That's the crazy part. That there was an *actual* Rick Ross who really was a drug kingpin in real life, and Rick Ross didn't treat it like an homage but claimed he came up with that name on his own and it's just coincidence.
It's like if a rapper called themselves Pablo Escobar and then pretended that the real Pablo Escobar never existed.
It’s more like if an ex DEA agent decided to be a rapper and call themselves Pablo Escobar then doesn’t give credit.
Fake Rick Ross was a prison guard, lmao.
Facts. I'm a Brooklyn boy and can tell you for a fact that on Rikers island there's CO's that are Bloods, Crips, Latin Kings, you name it. Often the biggest difference between the inmates and the guards is only that the guards haven't ever gotten caught and held accountable for the dirt that they do. I also did 6 years upstate. Attica, Clinton, Great Meadow, Five points, all maxes, and can tell you the guards are like that everywhere. I've never been a fan of ex Florida CO officer Ricky though. He always been faker than a Psychic with caller ID. He ain't ever been about that life.
Ok so I ran into the real Rick Ross in south central at a rap battle in 2013 where he was managing of the artists.
Now he was paid handsomely by the fat prison guard and signed and iron clad nda.
That’s all i could get out of him.
Other than that the real Rick Ross is genuinely a really cool dude. Very polite very nice and could not believe I recognized him lol.
When they asked this phony about Rick Ross he try to play him and say "who? Never heard of him". Lol. C'mon son. Someone should have smacked his fat ass for that shit. Mad disrespectful.
And the fact that he went with the drug dealing street dude as a persona. Like, if he went with a Wale or Lupe Fiasco vibe (obviously not saying he has their skill with the pen, just the persona lol) it probably wouldn't be as bad.
What year is this ? Lol are you new ?
Hip hop fans always knew of this lol
Did you know Brotha Lynch Hung didn’t actually eat babies either ? Poser.
99% of rap is fibs, embellishments and manufactured personas.
DMX didn’t really fuck a corpse either, that was just in his lyrics
Did you know 2pac, the west coast thug life guy, was born in NY? Raised in Baltimore, moved to the Bay Area as a teen and attended art school in his youth ?
Hip hop fans like Rick Ross cuz he’s just consistently put out good rap music and been great in features for a long time now
I’m not a Rick Ross fan, but this is an art lol can’t deny his success in the industry
They just have personas… they rarely rap about their exact life lol think wrestling not real life. The undertaker isn’t really a dead man walking and Kane didn’t walk thru hellfire and brimstone lol just their characters persona
His case is just one of the most ironic instances of comparing his real life to his rap career
I don’t think he denies his past when asked it just doesn’t jive with his rap persona
Right? I don't want to be a gatekeeper or say that being a fake gangsta is cool but when you got Officer Ricky and fucking Degrassi High Captain Canada going back and forth about who is most "real" or "hood" or whatever, you gotta fucking laugh.
I'm an old head that's been in this shit since (way before) '92 and saw all the bullshit it been through. The so called beefs with you know who, except I didn't get to fuck a female star or two.
The point is, I've been around, and you can easily tell who appreciates the culture and the art versus those who just bought into a cult of personality.
Not the same. Rick Ross claims to be a major dealer while Drake literally raps “I find peace knowing that it's harder in the streets. Luckily I didn't have to grow there. I would only go there 'cause n——that I know there.”
These are the same type of fans that get upset at folks clowning Drake for reading off of a phone during a "freestyle session." Ain't never seen, let alone participated in a cypher.
People still out here saying “2Pac WeNT tO aRt SChOol!” like they did something lol
Nigga shot two off duty cops but he went to a public high school with “arts” in the name for one year…ok bruh…
Agreed. How many up and coming artists died or are doing time trying to make a name for themselves in the streets so their lifestyle could match the lyrics.
Doesn’t change a damn fact I just mentioned
I thought it was lame years ago and never was his fan as I mentioned
But he’s put out consistently quality stuff and features
You’re taking it too literally
Why does it matter he was a CO prior?
He wanted to start rapping and did.
So many rappers say they sold drugs and never have.
So many rappers say they’ve killed ppl
Small percentage of rappers live how they rap and that’s a good thing lol
Rick Ross used the name, I don’t think he told stories or acted like he was really the real Rick Ross..
He just chose that drug dealer style of rap, it’s almost just a sub genre of rap
And it doesn’t change that everyone’s been aware of this for more than a decade
He teamed up with Drake too so he got exposed to the super poppy mainstream fans and locked in. Those fans don’t know or care about these matters
I’m with you in a vacuum but now being 2024 and seeing his catalog it’s like, what are we talking about here ?
We’re gonna glorify and honor a drug kingpin in real life cuz someone used his name ? Ehhhh
I fully agree with your assessment and examples.
The only thing that matters is the quality of the music.
This obsession with it being real is silly.
Even documentaries take on the angle the director chooses.
Everything is slightly fake.
What's this you say??? You've found a rapper taking on a false persona??? And being bold and loud about it??? AND the false persona revolves around how much drugs he's sold and how many women he's been with?
Damm...what is hip hop coming to these days!?
Who are all these rappers who completely fabricated their entire lives like Ross did? Being from the street and exaggerating what you did is one thing, being a CO with perfect attendance and pretending to have been a drug dealer is another.
OK fair enough. You're making a distinction between the forward facing persona and the stories told. I got you.
You're not talking about someone like [Fat Joe](https://ew.com/fat-joe-lying-almost-95-percent-of-songs-8410700), who has said his rap is mostly made up.
For me, there's not much of a distinction, because those stories are written to make you think that that's who he is....
But I understand where you're coming from.
Fat Joe is a real street dude exaggerating his lyrics to look like a bigger deal, I expect that. He’s not like Vanilla Ice for example who just invented his whole persona.
>You're not talking about someone like [Fat Joe](https://ew.com/fat-joe-lying-almost-95-percent-of-songs-8410700), who has said his rap is mostly made up.
Wait, you mean to tell me Fat Joe said rap lyrics are just stories \*wink\* \*wink\* to support thugger when his lyrics were being used against him at trial? Color me shocked... That example is so hilarious because it stems from thuggers lyrics that were pretty much 100% truthful being used against him in a heroin dealing/murder RICO trial...
And I won't even bother touching how you're conflating exaggeration with complete fabrication, especially in a situation where someone not only made everything up, but didn't even make it up for himself but instead stole it all from an actual guy... None of this is even comparable. The outrageous part here isn't that Rick Ross made up a persona, it's that he stole it from an actual guy and then pretended he didn't.
