretty much a given known fact in the industry that before I was successful, I wrote for other artists.
When I was coming up in Miami, the music in the city at the time sounded completely different. I loved it, but it just wasn't the type of music I wanted to make. I wanted my wordplay to be more sophisticated. I wanted the sound to be more lush. I wanted my music to sound like who I was and aspired to be - boss.
As I was finishing high school, 'Fresh Prince' was, by far, out front. The generation before me, it may have been the Huxtables, but for me and my homies, Fresh Prince.