Rick Ross has been at the forefront of hip-hop for over two decades. The Miami rapper has released multiple platinum hits such as ‘Hustlin’ and ‘Aston Martin Music’ and has become a multi-millionaire due to his many strategic business investments. Ross undeniably had an exciting journey into the spotlight. Before pursuing his solo career, in the early noughties, the emcee (real name William Roberts II) was part of the Miami rap group Triple C’s alongside rappers Gunplay and Torch. Before pursuing music, the rapper was a correctional officer in South Florida. However, he quit his job to pursue music full-time.
Brought up in the Carol City neighbourhood of Miami, Roberts was raised in a single-parent household with his mother and sisters. Ross did relatively well in school and even attended Albany State University on a football scholarship. However, after graduating and taking on his previously mentioned law enforcement job, in 1997, he turned his attention to hip-hop.
Under the pseudonym Teflon Da Don, the MMG founder recorded several demos, one of which landed him a guest verse on the third Erick Sermon album Def Squad Presents: Erick Onasis on the song ‘Ain’t Shhh to Discuss’. Following this mainstream feature, Teflon Da Don, under the stage name Rick Ross signed to Suave House Records and, after a short stint on the record label, signed to the Miami-based Def Jam subsidiary Slip-n-Slide Records. While on the label, Ross toured alongside Miami rap legend, Trick Daddy Dollars.
However, after making a name for himself throughout the early noughties by consistently touring alongside more prominent artists performing his underground Suave House material and promoting himself across the South, in 2006, Ross released his debut album Port Of Miami, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. This is the project that featured the smash-hit ‘Hustlin’ and is the body of work that really put him on the map.
Following the project’s release, Ross found himself at the centre of a bidding war between Bad Boy Entertainment and Murder Inc. However, having found a home on a subsidiary of Def Jam Recordings, Ross chose to stay at the label but moved to the larger and more prominent Def Jam South division of the company. With the millions of dollars made by the rapper after his entry into the mainstream, Ross began to live a more lavish lifestyle. Not only did he invest in cars but also in property.
However, one of his property purchases was made for an extremely bizarre reason. In a 2021 interview on Revolt TV, the rapper spoke in-depth about his career, investments, and more on the show Assets Over Liabilities. During the conversation, Ross spoke about a mansion he purchased in Atlanta. That may seem like a sound investment for any rapper with money. However, Ross bought it for an extremely strange and senseless reason.
Elaborating on the bizarre transaction, Roberts explained, “Homes was something I was always fascinated about, so me and my homies started coming up to Atlanta. We used to ride by here all the time [we would pull over] and just be like, God damn! So after I got my deal and my situation, I bought a million-dollar home maybe two minutes from here that I still own that’s right around the corner just so I can ride by it every day while I’m in Atlanta, and that’s what the play was.”
Despite the fact Roberts bought a house that drives by for fun, the artist has actually made other sound investments over the years, such as buying several Checkers and Wingstop franchises as well as forming his own label Maybach Music Group (MMG). You can see the Miami native’s full interview with Revolt in the video below.