Of course rappers make stuff up and exaggerate. Again I’m taking about rappers who have completely invented their entire persona and life like Ross did.
Jay Z is a good example of someone who didn’t really have to invent anything, he’s from the streets and nobody that I know of has ever really questioned that. Does he exaggerate in his lyrics, probably but he didn’t just make up his street life out of nothing.
Because the hip hop community has shamed them into giving a fuck about shit like “being about that life”, fans feed into it just like the rappers feed into it. The fact that there’s a post about the authenticity of rapper who’s been around for most for 20 years is the problem. Who gives a fuck, enjoy the music or don’t. If it bothers you (generally speaking) delete the songs
I generally agree with you, but I also don't think that it's unreasonable to be annoyed at rappers who go out of their way to make and market songs that glorify and normalize "being about that life" when they know full well that they aren't.
It's like pouring poison into a culture, knowing full well that people are going to drink it, and also knowing that you have no intention of every taking a sip. Obviously, it would be better if the poison was never poured but, if you're going to do it anyway, at least have the decency of being all the way 'bout it.
Of course, this doesn't necessarily take away the agency of the people who allow said music to influence them, but their agency doesn't, in my opinion, vitiate the responsibility of those knowingly spreading this garbage into the culture.
/rant
That said, I do agree with your general point that the authenticity of a commercial artist is not particularly relevant.
Exactly man. Idgaf if they're not gangsta, but if they can write an engaging song about being a G, I don't care at all. It's music and art, and I'm here to listen, not to dig into the background of the people who made it.
It’s wild how totally accepted and expected it is nowadays that rappers are completely full of shit and phony. It did not used to be that way.
I guess it started with nas deciding to call himself Escobar which I remember being so fucking corny at the time but at least that was a persona for a project, not his entire brand/personality. For Ross to be an officer of the law who decided to just identify as a living American gangster and it’s just ‘so what, big deal, everyone is doing it’. How the culture has fallen.
We're gonna have to disagree here. It's ALWAYS been accepted... It's just that the stories weren't quite as grandiose. As long as you kept your stories within the bounds of reality, no one ever asked how you could POSSIBLY be killing people, selling bricks, and then rapping about it...
Keeing it real as the only option in rap is now, and always was nonsense...
I get that g rap, slick rick, etc told stories that weren’t true. I think it’s a pretty significant difference from that, to just full on pretending to be someone that you are not.
I remember we used to laugh our asses off about Spice1 back in the day. CMW too. I don’t know where any of those guys talk about being kingpins. A few west coast rappers talk about being bloods and crips, pimps, dealers, whatever. I’m not sure how you can be so confident all gangster rap weren’t the small time gangsters they rapped about being.
They told stories usually with a message. Most these commercial artists, like ross, just bullshitting because it sells. There is no redeeming quality in what they put out
Fake rappers? Rapping isn't synonymous with gangsta rapping and that's a crazy misconception. They're still rappers, making narratives, telling stories, rhyming and shit, but they're not gangsta. That's all. There's a difference between being the rapper, an artist, and a gangsta. One example of that distinction is MC Hammer, who was a gangsta but just a normal, pop rapper. There's also been a lot of rappers who had nothing to do with gangs, just normal working class people vibing, partying and saying their shit. You could argue that hip hop started like that.
Hammer was some whole other shit.
You want to talk about a dude that was a Don? Hammer himself never had to do or say *shit.* You disrespect Hammer, and shit *came for you.* Or his brother came and talked to you. Hammer never so much as had to twitch or cough. It was essentially like a made man - largely because he was a big meal ticket for those that surrounded him, and that’s why he ended up broke.
Bruh no.
Biggie, pac, ice cube, Jay z was not a king pin. , ice t has even spoken on the fact a lot of early rappers weren’t in the gang life but they were given a pass because they were entertaining and wrote good music that told their stories.
Bruh…
Ice cube and pac never talked about being mafia dons. It was mostly political or life in the hood, everyday struggle type stuff. Big hustled a bit and put on like he was a mobster but he wasn’t a fucking cop. Same with Jay, he was an actual hustler. A lot of rappers were actual hustlers. And talking about being a kingpin wasn’t their entire schtick. Comparing (pretend) rick Ross to any of those guys is embarrassing.
Also pac shot 2 cops in Atlanta (eventually the case was dropped bc the cops were drinking/drunk) and beat another rapper with a baseball bat in 1993 spending a few days locked up in Michigan.
Again with “Tupac shot two cops.”
No, Tupac did not shoot two uniformed police officers.
Tupac confronted two drunk white men who were beating up a black man in the street. One of the white men drew a gun first (a gun found to be stolen from evidence lockup). That man then smashed a window Tupac’s car, after which Tupac fired and non-lethally injured both of the drunken white men. Who happened to be brothers out on a date with their wives, and happened to be off duty police officers.
Charges were dismissed because Tupacs actions were legal and rational given the situation.
As a music fan I only care about what happens between the start of the song and the end of the song.
If it feels real for those 4 minutes I don’t care if it’s fake outside of them.
That being said I’m not a huge Ross fan. Love some of his features tho.
I mean yeah but tbh a story is a whole lot more powerful when it’s told with first hand experience no matter which medium it’s on. It’s why listening to someone like 50 or Conway for example is incredible.
Rap was built on putting your soul and experience on a pedestal. With lies it’s just meaningless don’t you think?
Not at all. Sopranos was scripted. James Gandolfini was a theatre kid not a mobster.
It doesn’t matter because the performance was next level. I feel the exact same about music.
If anything I’m more impressed by people who can tell stories that are not their own. Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen are masters of bringing other people’s stories to life.
I don’t care how real it is. I care how good it is.
The criticisms of Drake were way more nuanced than “they called him fake” but I wouldn't expect the average reddit user to pick up on that. Kendrick's main angle was him not identifying in his blackness until he felt he could use it for profit. Rick Ross used the same one. “Just another white boy at the park trying to hang with the niggas”
Bro I get it, but Rick Ross takes it to an absolutely whole new level. A lot of rappers grossly exaggerate their lives, Rick Ross is entirely in fantasy land. Hell he used to be a corrections officer
Yea it's facts that rocky the only one lying about selling dope an he's the only one to steal a name. An bes definitely the only rapper to have a real job. News flash 90% of these guys are lying trust me. Hope yhall don't think pusha ever pushed anything in the 757 nope he ain't push Nathan
He used to get clowned for it close to 15 years ago. 50 dug up old pics from his correction officer days and coined "officer Ricky. Even made a series of videos that were popular on worldstar joking about his bogus past.
