Rick Ross life and biography

William Leonard Roberts II, better known by his stage name Rick Ross, is an American rapper. He derived his stage name from the drug trafficker "Freeway" Ricky Ross, to whom he has no connection (Ross even sued the rapper for $10 million for using his name).
Ross founded the record label Maybach Music Group, on which he released his studio albums Deeper Than Rap and Teflon Don.

After being signed to Suave House Records, former label for rap duo 8Ball & MJG, he eventually signed a deal with Slip-n-Slide Records, which has been under the Def Jam umbrella since 2006. While signed to Slip-n-Slide, Ross toured with fellow rapper Trick Daddy and made guest performances on other Slip-n-Slide albums.

His debut album Port of Miami was released in August 2006 and debuted at the top spot on the Billboard 200 album chart, with sales at 187,000 units after its first week.
Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone magazine predicted that it would be "the summer's biggest rap record".
The second single was "Push It", which samples "Scarface (Push It to the Limit)", the theme song off the gangster film Scarface.The music video for "Push It" was modeled after the film.
During that time, Ross made guest performances on two singles from DJ Khaled's debut Listennn... the Album: "Born-N-Raised" and "Holla at Me". Port of Miami received Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America on November 8, 2006.

In March 2008, his second album Trilla was released and, as its predecessor Port of Miami had, debuted at the top of the Billboard 200.
Its lead single "Speedin'" featuring R. Kelly peaked at #121 on the Billboard Hot 100; the next one, "The Boss" featuring T-Pain peaked at #17 on the Hot 100.
The third single "Here I Am" featured Nelly and Avery Storm. MTV News ranked Ross on the fourth spot in its 2008 "Hottest MCs In The Game" list among ten rappers.
The fourth single "This Is The Life" featured Trey Songz and was released in July.

A track from the album called "Valley of Death" was what stood out to MTV reporters. In the song, Ross speaks briefly on his controversial stint as a prison guard. "Keep it trilla, nigga, never had a gun and badge," which he stresses, leaving the word that he was indeed an officer of the law. "Kept a nice watch, smoking on a hundred sack/ Back in the day I sold crack for some nice kicks/ Skippin' school, I saw my friend stabbed with an ice pick/ Can't criticize niggas trying to get jobs/ Better get smart, young brother, live yours."
Later, he implies that while he was working as a corrections officer, he was on the streets. "Only lived once and I got two kids/ And for me to feed them, I'll get two gigs," he raps. "I'll shovel shit, I'll C.O./ So we can bow our heads and pray over the meatloaf." Although, he still provided no explanation for lying about being a C.O. to begin with, nor did he explain why he failed to pay child support for his children.

The cover of the May 2009 issue of XXL magazine, titled "Rick Ross Up in Smoke", featured Ross wearing a pair of Louis Vuitton sunglasses. After publication, a spokesperson for the luxury-goods maker contacted XXL to inform them that Ross was sporting fake sunglasses in the cover image.
It was later revealed that the rapper was wearing authentic Louis Vuitton sunglasses which were altered by Jacob Bernstein, known as "The Sunglass Pimp". Bernstein defended his customizations despite Louis Vuitton's insistence that such modification and resale of trademarked property is not legal.

Rick Ross released his fourth studio album entitled Teflon Don, which was released on July 6, 2010. The lead is "Super High" featuring Ne-Yo. Actress Stacey Dash made an appearance in the music video. A second official single was released titled "Live Fast, Die Young" which features and is produced by Kanye West. The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 selling 176,000 copies in its first week.

In November, 2010, rapper and frequent collabourator, Diddy announced from his YouTube account, that him and Ross are working on an EP together, which is going to be released in 2011. A single has been released for the project, called "Another One".

Rick Ross has also announced the release of his next album, "God Forgives, I Don't", for December 13, 2011.
Rick Ross premiered two songs from his new album God Forgives, I don't. One called You The Boss and I Love My Bitches.

Rick Ross performed at BET Awards 2011, which aired on June 26, 2011. He also received a nomination for Best Male Hip Hop Artist.

In January 2009, Ross started a feud with rapper 50 Cent because he supposedly looked at him the wrong way at the BET Awards. 50 Cent told news sources that he did not remember seeing Ross there.
In late January, "Mafia Music", by Ross, leaked onto the Internet. There were several lines that seemed to diss 50 Cent. Days later, 50 Cent released "Officer Ricky (Go Head, Try Me)" in response to Ross's disparaging remarks on his "Mafia Music" song.

On October 14, 2011 Rick Ross suffered two seizures in the same day, once in the morning and once again early evening. Following the morning seizure, he was unconscious and CPR was being performed. He did, however, post a video to his twitter account later in the day saying that he was OK.
Ross boarded another plane later in the day and suffered another seizure. On October 14, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital confirmed that Ross had been admitted to the emergency room. No cause of either seizure has been determined yet.

Read more