A Man’s Supposed Past Does Not Define His Legacy, Pt.2

Miami, FL. – With all the speculations circulating all over the net and across media outlets claiming that Rick Ross was a correctional officer have become way too drawn out. However, no matter how they try to break The Boss down, that hasn’t stopped him from continuing his work and his music. But really, at the end of the day, does it really matter what any man does 12, 15 years ago? If he had to find some means of providing for himself and his family at a young age before getting into the industry, is that anyone’s business? His legacy is still as is and no one can take that anyway from him. His lyrics, his style still make him an amazing and talented artist. His fellow Miami brethren, Trick Daddy, even recently spoke on the situation to shed some light on his alleged involvement on the whole speculation.T Double D even insisted that he was not behind those alleged photoshopped pictures that recently surfaced on the net. He omitted that the movement was a stronghold, in essence attacking Ross means attacking all of Miami.

MTV News recently spoke to several artists concerning this whole CO situation and this is what they had to say.

The Clipse added their opinion on Ross’ past, these were their statements, Malice commented first followed Pusha T.

“I think real niggas won’t think so. That don’t mean what he’s talking about [in his lyrics] ain’t true. The thing I wish is he came clean, if in fact that is him [in the photos]. ‘Cause you ain’t gotta make no excuses for whatever you did. You might have thought differently at one point in time. I don’t think that should discredit that man.”

“I’m not even going to go that far into it, I don’t know what it’s gonna do to him, what it can or what it should do to him. I know the hip-hop community has given passes for much [worse].”

Even his Def Jam label mate Fabolous added his two cents on the ongoing controversy.

“I don’t know if it will really hurt him. As an artist, I think Rick Ross makes great music. He’s always shown me love and respect whenever I met him. Everybody has a past. I don’t know if [being a prison guard] is his past or not. That’s not my place to say. I think if he continues to do what he does, sweep all that garbage under the rug — you know what? That’s success. That’s success taking a shot back at him. All of a sudden past pictures come up. He should just keep doing what he do.”

Maino, however, wasn’t too partial about Ross’ denial and omitted his comments.

“I’m disappointed, I’m really disappointed. I pride myself on being 100 percent who I am. If I went to college and had a job before, I would just say that. … Him, in my opinion, I just think he should have just addressed it. … ‘Look, man. I was 19. It was a part of my life. … I got to the coke later. I don’t have a problem with what he was doing before the rap game. That ain’t my beef with him. The thing is, he was denying he was doing it. He said [the pictures] was Photoshopped and wasn’t real.”

At press time, sources have confirmed that the video posted sometime last week of Ross calling out Trick Daddy was apparently taped two years ago and that it leaked as soon as this incident erupted. Between websites like mediatakeout.com and smokinggun.com, paparazzi gossip blogs should not be taken so seriously, as a matter fact they are out to do one thing, try and fail at destroying an artist’s career.

On the real, this shouldn’t have really gone as far as it went. As a matter of fact, what the hell difference does it make with what a man does 15 years ago to finance himself? That does not define who he is and what he has accomplished in his career. I bump his records before and I bump his record now, that’s it point blank. Everything else is just otter nonsense. This BS will not hurt him, it will subside and Ross will continue his reign as The Boss.


Nas’ Breaks Down his Album Ideas Further

New York, NY – The number 1 album in the country right now would have to Nas‘ Untitled LP. Weezy had his shine on the charts for practically month until the initial release of Nas’ latest studio album. Even after all the controversy died down when he dropped the first title, his album still managed to climb the charts. Nas continues to stay humble to his roots. He recently spoke MTV News concerning the different ideas that went through the process of completing his album.

He omits that at first he didn’t want to release a single, and that it was a last minute decision.

“I was almost gonna not do a single, but I wanted a song I could hear in the clubs, ’cause I knew the album didn’t have that,” he said of the last-minute addition to his project. “I wanted a song that I could hear when I’m poppin’ bottles. That’s what ‘Hero’ was for me. Polow was one of my favorite guys; he’s just a nice-ass guy. … I was like, ‘No single, no video. Let’s just make this a record that we talk about.'”

He even added that there was a track on his album that he thought stuck out the most.

“I look at a lot of people who died trying to fight for freedom, like Che, Malcolm, Martin, Gandhi, all the way to Bunchy Carter, the Panthers, so many different people from all over the world. And that just made me go, ‘Damn.’ You know, everybody says, ‘Why’d they shoot down the people who are righteous? Why do they shoot down the people who just want things to be right?’ It makes everyone scared to stand up. So even if you don’t believe with [Louis] Farrakhan‘s beliefs, you gotta say the man dedicated his whole life to standing up for something that he believed in. He is proof that you can live to be old,” Nas continued. “Not saying, ‘Go say what Farrakhan is saying,’ that’s that man. But if you have something that you have to say, but you feel like … your life is threatened cause of it, and you need examples [look at Farrakhan].”

At press time, Nas’ Untitled LP has sold over 187,078 in its first week of release. It has been confirmed that he will have two separate albums produced by Dr. Dre and DJ Premier and plus have them both dropped on the same day. He will also appear in Dr. Dre’s final LP, Detox.

I got just one question, when the hell is this Detox being released. Sources say that he will release it this summer, however, that has yet to be confirmed.


DMX: Legal Woes & Musical Blues

Phoenix, AZ – More and more news on the Darkman X continues to flood media outlets all across the nation, in his long going situations and his troubles with the law, every week it seems like something new. Last Thursday (July 24), DMX pleaded not guilty to identify theft. Besides his suspended license case and his animal cruelty case, he can also add the illegal use of a false name to evade hospital bills case to that as well.

After putting in his plea to the Phoenix court, the ex-Ruff Ryder walked outside to awaiting reporters and left this lyrical statement for them to pause and ponder.

“If and when you ever fall down; get back up. Drop something, stop fretting, pick that … back up, stand for something or fall for everything, wait for the right pitch or miss with every swing.”

At press time, DMX’s court date has been set for August 12, 2008. His next two albums are set to be released on October 14, one being a Hip-Hop album and the other being a Gospel album all under the Bodog Music imprint.

No matter what I do, I’m stuck reporting news about this man, I hope he doesn’t think all this bad publicity is helping in any way. It is obvious he will never change, no matter what the situation may be; it seems like he just looks for trouble or he’s just a random magnet for law enforcement. And the fact that he went outside the courtroom to spit a couple of bars to media is quite eccentric, it reminds me of someone I use to know.