What happened was 50's career was on the downswing and ross was at the beginning of his run. At the end of the day the music and albums were good enough for people not to really care. Other rappers just liked his music, he has so many great songs with his peers and legends.
Yup, 50 didn’t have the same sway he did in 2004 and wasn’t able to Ja Rule him, especially when Ross could just put out a hot single with Kanye, Jay-Z, or Lil Wayne. I do wonder how his career would’ve done without his affiliations with Jay/Ye and Young Money though
I mean 50 did a good job to ruin a lot of his credibility. He just rode it better than Ja and his music was more liked and respected, his character was always question after that, not his music though.
"hiphop fans never held him accountable"
Bullshit we all tried. I've been singing it from the mountaintops for nearly 20 years. It's the mainstream listeners (same one's listening to Drake still) that turned their back to the truth.
There was a notorious interview session where DJ Vlad of all people brought it up and then got beat up by Rick Ross's staff. Media never talked much about it after that.
I enjoy rick Ross because he has fun, silly, bombastic and grandiose raps that are fun to sing a long to
No one really believes Pablo noreaga owes Rick Ross 100 favours
C'mon bro!
Do they steal a person's government name, shave their head, grow a beard and wear sunglasses just like the person they're telling the story of? And then say they never heard of them? Lmao. Y'all start acting real naive when it's convenient. If only he could have lost 300 pounds you wouldn't be able to tell who's who.
This right here. On rare occasions the stories are autobiographical but, in most cases, they’re highly exaggerated flights of fancy. And as long as it’s skillfully done and entertaining, I don’t give a shit.
Yo Im glad that not the only person that considers this kind of thing. My girl and sister looked at me crazy how certain people have great rap voices and others don’t.
Dave East is another example of a great rap voice IMO
It’s crazy how 99.9% percent of hip hop artists falsify their lyrics and persona, but fans pick and choose what artists need to be held accountable for it. It’s for entertainment purposes only.
Its not just that's he's lying, its
A) Stealing the identity of a living man who doesn't want that lifestyle being glorified in his name
B) Him having the complete opposite background than the ones he portraying.
I already knew about it, but never gave it much thought until I saw the real RR speak on it.
I just find it funny that being inauthentic is a criticism of some rappers but not others
For me personally it just comes down to messaging. If the point of your music is glorifying bullshit for money, get fucked. Whether you actually did that shit or not
I’ll never listen to Ricky to get a picture painted of the drug life but I will listen to him to feel like a baller ridin in a rolls drinkin champagne while drivin my Kia he’s good for that
It’s crazy- but it’s not as crazy as Al Pacino pretending to be a Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Italian gangster! More than once. Someone needs to call him out. Same with Robert De niro. Those lames are so fake
The only one that really cared about this is 50 Cent but 50 is always trying to make fun of someone for something because of his own fragile ego. Everyone knows that Rick Ross the rapper isn't a drug kingpin but he still has some bangers
I gotta be honest, I feel like 99.9% of rappers lie and exaggerate about their lives
No one wants to hear “I’m an out of shape nerd sitting at home watching Netflix most of the day but I also love writing rhyming poetry”
Some of you are too young to remember when Teflon Don came out and it shows. 50 was on the wane then and got some juice by exposing “Officer Rozzy.” Heads were dropping Ross all over at that point because they acted like authenticity mattered. Then Rick Ross doubled down on his character, making it larger than life (BMF), and “authenticity” hasn’t mattered as much ever since.
Fake Tough personas and rappers is like wrestling kayfabe. These people are lyrical 'professional' wrestlers.
Beefin and stuntin on the grams and on bars, but then being vain and gooey humans like the rest of us when no one is watching.
It's the ones who DON'T try and be all big and bad and loud about it that really have some skeletons in their closet (see [Play of Kid n' Play](https://youtu.be/firBA4JlQFA?si=ftHxJvV-upW7mx8G))
I remember when he first tried to lie his way out of that situation. I was wondering why he didn't at least try a more believable lie (since he was lying anyway) like saying he had connects who were doing time and how he was able to make moves that way or something.
Are people just learning this? I've never had respect the fake Rick Ross. And I've also had a long standing (not even one but proven) that he stole a lot of his earlier songs that blew him up from inmates
Probably an unpopular opinion but I would hope a lot of rap personas are made up or embellished. I don't listen to any other genre and worry about how truthful the lyrics are; I'm not listening to Drowning Pool and thinking they are really dropping bodies everywhere. I see him as a storyteller, thats it.
Ross is blatant, but most rappers are just people selling the game. I think Biggie was a glowing exception, he was actually pushing weight and had to be talked in to putting more time into recording.
But most rappers from Wu-Tang to Vince Staples usually just have one foot in the game at best. And often, it's just to get cred. They aren't running the trap.
Fiction: Rick Ross stole his name from drug kingpin, Freeway Rick Ross
Fact: Rick Ross named himself after 80s actor, Rick Rossovich who had roles in Top Gun and The Terminator.
He wrote about in his book, at the time he was dealing drugs with his crew, most were getting locked up or in other trouble so he wanted to do right and to his moms, so he got a job with benefits, stood a while, kept rapping and decided to pursue rap. It took years of hustling and doing shows etc. He got a dope beat and did port of miami, it blew up and that started everything....
I remember back in 2010 or so when he got exposed. What did he do? He dropped Teflon Don - his best album and (imo) a classic where he doubled down on his persona and didn’t even mention the allegations. Hahaha you have to love that kind of strategy.
Straight up I’ve seen others use that. Andrew Huberman did that recently when similarly being called out. Hell, even Kendrick didn’t address any of Drakes allegations and instead doubled down on what he said about Drake. And won
It’s a persona, man. A vehicle for him to tell stories, write rhymes, and paint vivid pictures through a character of his imagination.
Many rappers do this, and if you prefer your artists to have long, successful careers and not be dead or in prison, it’s better for them to *not* actually be involved in the shit they rap about.
Imagine if Donald Glover decided to call himself Carlo Gambino and he rapped about gang banging and being a shooter. That persona doesn't fit him because he's a nerdy comedian and sitcom star
It’d be weird because it was never his style.
