Rick Ross is a man of exquisite taste. The Bawse enjoys the finer things in life: chains, gold, cigars, Bentleys, and the like. It should be no surprise then that the Miami MC has top taste in his fellow rappers as well.
When sitting down with Nick Cannon on his radio show to promote his then-recent LP Port of Miami 2 back in 2019, Ross was asked for his personal top five. Would he go with some of his collaborators like Jay-Z or Lil Wayne? Yes, but not those two. “When you talk Rozay and my top 5, it ain’t about your album, your single, I’m thinking catalogue,” he explained. “The impact.”
In fact, before he got to his peers, he reserved his top spot for a legend: The Notorious B.I.G. “He was special. I just love how he was so effortless,” Ross explains. No argument here. Biggie’s larger than life baritone flow obviously had a major impact on Ross’ flow, and it’s no surprise to see Rozay pay respect to the all-time great.
Next up is perhaps a bit of a left-field choice, Ice Cube. “Anybody that don’t consider Cube, they don’t count,” Ross claims of the N.W.A member. “They can’t sit at the table.” Ross and Cube would later be featured on Snoop Dogg’s take on the Tupac classic ‘Untouchables’.
Speaking of Tupac, Ross went back and forth between including Shakur or Nipsey Hussle with one of his slots, eventually making a strong case for Hussle. “I ain’t thinking numbers, I’m thinking impact,” he said. “It’s very few words that could describe the impact Nip had. When you looked up in that Staples Center… His impact, I just pray he had an idea to see this.”
His fourth slot was given to Scarface from the Geto Boys, before he once again found himself at an impasse. Unwilling to split hairs, Ross paired up 8Ball & MJG as his final picks, explaining that “I’ma put them as one.”
Check out the full interview down below.
