Co-creator of a small site called 2DopeBoyz.com — you may have heard of it — Meka has been scribing professionally for several years, with his work appearing everywhere from BET to XXL. When the LA native isn’t causing trouble in the streets of New York, he’s enjoying life as a part-time quasi-DJ. If you take anything he says here too seriously, that's a you problem.
Why Are We Infatuated With Rick Ross?
One of rap’s great mysteries.
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Around midnight last night, the long-awaited single by Jay-Z and Kanye West, “H.A.M.,” hit the Internets.
Roughly three minutes later the song broke the Internets, with everybody rushing to their favorite website and social networking medium to download, listen and critique the song.
Roughly two minutes after that the sea levels receded, and the supposed “musical natural disaster” never came to fruition, as the general consensus was more mixed than ecstatic.
Is the song awful? Not really, but it is a bit underwhelming and a letdown for most people who secretly believed that, if done correctly, this album would arguably be the first “classic” album in years (we’re just gonna ignore those ratings The Source have been tossing out left and right for now). I’m not expecting some Best Of Both Worlds level of catastrophe with Watch The Throne, especially with Kanye claiming that Madlib, Pete Rock and Q-Tip were providing aural backdrops for the project a while back. I certainly wasn’t expecting such a heavy Rick Ross influence on the first single, however.
Which begs the question: what is it, exactly, with hip hop’s interest in Rick Ross? I’m not going to sit here and shit on him like I used to back when I used to work for the good ship Amistad, as I’m actually a fan of the guy’s music. At the very least I will admit that the guy – or is it one of his weed carriers? – possesses a relatively considerable ear for picking beats, which in turn makes for some great (no, seriously) music. Some of his more understated cuts, like the Kanye-assisted “Live Fast, Die Young,” are aurally anthemic. One could only wish that *insert your favorite, lyrically dense but fiscally deficient rapster here* had his budget.
At the same time, I’m not going to ignore Rick’s obvious shortcomings as a monotonous rapper with bars containing limited subject matter masked by overpoweringly celestial instrumentals, a true “studio artist” manufactured by his label’s publicity and promotional teams as a fraudulent, former drug kingpin who decided give it all up and to turn to rap music to make a living. And that was before the correctional officer past was made prevalent. But we still eat that shit up.
Why, exactly? I don’t know, really. But this contradictory dilemma hasn’t stopped me from playing “MC Hammer” at parties.
Let’s be honest: we’re all going to obtain a copy of Jay and Ye’s Watch The Throne when it drops, whether we get it via iTunes, at the local Best Buy, on a preferred message board’s download link or off some random African’s quilt on the corner of 125th and St. Nicholas. But for Jay and ‘Ye’s sake, let’s see a little bit less Rick Ross in their collaborative efforts. Hell, Kanye should start using those beats he said he would keep for himself. If I wanted to hear an album full of repetitive, bass-heavy, riot-inducing instrumentals I would have actually kept that Juicy J x Lex Luger mixtape on my computer.
only black man that rocks a beard well is kimbo/
should take rick ross’ fat ass and throw it right through his window/
only thing ‘deeper than rap’ about him is the craters he leaves/
when he sits, walks or sleeps spreading earthquakes like a disease
Q – Why Are We Infatuated With Rick Ross?
A – Because you just wrote an entire blog about him, duh?
‘Pandemonium’>>>>>’H.A.M’
Hes raps Mr. T… lets face it…. everyone wants Mr. T back!
when i was trying to figure out if i should give more stock in XXL or The Source, one of the deciding factors was that The Source gave Rick Ross’s latest their highest rating while XXL is considerably more selective with your highest grade.
‘Pandemonium’>>>>>’H.A.M’
Co-sign yo. That shit is dope, I ilke the new Ross track with Drake too. That HAM shit was pretty weak.
My thoughts on Ross: First off although I wish dude came clean about it, I dont care that he is a former CO. Same as I don’t care that Wayne kissed Baby, Game was on Change of heart, Drake was Wheelchair Jimmy etc etc. It should be about the music. As long as dude is making quality music, I’ll be checkin for them.
Second off, I’m gonna put this is out there, that Ross is one of the few newer artists who is growing progressively better with every release. The guy has a fantastic ear for beats and knows how to craft different types of records. He also is constantly working and I wouldn’t be surprised if God Forgives, I Don’t drops this year. His mixtape output is dope too. He also is on that mogul comeup with Mayback Music and I like the Meek Millz and Wale moves. Dude is also one of raps better selling artists like it or not, consistently gold.
So hate on him cause he was a CO, dissed 50, wore fake Louie V shades, fronts like he’s Pablo Escobar, stole Freeway Ricky’s government name, he has bigger tittys than your girl or whatever other reason you haters can think of. Fact is, Ricky is a multi-talented rapper who ain’t goin nowhere.
“It should be about the music. As long as dude is making quality music, I’ll be checkin for [him].”
@Q461: No disrespect to you, but this is the hip-hop equivalent of believing in a “post-racial” America. It is a threadbare attempt to appear open-minded and “progressive.” The fact of the matter is there is no way I could listen to music about gangsterism if I knew for a fact that the author got his head bust daily (unless he’s talking about being the victim of gangsters). Yes, Rawse has spectacular beats. However, dude is a fraud. He sounds constipated when he raps. I can’t do anything but laugh when I think of him waddling in the studio spitting his tomfoolery. Call me ignorant, narrow minded or whatever. I just can’t take the gangster posturing from a fraud.
