walking upstream…
Rick Ross
photo: thecomeupshow · cc by 2.0 ↗Rick Ross
William Leonard Roberts II built the Rick Ross persona -- part Miami hustler, part mafioso don -- into one of Southern rap's most durable brands, breaking through with the 2006 street anthem "Hustlin'" before a bidding war landed him at Def Jam. He founded Maybach Music Group in 2008, using it to launch Meek Mill and Wale while releasing his own run of platinum, horn-heavy albums built on a slow, commanding cadence and unapologetic luxury imagery.
the sound in question
2006
Hustlin'Rick Ross
walk the tributaries ↓
The Notorious B.I.G.1990s · East Coast hip-hop / Gangsta rap / Hardcore hip-hop
Ross has called Biggie his greatest inspiration -- "I was inspired by Notorious B.I.G. a lot. His demeanor, the way he carried himself... I felt he was the greatest MC of all time" -- and directly reworked Biggie's own record about street paranoia into his own answer song.
listen: upstream & heresource: Vibe -- Rick Ross on The Notorious B.I.G. as his greatest inspiration ("the greatest MC of all time") ↗
1997
You're Nobody ('Til Somebody Kills You)The Notorious B.I.G.
2014
NobodyRick Ross
listen for"You're Nobody ('Til Somebody Kills You)" is Biggie's slow, resigned meditation on fame and mortality in the game; Ross's "Nobody" borrows the title and the same unhurried, grave cadence, updating the same dread for his own near-death shooting.
Slick Rick1980s · Hip-hop / East Coast hip-hop / Old-school hip-hop
Ross has said The Great Adventures of Slick Rick "saturated the hood" when he was young, and that Slick Rick's eyepatched, cinematic gangster-narrator persona -- who "echoed Tony Montana" on record -- resonated with him as a teenager.
listen: upstream & heresource: Vice -- Rick Ross interview on Slick Rick ("that shit saturated the hood") and Boogie Down Productions/KRS-One ("I was damn near the only one that cared about KRS-One") ↗
1988
Hey Young WorldSlick Rick
2010
B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast)Rick Ross
listen for"Hey Young World" is Slick Rick playing the wizened storyteller, narrating danger and consequence over a laid-back groove; Ross's "B.M.F." runs the same first-person crime-narrator trick, turning a real drug empire's story into cinematic verse.
KRS-One1990s · East Coast hip-hop / Conscious hip-hop / Boom bap
Ross has said hearing Boogie Down Productions' "Love's Gonna Get'cha" and "My Philosophy" as a kid set him apart from his peers -- "that's how I knew my music would be different, because where I'm from, I was damn near the only one that cared about KRS-One" -- pointing to a harder, social-realist backbone under his own street reporting.
listen: upstream & heresource: Vice -- Rick Ross interview on Slick Rick ("that shit saturated the hood") and Boogie Down Productions/KRS-One ("I was damn near the only one that cared about KRS-One") ↗
1988
My PhilosophyKRS-One
2009
Mafia MusicRick Ross
listen for"My Philosophy" is KRS-One laying down blunt, unshakeable street authority as a statement of principle; "Mafia Music" carries the same declarative, no-hook confidence, Ross asserting his own code over a stark, foreboding beat.