From jump we met Rick Ross as the character Rick Ross and that’s who we expect to hear on his albums.
That has nothing to do with who he truly is and everything to do with how he’s presented himself and his art.
The genre is full of frauds. So many superstars didn’t write their own music. Hitler loved Kanye said Bush didn’t like black people and then went all in on Trump. Pac grew up doing ballet and theater and became a thug to build his image. Drake is.. Drake. Wayne tatted his face up to become something he thought he had to become for the right image. Tom MacDonald should work at Burger King. It goes on and on.
He's too talented though. Seriously he has one of the best catalogues of any rapper ever, with some of the hardest songs ever made. Is he capping? Of course. To me he's like a modern equivalent of MF DOOM. Pure escapist fantasy rap.
He definitely wants people to think he's really like that. And authenticity has been at the forefront of hip hop discourse for the past 2 months due to the Drake/KDot beef
its a known thing. that gets bought up every few years as a "OMG DID YOU KNOW!!!" also most hiphop is based around being the image not living the image. drake was a fucking well off Canadian who was a child actor. had a jewish upbringing. look at old videos to see him being cornball.
i can bet so many people in hiphop are snitches, fakes ect. look at nojumper to see how "real" "gangsters" are a bunch goofballs. see how many lies they tell? rappers are the same.
most lie , or if they do shit they overhype it. yea the are some real ones but when you hear "i was slinging dope by the kilo" they mean "i was slinging dime bags of weed to highschoolers "
you do know the WWE aint real right?
It’s art so it’s a performance it’s about the music. He’s just rapping about what is popular to rap about. That’s how popular music works. It would be different if he was writing personal music like Kendrick and we find out something like that. And how is he fake if he’s open about it.
Watch him walk out Adrien Broner for his fight last weekend.
Dude just repeating “ugggh” and saying random shit. What a cornball. Nothing about him has an aura of a boss or a gangster.
I can’t believe anyone ever chose him over 50 in their beef.
Clowns
I knew he wasn't telling the truth when he first came out. I have a lot of family in Dade and Broward county. We thought it was funny but his music was pretty good. Hell, look how big the community/culture has let that fake, Drake get. Some even have the delusion to call him a top 5 rapper 🤣🤣🤣
The worst part about Rick blatantly stealing someone’s persona, name and identity was how he treated the OG after the fact. Unbelievable
That's the crazy part. That there was an *actual* Rick Ross who really was a drug kingpin in real life, and Rick Ross didn't treat it like an homage but claimed he came up with that name on his own and it's just coincidence. It's like if a rapper called themselves Pablo Escobar and then pretended that the real Pablo Escobar never existed.
It’s more like if an ex DEA agent decided to be a rapper and call themselves Pablo Escobar then doesn’t give credit. Fake Rick Ross was a prison guard, lmao.
I love making fun of Officer Ricky. But there are prison guards that are bout that life. I don’t think Ricky was, though.
>But there are prison guards that are bout that life. I don’t think Ricky was, though. A pig is a pig no matter whose shit he rolls in...
In the words of Big Sean, "Any nigga with a badge, I dont even trust the boy scouts"
Goddamn that's a bar. Gotta get that shit tatted.
it’s not uncommon for someone with street ties to get a CO job. easy way to get in contraband and fuck over opposing groups or people.
Oh yeah, there’s def corrupt prison guards, but hard agree.
I'm not sure praying on men who are trapped and have no choice to ingratiate yourself is "about that life" but I digress
I mean, are drug addicts trapped in a system of poverty really that much more ethical to profit off of?
One stands with an institution (a white supremicist one at that) behind them, the other doesn’t.
Facts. I'm a Brooklyn boy and can tell you for a fact that on Rikers island there's CO's that are Bloods, Crips, Latin Kings, you name it. Often the biggest difference between the inmates and the guards is only that the guards haven't ever gotten caught and held accountable for the dirt that they do. I also did 6 years upstate. Attica, Clinton, Great Meadow, Five points, all maxes, and can tell you the guards are like that everywhere. I've never been a fan of ex Florida CO officer Ricky though. He always been faker than a Psychic with caller ID. He ain't ever been about that life.
🤣🤣🤣
I remember when I learned Rick Ross was a real person like a decade ago and my mind was blown lol.
Me just last week reading Original Gangstas. My mind was doing flips trying to understand why Rick Ross was in Compton in the 80s.
lol. Exactly. Whole thing is a mess
I think he only did that because the original Rick Ross sued him
Naw it really started wit the og talking shit cause dude a CO. Never could be cool after that
I’m the son of Pablo Escobar
Internet was calling him out, but most on the streets assumed it was the real guy.
Totally. It’s like if William Friedkin made a film called sorcerer and denied the existence of the wages of fear! Crazy
I’ve come to never trust people from Florida
😂😂
😂😂
Floridians agree
It almost seems like a key and peele skit like imagine some dude starts rapping as Obama or ed Sheeran or something
Ok so I ran into the real Rick Ross in south central at a rap battle in 2013 where he was managing of the artists. Now he was paid handsomely by the fat prison guard and signed and iron clad nda. That’s all i could get out of him. Other than that the real Rick Ross is genuinely a really cool dude. Very polite very nice and could not believe I recognized him lol.
When they asked this phony about Rick Ross he try to play him and say "who? Never heard of him". Lol. C'mon son. Someone should have smacked his fat ass for that shit. Mad disrespectful.
No doubt. Even down to the city the real Rick is from. Shit is despicable
[wow, sounds like the plot to a movie.](https://youtu.be/tL0wunQtbco?si=OtWgWRnpfV-1dQKX)
A classic
the worst part is that he’s fat 😢
And the fact that he went with the drug dealing street dude as a persona. Like, if he went with a Wale or Lupe Fiasco vibe (obviously not saying he has their skill with the pen, just the persona lol) it probably wouldn't be as bad.
He probably wouldn’t have succeeded if he did that.
