Why Rick Ross loves Miami more than any place in the world
Rick Ross was born in Mississippi, but that’s not where home for him is. He’s a Miami boy through and through, and he likes to let it be known.
Southern rap has close associations with places like Atlanta, Georgia and Houston, Texas, but the major Florida city of Miami also has its claim to being a significant hub of the Southern sound. It has enjoyed a thriving hip-hop scene for years now.
Ross has arguably done more than any other person to put his home city on the map of America’s major hip-hop centres. His very career, in many ways, is defined by Miami.
While arriving into the world in Mississippi, Ross was actually raised in a place called Carol City. This is a neighborhood in Miami Gardens, a suburb of Miami proper. It’s a small enough place, but clearly it engendered a love in Ross of Miami in general.
The coastal city has “always been the spot” for him, as he put it during an interview on the PBD Podcast in May 2026. Even though he owns houses all around the place, Miami is still his favourite place to be. That’s where he likes to spend most of his year.
Ross was asked if that had anything to do with tax incentives. “No, no, no,” he replied, before breaking into a smile. “It’s the sunlight. It’s the ocean. It’s the breeze, the alkaline air.”
The prospect that he would make a good governor of South Florida was the raised, probably in jest, but you can never be too sure these days. Thankfully Ross shut that down with no ambiguity whatsoever. “No thanks,” he laughed, shaking his head, “no thanks, no thanks, no thanks.”
Miami has always been central to Ross’ career, with his debut album bearing the title Port of Miami. It was actually meant to be called Career Criminal, but Ross changed his mind about that and decided to reference Miami because of its associations as a major port for cocaine into North America.
Miami has remained a key part of Ross’ life and career ever since, and he even returned to the Port of Miami theme with a sequel in 2019. His tenth album overall, Port of Miami 2 demonstrated that, in the more than a decade since the first album came out, the city Ross calls home hasn’t ever left his heart. It’s because of the sunshine.