The strange gift Rick Ross gave to his teenage son
Miami emcee Rick Ross has bought many lavish things during his lifetime. Since his breakout in 2006 with Port Of Miami and his iconic hit ‘Hustlin,’ the Maybach Music Group founder has turned into a businessman.
As well as being a musician, he considers himself an entrepreneur, and one of his most lucrative investments over the years has been his venture into the world of food and the franchising of the popular fast-food chain Wingstop.
The chain has over 1,500 locations in the United States alone and is known internationally. That said, it is unsurprising that with over 20 different Wingstop franchises to his name, the Teflon Don creator is seeing some eyewatering returns.
However, even as a multi-millionaire with his own car museum and mansions, the emcee doesn’t splash out for birthdays and, instead, chooses to instil his kids with the shrewd business mentality that helped him become successful.
With this in mind, Ross once revealed that for his son’s sixteenth birthday, instead of buying him a car or a materialistic item that would only depreciate in value over time, he decided to put his 16-year-old son in charge of one of the Wingstop locations as a birthday present.
Compared to the lyricist’s humble beginnings washing cars in his neighbourhood, owning a Wingstop franchise was, in his opinion, the perfect way to get his children onto the business ladder in the hope that one day they may become even more successful than he is today.
In an interview with Complex magazine, Rick Ross spoke about why he decided to endorse Wingstop and show fans how he was growing the brand and making money. Detailing his real-life love for the company, the ‘Aston Martin Music’ rhymer explained, “Well, first and foremost, my personal passion for it hasn’t wavered any, over all the years I’ve loved Wingstop. You see, I’m still repping it like it’s the first time I had it. And when I eat Wingstop, it’s still like the first time I had it.”
Ross even recalled his initial meeting the CEO and how he knew together they would reach new heights, remembering, “When I went and sat down with the CEO, Charlie Morrison, he knew I had no experience being a franchisee. He knew I didn’t have the time sitting in a franchise, but he saw my vision and my passion. He opened the doors for me. He didn’t just let me follow my dreams. He let me go to that next level.”
Concerning his son, and wanting him to be business savvy and not just another child who lives off his parent’s success, Ross told The Real, “It was important to me the most, of course, is making sure he understands entrepreneurship, working for yours is the foundation of being a man.”
The rapper even revealed that at the age of four, his son saw the beginning of his Wingstop journey. Ross even admitted that his son did odd jobs for him at the branch, stating, “I would go in the Wingstop and pick up a broom, I’m sweeping, and I look at him and say ‘You go get the dustpan.’ What means the most to me is him walking in and out of the Wingstop since he was 4 to 5 years old, watching me chase my dreams. This is my way of rewarding him.”