Freeway Ricky Ross – The Real

You may have heard the rumors or discussed different theories, but the staff of Twenty4Seven Magazine feel it’s high time the truth be told. No more debates and no more “he said, she said”. Hear the truth from the REAL Rick Ross in this astonishingly controversial interview.


Interview By: T4S Staff

freewaypictureBefore we get into what’s behind curtain #1, let’s start with some background information for those who aren’t familiar with the story and its characters.

What is your background?
I grew up in South Central, Los Angeles’ wanting to do the right thing, around the time when the Crips and Bloods started their (organization). I knew ‘Big Pudding’ so we became good friends. As a pre-teen, I played tennis so that kept me out of gang banging for a while. I still associated with those types of individuals but I didn’t consider myself as a “banger” up until 18 or 19. At that point I couldn’t read or write so I dropped out of school.

How did you get introduced to the game of tennis?
Back in the day, we used the tennis courts to play “Roller Derby”. One day, I took a bet to play (tennis) and turned out being good at it. Eventually I joined a high school team, and went on to play 1 year in junior college. I still play today.

Who introduced you to drugs?
At the time, a friend of mine said he had that “new thing”; talking about cocaine. I honestly didn’t know what it was until then.

How long did it take for you to bring in a substantial amount of income?
It took weeks on top of months to learn the business. I was determined from the beginning not to quit, even when things went wrong. I had to go through several trials and tribulations before I hit it big in the game.

Was there a particular goal you had in mind when you sold cocaine?
When I started, my main goal was money, but once I had more money than I could spend, my motive turned into wanting to be the biggest dealer. I believed my job was to get everyone that wanted to be high, high. And I did.

With all the money you made, did you make any investments?
I invested my money into a variety of things. Homes, businesses, just anything that was making money I wanted a part in. I bought old property and fixed it up, took a few trips to Aspen, and just did what I wanted. It’s always a good thing to do what you want to do in life. Freedom is good, and money definitely buys you that. I was able to open my own motels, beauty salons, mechanical shops, and even pay for Anita Baker’s first album.

Owning businesses is a legit way to earn a living. Why did you continue your involvement in selling drugs? Did you feel pressured to remain in it?
Selling drugs is addictive. You get addicted to having hundreds of thousands of dollars on you. Not to mention, people start to count on you as well, and that’s where the pressure came into play. I felt pressured into staying even though I know I could get killed, but after a while, being conscious makes you feel you should be locked up.

Despite the cons, would you say that money still bought you happiness?
Yes. I would say it did.

How did you become known as “Freeway” Rick Ross?
My name came from me living on the freeway and the life I lived after breaking through the dirt. It was given to me.

You said you felt you wanted to be the best dealer you could be and at the same time help people out. How did you balance out the two?
You never want to see people addicted, but at the end of the day, my mentality was, “If I don’t do it someone else will”.

Now that we’ve touched base on a few things, let’s start pulling back curtain #1.

What is the “Dark Alliance”?
It’s a book by Gary Webb that detailed the deal between me, Ronald Regan, George Bush, Oliver North, the White House, C.I.A., the Niagara Conference and Danilo Blandon. They sold weapons to Iran to raise money for the Contras. That money was given to the Contras to sell drugs and those drugs were the drugs I was getting.

For those that know who you are and your story, they know you did time. How did you go from having a life sentence to serving 25 years instead? What was it like being released?
I did my homework. I read up on a lot of things, particularly the law. In the end, it felt wonderful to have that life sentence taking off of me. To have a release date meant the world to me.

With a light shown on the government’s “dirty dealings”, were there any repercussions towards them? When they are in the wrong, can we still win the fight against them?
Oliver North went to trial just like I did but George Bush pardoned him. We can still win the fight, we just have to play the game better than they do. Everyone just needs to get on the same page.

How do we get this information out to them? What steps need to be taken so that people are made aware of how we are treated?
Well ultimately, it’s up to the people. How fast do the people want to come out of this position? When you want out you work frantically to get out, and I’ve been working frantically.

While in prison you spent a lot of time reading. What were some of the books you read?
I read over 300 books while incarcerated. 3 of my favorites are, “The Richest Man in Babylon”, “Think and Grow Rich”, and “As a Man Thinks”.