^^^^Ross is proof that you need no talent whatsoever to be big(no pun) in Rap today…..NO TALENT.
Quit wastin my time with this shit kiddies,I cant believe he’s still here but i guess white america still wants to be hard and a wanna be scarface artist is what they crave….Ignorant lyrics still sound ignorant over the best music in the world.
ha! they blurred out his titty balls
“I cant believe he’s still here but i guess white america still wants to be hard and a wanna be scarface artist is what they crave…”
^ you got it twisted…ross ain’t marketed at white america…he’s marketed @ ghetto n^ggas with a gram, and a dream…why you think he struggles to go gold…
What a poorly analytical article!?
A “heavy Rick Ross influence?” You, yourself, recognize in this same article the true identity of rapper Rick Ross, the fake, the phony, the manufactured ‘studio artist.’ He’s proven himself to be a very marketable tool but nothing more than a commercial lyricist. He has NO influence. He’s a face and an image of popular hip-hop lacking any real depth.
I really enjoy the music to which Ross applies his wordplay, but he is no beat-making or beat-finding genius. It is powerfully creative artists who carry weight in proportion to their craft, rather than around their waste, like Jay-Z and Kanye who influence guys like Rick Ross.
I have a feeling this single, H.A.M., is purely meant to do what it sounds to be: a Lex Luger-influenced hype-track. The spirit of the song exists entirely in the last 30 seconds. It bangs, it’s current, it’s hip-hop and yet it STILL pushes musical boundaries enough to inspire skepticismThe promoters are nationwide preparing it for radio-play and getting it club-ready. H.A.M. is a hit but it’s only intended to promote the album, and place Jay-Z and Kanye into clubs where they’ve been largely replaced by inferior ac.ts like Rick Ross, Waka Flocka and *insert any mainstream-of the moment-popular-rapper here.*
‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ was a wildly explorative tapestry of music, art and picture of which we are not yet able to fully appreciate. Nevertheless it is the truest expression of the rage, the pain, the hurt, the beauty and the creativity embodied in Kanye West’s craft. Rick Ross will never even hold a candle to Kanye’s kind of heat, though he’s certainly a welcome guest while he’s still relevant to popular music.
‘Watch The Throne’ promises to be the union of Jay-Z’s presence and Kanye’s power. H.A.M. is intended to get us excited for it and if you allow it to with perspective, it does just that!
@ Worley
I respect your opinion, but not for nothin, I just don’t care if Ross or any other cats caught bodies or pushed weight. I just listen to what he puts out. How many rappers do you really think live the exact lives they have talked about on wax?
If you think dude sounds constipated or whatever ( the line about him waddling around the studio had me crackin up fam) You are entitled to your opinion. The fact is alot of people share your views about Ross. I just don’t happen to be one of them. I think dude has talent and thats all I care about.
@ Don
The thing is though the dude has gone gold everytime, struggled or not. ( I think Deeper than Rap just missed the mark in the states). Gold is a big deal these days. After Em, Ye, Drake and Minaj, noone else really went plat last year, so Ross is on the level right below right now (sales wise anyway). I don’t know, I just never hated on dude really. ould have been nice if he admitted to the CO shit, but it is what it is .
@Q461: Respect. You are right to acknowledge that we merely hold different opinions. There is something I want to comment on however. You ask “How many rappers do you really think live the exact lives they have talked about on wax?” That is a valid question. It is also the proverbial orange in a convo about apples. Rick False is a known fraud. Your question is about unknown (possible) frauds. Let me break that down into two camps: unknown (possible) frauds that I don’t believe and unknown (possible) frauds that I do believe.
Unknown (possible) frauds I don’t believe – Juelz Santana and Lloyd Banks. I have heard a ton of tough guy raps from both of those guys. However, I do not get a sense of menace or malice when I look at them. I don’t care how many times Juelz Santana gets caught with guns, weed and Jolly Ranchers. That scrawny negro will never convince me with his tough guy persona. The same goes for Banks. I look at him and don’t get a sense of menace or malice.
Unknown (possible) frauds I do believe – Styles P and Slim. I know nothing about Styles P personally. Still, something about his body language during interviews and the look in his eye make me feel that his raps contain a higher percentage of truth than most others. Likewise, I have never heard Slim from Cash Money say a word. However, as Bol once said, the creepy look in his eye makes me feel like he has killed someone.
Let me add a third category: thorough rapsters that don’t look so thorough – Boosie and Jimmy Henchmen. Lil Boosie is a joke as a rapper in my book. I would not have believed any tough guy talk from him, but his current situation gives us some sense of his dealings in the street. The same goes for Jimmy Henchmen. He is not an imposing figure or a rapster per se. Yet, he is a well-known crime figure in Brooklyn.
The point is I take people at their word unless I have reason to believe otherwise. Rick False and many others have given me reason to believe otherwise. I will never accept any gangster posturing from them.
@ Worley
No doubt and the thing is… The more I think about I semi-agree with you! I dont condone fake shit eithier…. I just kinda feel like once he got the pass from hip-hop (maybe not by everyone but he’s sold a ton of records since being exposed (Ugh Ross exposed, I just threw up in my mouth lol) I feel he’s been crafting dope tracks. You almost gotta kinda wish that he flopped ( kinda like hip-hop karma for being a wanksta) but his music has gotten better.
I would feel like I’m lying if I said I didnt listen to his records because of the CO shit.