An artist’s journey to superstardom is rarely ever glamorous. They don’t just spawn into the mainstream out of thin air or waltz their way into record deals and huge major label albums. Instead, there’s a ton of leg work— tedious networking, doing shows for free, and a lot of social media peddling for artists today. For Rick Ross, his journey involved a ton of ups and downs.
Before anyone knew who he was, he was William Leonard Roberts II working as a correctional officer in Florida. In between, he was trying to finagle his way into the “limited hip-hop circle.” During a 2021 conversation with Billboard, he recalled the days going up from Miami to Tallahassee cutting his teeth by writing 10 songs a day. Since Miami didn’t have a strong scene by that point, he would branch out to any place that would work with him.
“Miami music was always outdoors with the beach and turn-up with chicks twerking with a vibe and uptempo. It’s beautiful, but that wordplay meant a lot to me — so I went to [TJ’s DJ’s]. I was on every mixtape,” Rick Ross said. “Anything that was going on from Tallahassee to Miami. DJ Bigga Rankin in Jacksonville, DJ Smallz in Tampa Bay and wherever it was going down at, I just made sure to insert myself to not miss anything.”
Rick Ross Talks About the Days Before His Breakout Debut ‘Port Of Miami’
Ghostwriting and being in those spaces allowed him to link with artists and industry figures that proved pivotal in his eventual rise to stardom. “The pen introduced me to a lot of different people. At the time, when I was a younger artist, I never would’ve known how these same relationships would re-emerge and come back and forth. Dre from Cool & Dre called me with an artist he was working with so I could come to the studio. I came to the studio, and I sat with them going through beats and a lot of different stuff. This wasn’t anyone I was familiar with at the time, and she had a lot of cool Jordans. Come to find out, it’s Angie Martinez,” Rick Ross explained.
“I said, ‘Damn, she doing her thing — and she a bigwig and she into hip-hop.’ That’s how we met. We didn’t talk radio and I didn’t know she was into that. I just saw her Jordans and we went through beats. That’s just one of many that came back many years later.”
The interviewer noted that it was similar to how Rick Ross met Kanye West, too. Ultimately, working with him wasn’t at the top of his priorities though. All he wanted early on was to make connections that could help him later on— and it did, from Remy Ma to Nipsey Hussle.
“I could’ve bought one of them man’s beats for $5,000. When you young and hungry as I was — and Ye was at that time — it’s not even about the money. It’s really about solidifying the relationships, knowing when he come to Miami, he got artists he could depend on,” Rick Ross added.
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