With all that’s happened years ago and all that’s happened within the past few months, how do you feel about the direction we’re headed towards?
I feel the black community in particular is in the worst position right now. With unemployment at an all-time high and over 600,000 incarcerations, this is the worst it’s ever been.

As far as the government is concerned, how do you feel about their involvement with these conspiracies? Is there any truth to these theories?
Are they allowing our children to be fed poison everyday through the radio by rappers? Like the rapper William Roberts going around with my name, telling kids that he sold drugs, and parlayed those drug earnings into a music career. Isn’t there truth that they have so many black men in jail for non-violent drug offenses? These are all facts.

So what exactly did you sue the rapper William Roberts aka “Rick Ross” for?
I sued him twice. 1st for the use of my name and now I’m going after Warner Brothers. I was told by the judge that I should’ve filed my 1st case 5 days before I was released from prison due to of statute of limitations but since I didn’t, it was dropped. With that particular case the statute of limitations lasted for 2 years, and the imprisonment gave me 1 exit year.

With all that’s happening and coming out about “Rick Ross”, it seems no one cares whether or not these accusations are true or false. How do you feel about that?
They don’t care and it’s because he has a machine behind him. When a rapper comes out and he’s independent and not with the machine, what do you think happens? It tells you that this individual isn’t any good, so people aren’t going to like you. If that person is with the machine, it’s going to tell you that this rapper is good, you should buy their music, support them, and be like them. The purpose of the machine is to direct you to do what it wants you to do.

Kids/teens/young adults nowadays are being influenced to live these lifestyles that the majority of these rappers aren’t even living. The goal is to get them to believe the hype that they can do these crimes and make something big out of it and that just isn’t true. These young people trust everything that these rappers talk about and the record labels know this which is why they put so much money into prisons, so that these young people will be incarcerated. These companies are all about selling an image, especially those that aren’t real. You get a man that acts like he’s from the streets, looks like he’s from the streets, give him money and a mic and you have a solid deal. People just eat it up without hesitation.

So with this new lawsuit, do you feel your chances of being a victor are greater than before?
I do. I have a lot of support in L.A. and a lot of the people there aren’t happy with the way things have happened.

I know you speak a lot on how kids need to learn how to be critical thinkers. Can you elaborate on your views of critical thinking?
I believe people in general need to sit down and reevaluate the information that they are being faced with. Take the time and think about how these things benefit you and how it won’t. For instance, these rap records, people should be able to listen and think what is this going to do for me, how do I relate, should I even be listening to this. I just feel critical thinking in general is a huge part that is missing in this day and age. It all goes back to what I mentioned earlier.

We know there is still a lot you have going on from a legal standpoint, but let’s get into what else you have going on.
I just put out the mixtape “Only Support the Real’’ and it’s doing very well. It sold 5,000 copies out of the trunk within the first week and we’re still pushing it heavy. We’re in the works of putting together volume 2 as well. I’m going to have a documentary coming out called “Cracker System”. It’s going to show how the government deliberately allows crack cocaine to be dropped off and distributed in the black community, how young guys between 18 and 19 are being arrested with small quantities of crack ($1,000 worth) and getting 30-40 or life sentences. I’m also working on a movie and reality show and starting to sell human hair weaves.

Is there anything you want to address that we may not have touched on?
I want to put it out there that I’m opening the door for any young black entrepreneurs interested in getting involved in the 60 billion dollar hair industry. It’s an honest hustle so hit me up via twitter or freewayenterprise.com.

*Update: Freeway Ricky Ross recently loss his court case against Warner Bros. but vows to continue battling for his own name. This ruling was due to a California law, stating publicity rights claims have to be made within the first two years of the publication of the objectionable material. This is his 3rd time suing.

As for Rick Ross (born William Roberts) the rapper, he has since received threats of extortion and death from the “Gangster Disciple” gang across 5 states, has been shot at, and most recently loss his endorsement with Reebox, due to his lyrics about “date rape” on a song with Rocko titled, “U.O.E.N.O”. He was pulled from that record as well. Karma, maybe? Who knows.

Visited 73 times, 1 visit(s) today

About The Author

Twenty4Seven Magazine Twenty4Seven Magazine is a monthly digital and quarterly print publication founded in 2009. Though we cover a little bit of everything, our primary focus is urban entertainment and lifestyle.

Related Posts

Post A Comment For The Creator: Twenty4Seven Magazine