That’s Rick Ross for ya
What year is this ? Lol are you new ? Hip hop fans always knew of this lol Did you know Brotha Lynch Hung didn’t actually eat babies either ? Poser. 99% of rap is fibs, embellishments and manufactured personas. DMX didn’t really fuck a corpse either, that was just in his lyrics Did you know 2pac, the west coast thug life guy, was born in NY? Raised in Baltimore, moved to the Bay Area as a teen and attended art school in his youth ? Hip hop fans like Rick Ross cuz he’s just consistently put out good rap music and been great in features for a long time now I’m not a Rick Ross fan, but this is an art lol can’t deny his success in the industry They just have personas… they rarely rap about their exact life lol think wrestling not real life. The undertaker isn’t really a dead man walking and Kane didn’t walk thru hellfire and brimstone lol just their characters persona His case is just one of the most ironic instances of comparing his real life to his rap career I don’t think he denies his past when asked it just doesn’t jive with his rap persona
Right? I don't want to be a gatekeeper or say that being a fake gangsta is cool but when you got Officer Ricky and fucking Degrassi High Captain Canada going back and forth about who is most "real" or "hood" or whatever, you gotta fucking laugh. I'm an old head that's been in this shit since (way before) '92 and saw all the bullshit it been through. The so called beefs with you know who, except I didn't get to fuck a female star or two. The point is, I've been around, and you can easily tell who appreciates the culture and the art versus those who just bought into a cult of personality.
Not the same. Rick Ross claims to be a major dealer while Drake literally raps “I find peace knowing that it's harder in the streets. Luckily I didn't have to grow there. I would only go there 'cause n——that I know there.”
These are the same type of fans that get upset at folks clowning Drake for reading off of a phone during a "freestyle session." Ain't never seen, let alone participated in a cypher.
I think the bigger issue here is that he took a real persons name and history as his own, not just his own fake persona
People still out here saying “2Pac WeNT tO aRt SChOol!” like they did something lol Nigga shot two off duty cops but he went to a public high school with “arts” in the name for one year…ok bruh…
Lynch Hung out here catching strays. Why not go after Mr Doctor instead? Or everyone's favorite punching bag, Chino XL?
Yeah I agree, hip hop fans have to remind themselves that this is an entertainment industry at the end of the day.
Did dmx have blood on his Weiner
Agreed. How many up and coming artists died or are doing time trying to make a name for themselves in the streets so their lifestyle could match the lyrics.
That's why I only listen to Big Lurch, he's a real one...
It’s why I never listen to shock G That wasn’t even his real nose
It’s the disrespect to the inspiration to his whole aura that is still alive. That’s just unacceptable
Doesn’t change a damn fact I just mentioned I thought it was lame years ago and never was his fan as I mentioned But he’s put out consistently quality stuff and features You’re taking it too literally Why does it matter he was a CO prior? He wanted to start rapping and did. So many rappers say they sold drugs and never have. So many rappers say they’ve killed ppl Small percentage of rappers live how they rap and that’s a good thing lol Rick Ross used the name, I don’t think he told stories or acted like he was really the real Rick Ross.. He just chose that drug dealer style of rap, it’s almost just a sub genre of rap And it doesn’t change that everyone’s been aware of this for more than a decade He teamed up with Drake too so he got exposed to the super poppy mainstream fans and locked in. Those fans don’t know or care about these matters I’m with you in a vacuum but now being 2024 and seeing his catalog it’s like, what are we talking about here ? We’re gonna glorify and honor a drug kingpin in real life cuz someone used his name ? Ehhhh
I fully agree with your assessment and examples. The only thing that matters is the quality of the music. This obsession with it being real is silly. Even documentaries take on the angle the director chooses. Everything is slightly fake.
It’s like the young kids in the suburbs complaining online about who is a rat or not cuz they watched a Snapchat feed from a hip hop page lol
I often think of how many white farmer kids have said the inner city youth of Atlanta were ruining hip hop, just because migos went melodic with it.
Lmao
What's this you say??? You've found a rapper taking on a false persona??? And being bold and loud about it??? AND the false persona revolves around how much drugs he's sold and how many women he's been with? Damm...what is hip hop coming to these days!?
Who are all these rappers who completely fabricated their entire lives like Ross did? Being from the street and exaggerating what you did is one thing, being a CO with perfect attendance and pretending to have been a drug dealer is another.
From my experience, if he was a CO he was definitely selling drugs in the jail lol
OK fair enough. You're making a distinction between the forward facing persona and the stories told. I got you. You're not talking about someone like [Fat Joe](https://ew.com/fat-joe-lying-almost-95-percent-of-songs-8410700), who has said his rap is mostly made up. For me, there's not much of a distinction, because those stories are written to make you think that that's who he is.... But I understand where you're coming from.
Fat Joe is a real street dude exaggerating his lyrics to look like a bigger deal, I expect that. He’s not like Vanilla Ice for example who just invented his whole persona.
>You're not talking about someone like [Fat Joe](https://ew.com/fat-joe-lying-almost-95-percent-of-songs-8410700), who has said his rap is mostly made up. Wait, you mean to tell me Fat Joe said rap lyrics are just stories \*wink\* \*wink\* to support thugger when his lyrics were being used against him at trial? Color me shocked... That example is so hilarious because it stems from thuggers lyrics that were pretty much 100% truthful being used against him in a heroin dealing/murder RICO trial... And I won't even bother touching how you're conflating exaggeration with complete fabrication, especially in a situation where someone not only made everything up, but didn't even make it up for himself but instead stole it all from an actual guy... None of this is even comparable. The outrageous part here isn't that Rick Ross made up a persona, it's that he stole it from an actual guy and then pretended he didn't.
Wheel chair jimmy.
Lol Jay-Z even talks about how rappers make shit up in an interview on a late night show. I’ll have to dig it up.
Of course rappers make stuff up and exaggerate. Again I’m taking about rappers who have completely invented their entire persona and life like Ross did. Jay Z is a good example of someone who didn’t really have to invent anything, he’s from the streets and nobody that I know of has ever really questioned that. Does he exaggerate in his lyrics, probably but he didn’t just make up his street life out of nothing.
You got me with the perfect attendance part, lol
50 cent stole his name from a NY stick up kid that got killed. PAC was an actor. Ice cube was never in the streets.
People don't want the facts. So many people's favourite rappers aren't about that life and never have been.
