Rick Ross & Meek Mill Talk Maybach Music Deal

The deal isn’t signed just yet, but up-and-coming Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill is in talks with Rick Ross to sign to Maybach Music. XXLMag.com recently called the 23-year-old MC to find out his label situation, when an excited Meek dialed up the Miami boss to join in on the conversation.

“Meek Mill, I see him like when it comes to his rhymin’ and his ability to put music together he’s a young Rozay,” Ross said of the aspiring MC. “He's one record from really being that next nigga comin’ outta Philly on a major scale."

Mill has had numerous meetings with all of the major labels, including T.I.'s Grand Hustle imprint, but his discussions with Rozay seem the most promising thus far. “[The] strongest person on me has been Ross,” he said.

The July/August 2010 XXL Show and Prove alum says the two first got acquainted months ago over Twitter. When he heard that Ross was coming to his hometown, he started a campaign on the social networking site to get his fans to convince Rick to jump on the remix to his song “Rozay Red,” while he was in town. “So many people hit Ross up on Twitter that he was like yeah tell that nigga to come through the radio station and holla at me,” Meek said.

The two met that night at Cosmic Kev’s show on Power 99. “You know Ross being Ross, he’s like, 'Listen, you got a movement; I like what you doin’; I’m gonna fuck with that joint,'” he said. “Week later he sent the verse and that was that.”

“Funny story about Meek, that was on the Teflon Don promo [tour] as soon as I drive into the Philly market, everybody on Twitter was like, link with Meek, this the future,” Ross said, corroborating the story. “Just to see that type of following for somebody I had never heard of at that point was very impressive. So I reached out to the homie. We went to the radio station. I told him get him up there to the station. He slid through. Then he just presented himself as a man of business….I just seen it in his eyes that he was a nigga of his word, so we stayed in touch.”

Since then the two collaborated on a few more cuts. Ross flew him down to Miami to record the “I’m A Boss” in MIA and he is also on a song with another Maybach Music hopeful Wale and Chester French that will be included on Rick’s forthcoming Ashes to Ashes mixtape, dropping on Christmas Eve.

“I look forward to seeing all his contributions in hip-hop man," Ross said. "He’s a stand up dude, the type of dude that I fuck with on a personal level, not just on music.” It's deeper than rap. —Jesse Gissen