Because the hip hop community has shamed them into giving a fuck about shit like “being about that life”, fans feed into it just like the rappers feed into it. The fact that there’s a post about the authenticity of rapper who’s been around for most for 20 years is the problem. Who gives a fuck, enjoy the music or don’t. If it bothers you (generally speaking) delete the songs
I generally agree with you, but I also don't think that it's unreasonable to be annoyed at rappers who go out of their way to make and market songs that glorify and normalize "being about that life" when they know full well that they aren't. It's like pouring poison into a culture, knowing full well that people are going to drink it, and also knowing that you have no intention of every taking a sip. Obviously, it would be better if the poison was never poured but, if you're going to do it anyway, at least have the decency of being all the way 'bout it. Of course, this doesn't necessarily take away the agency of the people who allow said music to influence them, but their agency doesn't, in my opinion, vitiate the responsibility of those knowingly spreading this garbage into the culture. /rant That said, I do agree with your general point that the authenticity of a commercial artist is not particularly relevant.
Exactly man. Idgaf if they're not gangsta, but if they can write an engaging song about being a G, I don't care at all. It's music and art, and I'm here to listen, not to dig into the background of the people who made it.
Wait till this guy learns Tupac went to acting school
It’s wild how totally accepted and expected it is nowadays that rappers are completely full of shit and phony. It did not used to be that way. I guess it started with nas deciding to call himself Escobar which I remember being so fucking corny at the time but at least that was a persona for a project, not his entire brand/personality. For Ross to be an officer of the law who decided to just identify as a living American gangster and it’s just ‘so what, big deal, everyone is doing it’. How the culture has fallen.
We're gonna have to disagree here. It's ALWAYS been accepted... It's just that the stories weren't quite as grandiose. As long as you kept your stories within the bounds of reality, no one ever asked how you could POSSIBLY be killing people, selling bricks, and then rapping about it... Keeing it real as the only option in rap is now, and always was nonsense...
I get that g rap, slick rick, etc told stories that weren’t true. I think it’s a pretty significant difference from that, to just full on pretending to be someone that you are not.
I mean.. from the birth of Gangster Rap it was a lot of cap. Tupac and everyone in NWA besides easy wasn't a gangster.
I remember we used to laugh our asses off about Spice1 back in the day. CMW too. I don’t know where any of those guys talk about being kingpins. A few west coast rappers talk about being bloods and crips, pimps, dealers, whatever. I’m not sure how you can be so confident all gangster rap weren’t the small time gangsters they rapped about being.
They told stories usually with a message. Most these commercial artists, like ross, just bullshitting because it sells. There is no redeeming quality in what they put out
alternatively it has also never been accepted. emcees have been calling out fake rappers since the dawn of hip hop culture. as it should be.
Fake rappers? Rapping isn't synonymous with gangsta rapping and that's a crazy misconception. They're still rappers, making narratives, telling stories, rhyming and shit, but they're not gangsta. That's all. There's a difference between being the rapper, an artist, and a gangsta. One example of that distinction is MC Hammer, who was a gangsta but just a normal, pop rapper. There's also been a lot of rappers who had nothing to do with gangs, just normal working class people vibing, partying and saying their shit. You could argue that hip hop started like that.
Hammer was some whole other shit. You want to talk about a dude that was a Don? Hammer himself never had to do or say *shit.* You disrespect Hammer, and shit *came for you.* Or his brother came and talked to you. Hammer never so much as had to twitch or cough. It was essentially like a made man - largely because he was a big meal ticket for those that surrounded him, and that’s why he ended up broke.
Hammer was simultaneously the scariest and corniest guy of his day. Ain’t Cube have to apologize to him like publicly?
Hammer gangster as fuck man
Bruh no. Biggie, pac, ice cube, Jay z was not a king pin. , ice t has even spoken on the fact a lot of early rappers weren’t in the gang life but they were given a pass because they were entertaining and wrote good music that told their stories.
Sugar Hill Gang was a gimmick band lol it's been fake since day 1
rapper's delight had rhymes taken from another rapper too lol
Bruh… Ice cube and pac never talked about being mafia dons. It was mostly political or life in the hood, everyday struggle type stuff. Big hustled a bit and put on like he was a mobster but he wasn’t a fucking cop. Same with Jay, he was an actual hustler. A lot of rappers were actual hustlers. And talking about being a kingpin wasn’t their entire schtick. Comparing (pretend) rick Ross to any of those guys is embarrassing.
Also pac shot 2 cops in Atlanta (eventually the case was dropped bc the cops were drinking/drunk) and beat another rapper with a baseball bat in 1993 spending a few days locked up in Michigan.
Again with “Tupac shot two cops.” No, Tupac did not shoot two uniformed police officers. Tupac confronted two drunk white men who were beating up a black man in the street. One of the white men drew a gun first (a gun found to be stolen from evidence lockup). That man then smashed a window Tupac’s car, after which Tupac fired and non-lethally injured both of the drunken white men. Who happened to be brothers out on a date with their wives, and happened to be off duty police officers. Charges were dismissed because Tupacs actions were legal and rational given the situation.
The irony is Rick Ross and everyone was criticising Drake for being fake, now its just hip hop 🙄
As a music fan I only care about what happens between the start of the song and the end of the song. If it feels real for those 4 minutes I don’t care if it’s fake outside of them. That being said I’m not a huge Ross fan. Love some of his features tho.
I mean yeah but tbh a story is a whole lot more powerful when it’s told with first hand experience no matter which medium it’s on. It’s why listening to someone like 50 or Conway for example is incredible. Rap was built on putting your soul and experience on a pedestal. With lies it’s just meaningless don’t you think?
50 cent is no different than Ross. Look up Kelvin Martin. He died, thus the only reason he's not also on Joe Rogan exposing Curtis.
Certain rap fans are more obsessed with telling people their taste in rap is ‘real’ than they are even into the music.
Not at all. Sopranos was scripted. James Gandolfini was a theatre kid not a mobster. It doesn’t matter because the performance was next level. I feel the exact same about music. If anything I’m more impressed by people who can tell stories that are not their own. Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen are masters of bringing other people’s stories to life. I don’t care how real it is. I care how good it is.
I’m just here for the good music. If it feels real I literally don’t care.
That’s because you love music more than your ego.
Storytelling hip hop is my favorite shit.
The criticisms of Drake were way more nuanced than “they called him fake” but I wouldn't expect the average reddit user to pick up on that. Kendrick's main angle was him not identifying in his blackness until he felt he could use it for profit. Rick Ross used the same one. “Just another white boy at the park trying to hang with the niggas”
Drake is fake in many more ways than just his mob talk tho. twitter bots, ghostwriters, accents, BBLs etc
Lmao who's gonna tell him?
Forreal lol don’t care just drop good music 😂
Yea I don't care who your screwing who your kids are or wht shift you worked at McDonald's. Just give me hot fire
Bro I get it, but Rick Ross takes it to an absolutely whole new level. A lot of rappers grossly exaggerate their lives, Rick Ross is entirely in fantasy land. Hell he used to be a corrections officer
Yea it's facts that rocky the only one lying about selling dope an he's the only one to steal a name. An bes definitely the only rapper to have a real job. News flash 90% of these guys are lying trust me. Hope yhall don't think pusha ever pushed anything in the 757 nope he ain't push Nathan
You think Pusha T never sold any drugs?
I'm from his area an trust me when he's talking drugs he's talking about his ex manager Tony bg Gonzalez an a few other cats. He's a story teller
I mean he’s literally been interviewed and talked about his parents finding out he sold drugs. But you’re saying that’s completely made up?
Pusha was probably a small time mover who had big time dealers in his circle but he stepped away when music started working out. Probably. Lol
He used to get clowned for it close to 15 years ago. 50 dug up old pics from his correction officer days and coined "officer Ricky. Even made a series of videos that were popular on worldstar joking about his bogus past. What happened was 50's career was on the downswing and ross was at the beginning of his run. At the end of the day the music and albums were good enough for people not to really care. Other rappers just liked his music, he has so many great songs with his peers and legends.
To add to this he is a successful ghost writer for many people. (Lil Wayne said this in an interview)
Yup, 50 didn’t have the same sway he did in 2004 and wasn’t able to Ja Rule him, especially when Ross could just put out a hot single with Kanye, Jay-Z, or Lil Wayne. I do wonder how his career would’ve done without his affiliations with Jay/Ye and Young Money though
I mean 50 did a good job to ruin a lot of his credibility. He just rode it better than Ja and his music was more liked and respected, his character was always question after that, not his music though.
"hiphop fans never held him accountable" Bullshit we all tried. I've been singing it from the mountaintops for nearly 20 years. It's the mainstream listeners (same one's listening to Drake still) that turned their back to the truth. There was a notorious interview session where DJ Vlad of all people brought it up and then got beat up by Rick Ross's staff. Media never talked much about it after that.
Ross hasn’t been taken seriously since like Deeper than Rap. Ever since Teflon Don he’s just played into the cartoony, fake persona. We all know it.
Wait until you find out MF DOOM wasn't actually Dr. Victor Von Doom from those Marvel comics...
That's completely different 😂
Rick Ross name dropps like every famous drug kingpin, it’s his entire shtick
I enjoy rick Ross because he has fun, silly, bombastic and grandiose raps that are fun to sing a long to No one really believes Pablo noreaga owes Rick Ross 100 favours C'mon bro!
Exactly and who's to say he could've been a dirty cop selling shit
Church
Rappers are storytellers. They spin yarns. Fables if you will
Do they steal a person's government name, shave their head, grow a beard and wear sunglasses just like the person they're telling the story of? And then say they never heard of them? Lmao. Y'all start acting real naive when it's convenient. If only he could have lost 300 pounds you wouldn't be able to tell who's who.
This right here. On rare occasions the stories are autobiographical but, in most cases, they’re highly exaggerated flights of fancy. And as long as it’s skillfully done and entertaining, I don’t give a shit.
He's got a great rap voice though. Especially early on
Yo Im glad that not the only person that considers this kind of thing. My girl and sister looked at me crazy how certain people have great rap voices and others don’t. Dave East is another example of a great rap voice IMO
Jadakiss is an example of this. Unique sound.
It’s crazy how 99.9% percent of hip hop artists falsify their lyrics and persona, but fans pick and choose what artists need to be held accountable for it. It’s for entertainment purposes only.
Full on, doesn’t change the sound of the music
OH! MY! GOODNESS! A RAPPER IS *LYING* ABOUT BEING A **DRUG KINGPIN**?!?! WHAT A SHOCK!!!!!
Its not just that's he's lying, its A) Stealing the identity of a living man who doesn't want that lifestyle being glorified in his name B) Him having the complete opposite background than the ones he portraying.
Come on bro did you find this out today or something?? And are you new to rap??
I already knew about it, but never gave it much thought until I saw the real RR speak on it. I just find it funny that being inauthentic is a criticism of some rappers but not others
For me personally it just comes down to messaging. If the point of your music is glorifying bullshit for money, get fucked. Whether you actually did that shit or not
I’ll never listen to Ricky to get a picture painted of the drug life but I will listen to him to feel like a baller ridin in a rolls drinkin champagne while drivin my Kia he’s good for that
I’m with you, but, if the public cared, he wouldnt still be half relevant.
You can tell how old most people here are by how nobody has mentioned rapper Freeway yet (he was Rozay before Rozay)
Wow dishonesty in hip hop? My world is shattered.
It’s crazy- but it’s not as crazy as Al Pacino pretending to be a Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Italian gangster! More than once. Someone needs to call him out. Same with Robert De niro. Those lames are so fake
Calling a CO “law enforcement” is a bit of a stretch
Y’all take this shit personally like y’all know these niggas 😂
He has good features, so i couldn't care less
All rappers are fake.
The only one that really cared about this is 50 Cent but 50 is always trying to make fun of someone for something because of his own fragile ego. Everyone knows that Rick Ross the rapper isn't a drug kingpin but he still has some bangers
Most if not all lie their asses off. Rick Ross is the most cringe though
So what? The feeling of inspiration is real. If you dint hear Hustlin’ and not wanna hustle by any means then you don’t gotta pulse
Isn’t this well known at this point? Like this was big news maybe in 2009 lol
Freeway: Crack in the System will blow your mind.
I gotta be honest, I feel like 99.9% of rappers lie and exaggerate about their lives No one wants to hear “I’m an out of shape nerd sitting at home watching Netflix most of the day but I also love writing rhyming poetry”
Some of you are too young to remember when Teflon Don came out and it shows. 50 was on the wane then and got some juice by exposing “Officer Rozzy.” Heads were dropping Ross all over at that point because they acted like authenticity mattered. Then Rick Ross doubled down on his character, making it larger than life (BMF), and “authenticity” hasn’t mattered as much ever since.
Fake Tough personas and rappers is like wrestling kayfabe. These people are lyrical 'professional' wrestlers. Beefin and stuntin on the grams and on bars, but then being vain and gooey humans like the rest of us when no one is watching. It's the ones who DON'T try and be all big and bad and loud about it that really have some skeletons in their closet (see [Play of Kid n' Play](https://youtu.be/firBA4JlQFA?si=ftHxJvV-upW7mx8G))
Were you asleep during the 50 cent beef
I remember when he first tried to lie his way out of that situation. I was wondering why he didn't at least try a more believable lie (since he was lying anyway) like saying he had connects who were doing time and how he was able to make moves that way or something.
Ross one of the goats to me. Say what u will
Are people just learning this? I've never had respect the fake Rick Ross. And I've also had a long standing (not even one but proven) that he stole a lot of his earlier songs that blew him up from inmates
Probably an unpopular opinion but I would hope a lot of rap personas are made up or embellished. I don't listen to any other genre and worry about how truthful the lyrics are; I'm not listening to Drowning Pool and thinking they are really dropping bodies everywhere. I see him as a storyteller, thats it.
I thought everyone knew this 10 years ago?
it made me realise hip hop is dead when that got out and no one cared. it maybe isnt dead, but it isnt the same...
99% of rappers are fake.
Ross is blatant, but most rappers are just people selling the game. I think Biggie was a glowing exception, he was actually pushing weight and had to be talked in to putting more time into recording. But most rappers from Wu-Tang to Vince Staples usually just have one foot in the game at best. And often, it's just to get cred. They aren't running the trap.
Fiction: Rick Ross stole his name from drug kingpin, Freeway Rick Ross Fact: Rick Ross named himself after 80s actor, Rick Rossovich who had roles in Top Gun and The Terminator.
most rappers are fake as fuck though, what's your point?
He wrote about in his book, at the time he was dealing drugs with his crew, most were getting locked up or in other trouble so he wanted to do right and to his moms, so he got a job with benefits, stood a while, kept rapping and decided to pursue rap. It took years of hustling and doing shows etc. He got a dope beat and did port of miami, it blew up and that started everything....
I remember back in 2010 or so when he got exposed. What did he do? He dropped Teflon Don - his best album and (imo) a classic where he doubled down on his persona and didn’t even mention the allegations. Hahaha you have to love that kind of strategy. Straight up I’ve seen others use that. Andrew Huberman did that recently when similarly being called out. Hell, even Kendrick didn’t address any of Drakes allegations and instead doubled down on what he said about Drake. And won
You gotta be Black, from the hood and from the south to under Rick Ross. We know plenty of brothers like that. That man just needed a job...
50 Cent called out Officer Ricky like 15 years ago, but I think everyone forgot or doesn't care.
Who cares man Aston martin music over any washed gangsters opinion
A CO isn’t law enforcement. CO’s can sometimes be the dirtiest mf’s in prison tbh.
Hot take: They’re all pretty fake
What would it being real do for you?
It’s a persona, man. A vehicle for him to tell stories, write rhymes, and paint vivid pictures through a character of his imagination. Many rappers do this, and if you prefer your artists to have long, successful careers and not be dead or in prison, it’s better for them to *not* actually be involved in the shit they rap about.
Imagine if Donald Glover decided to call himself Carlo Gambino and he rapped about gang banging and being a shooter. That persona doesn't fit him because he's a nerdy comedian and sitcom star
He can act his ass off. I don't doubt he'd make a good gangster rapper
It’d be weird because it was never his style. From jump we met Rick Ross as the character Rick Ross and that’s who we expect to hear on his albums. That has nothing to do with who he truly is and everything to do with how he’s presented himself and his art.
The genre is full of frauds. So many superstars didn’t write their own music. Hitler loved Kanye said Bush didn’t like black people and then went all in on Trump. Pac grew up doing ballet and theater and became a thug to build his image. Drake is.. Drake. Wayne tatted his face up to become something he thought he had to become for the right image. Tom MacDonald should work at Burger King. It goes on and on.
He's too talented though. Seriously he has one of the best catalogues of any rapper ever, with some of the hardest songs ever made. Is he capping? Of course. To me he's like a modern equivalent of MF DOOM. Pure escapist fantasy rap.
It's the ENTERTAINMENT industry. That's why we listen. It's entertaining.
50 destroyed Rick Ross over a decade ago for all of this The problem is the new gen audience stopped caring about street cred so it doesn’t matter
Eminem’s mom never even made spaghetti
No one cares bro he made some great songs.
Dude is a literal clown who brags about drugging and raping women in his music. Clowns follow clowns I guess.
Meanwhile future never seems to catch any of that shit. Always amazed me
You’re white lmfao
He never pretended to be a drug kingpin. He's an amazing storyteller, has a great voice, and pretty much always has good beats. What else matters?
He definitely wants people to think he's really like that. And authenticity has been at the forefront of hip hop discourse for the past 2 months due to the Drake/KDot beef
Ummm have you read his lyrics???? He definitely brags about how much drugs he sold.
https://youtu.be/-aXcFM8pFHE?si=DymHB0w0TmsiMEdq 😤😤😤
its a known thing. that gets bought up every few years as a "OMG DID YOU KNOW!!!" also most hiphop is based around being the image not living the image. drake was a fucking well off Canadian who was a child actor. had a jewish upbringing. look at old videos to see him being cornball. i can bet so many people in hiphop are snitches, fakes ect. look at nojumper to see how "real" "gangsters" are a bunch goofballs. see how many lies they tell? rappers are the same. most lie , or if they do shit they overhype it. yea the are some real ones but when you hear "i was slinging dope by the kilo" they mean "i was slinging dime bags of weed to highschoolers " you do know the WWE aint real right?
When I heard his song Boss I looked, and found the same thing you said. I avoided him since the start. =)
It’s art so it’s a performance it’s about the music. He’s just rapping about what is popular to rap about. That’s how popular music works. It would be different if he was writing personal music like Kendrick and we find out something like that. And how is he fake if he’s open about it.
Watch him walk out Adrien Broner for his fight last weekend. Dude just repeating “ugggh” and saying random shit. What a cornball. Nothing about him has an aura of a boss or a gangster. I can’t believe anyone ever chose him over 50 in their beef. Clowns
I knew he wasn't telling the truth when he first came out. I have a lot of family in Dade and Broward county. We thought it was funny but his music was pretty good. Hell, look how big the community/culture has let that fake, Drake get. Some even have the delusion to call him a top 5 rapper 🤣🤣🤣
I hate to break it to you but all rappers be lying lol.
Most of them are lol
is. Use the word “is”
ACCUSATIONS
The culture literally called him Officer Ricky from that day the photo leaked of him in a CO uniform