Rick Ross is a well-known American rapper and proprietor of a record company. Along with other founding members including Wale, Meek Mill, and French Montana, he founded the renowned Maybach Music Group and has so far successfully released eleven studio albums.

But before these, before telling everyone how much of a boss he is and telling his followers that every day is a good day to boss up, before his debut track, "Hustlin," set a new record for sales of ringtones...

...before he would hold his own lyrically with some of the best in the game from Jay Z to Andre 3000, before collaborating with Drake on Ross's two Billboard Hot 100 singles, "I'm On One" and "Money In The Grave," as well as their introspective masterpieces "Gold Roses," "Free Spirit," "Lord Knows," "Aston Martin Music," and other songs.

Before Ricky would amass over 8.5 million Twitter followers and over 15 million Instagram followers, he grew up working hard and dreaming of one day becoming the No. 1 artist.

He started playing football when he was sixteen years old and continued to play while planning how to advance his game.

But how did he progress from a young person with a dream near the port of Miami to the Boss who flew to Santorini, Greece, and arrived there in a purple Lamborghini?

One of the most intriguing rap careers out of many, has been that of Ross. In a culture where authenticity is important, Ross has been able to get over issues with his history by just releasing excellent songs.


There have been many questions raised concerning Rick Ross's life, including the meaning of his name and his role as a Correctional Officer. However, eleven albums and a few close calls to death later, he is still producing successes and has a fascinating voice in hip-hop.

Below is the account of Rick Ross's early life and career prior to fame.

William Leonard Roberts the II was actually born in Mississippi on January 28, 1976. Despite the fact that  has grown to be one of Miami's biggest ambassadors, he spent the first few of his formative years there. He did, however, relocate to Carol City, Florida as a child, where he was raised. He began to be moulded by Carol City.

He added, when discussing the distinctions between the two regions, "It always helped me see the world from so many various aspects. I have seen both the quick pace of Miami and the leisurely countryside of a small, rural village with a sparse population and could often feel the struggles."

Although it is a highly underdeveloped neighborhood, Carol City is home to numerous well-known hip-hop artists, including Flo Rida, Gunplay, Denzel Curry, and SpaceGhostPurrp.

Ross used to have early aspirations of a better life. He made a deal with himself that he would do whatever it would take to buy himself a Benz one day after witnessing the father of one of his friends pull up in a Mercedez.


Seeing so much crime around him, he became friends with rappers like Biggie and Luther Campbell. But his parents also enjoyed playing vinyl records, which gave rise to some of his more R&B-influenced songs today.

One of those vinyl instrumentals served as the foundation for Ross' first rap. Ross used to earn $30 per day while still in high school working at a car wash. He would clean the luxury cars of many of the neighborhood drug traffickers, which provided him with even more motivation.

Ross played football while a student at Miami Carol City Senior High School, where he eventually graduated. Big Boss was his football monicker in high school. Then on a football scholarship, he went to Albany State University to pursue a degree in criminal justice. However, he lost interest in studies and started to take music more seriously while in college.

He rapped under the guise of a street dealer, living out his childhood fantasies of being a street dealer. Ricky made his Suave House Records debut as a feature on the Erik Sermon song "Ain't Shhh to Discuss" while rapping under the alias Teflon Da Don.

He changed his rap name to Rick Ross in the middle of the 2000s. The name was inspired by the late drug lord "Freeway Rick Ross." According to reports, Freeway Ricky sold cocaine for close to a billion dollars. But he filed a lawsuit after learning that a man from Florida had used his name and perhaps even some of his tale to make money off of music.


However, Roberts ultimately prevailed in the lawsuit against Freeway, and the matter was dismissed. Ross went on tour with Trick Daddy after signing with Slip-N-Slide Records. "Hustlin," his first official single release by the label, helped him become well-known, reaching number 11 on the charts and went gold. 

He told the New Miami Times that he wrote the song in approximately an hour while smoking some quality weed. After his debut hit, everyone recognized Ross' potential, and the biggest stars in the industry competed to sign the Boss. Diddy, Irv Gotti and Jay Z all placed their bids. But in the end, JayZ came out on top, like he usually does.

He signed Ross to Def Jam for a significant sum of money. In August 2006, he released his debut album, "Port of Miami," which debuted at #1 on the US Billboard 200 chart and sold approximately 200k CDs in its first week.

Ross grew close to DJ Khaled, a fellow Miami native, and the two of them worked together on several projects.

In 2008, just when Ross's plans appeared to be on track, some controversy erupted. An image of a young Ross wearing a uniform was published by MediaTakeOut, but it wasn't him in his high school football outfit. It showed Roberts in the role of a correctional officer.

Ross first denied being in the photo, saying: "Online hackers pasted my face on other people's bodies while I was a teenager in high school. Don't you think they would have more specifics, like dates and everything, if this shit was actually true?"


But soon after, the proof he requested surfaced. There is proof that Ross worked there for 18 months, from December 1995 to June 1997, earning an annual income of about $25,000 during that time.

After completing 540 hours of instruction at the DoC training camp, he received his diploma and was posted to the South Florida Reception Center in Dade County.

As you might expect, hip-hop responded fairly strongly. Yououcan bet that many people were wary of Ross's past in a genre where N.W.A was yelling "Fuck the police" and Jay Z was making references to his unpleasant run-ins with the authorities on "99 Problems".

If he had disclosed his history right away and if he hadn't been making claims in his music that he was living a life of drug trafficking and living on the streets, I don't think people would have been as unhappy about it. People started to wonder if any of Ross's statements on the CDs were accurate because of the apparent mismatch between his two lifestyles.

Ross was actually detained in January 2008 while all of this was going on on accusations involving a gun and marijuana.

8 months later, DJ Vlad filed a lawsuit against Ross, alleging that Ross attacked him when he began enquiring about his job as a correctional officer. Vlad ultimately suffered from nerve damage, a shattered nose, and a broken eye socket. Ross can fight, at least we know that! Additionally, Vlad received $30,000 in damages.


 Fighting Vlad, though, is another matter. A completely different battle is having to deal with the most infamous troll in the rap game. 50 Cent didn't appear too frightened to go after a former correctional officer because he was never one to back down from a fight and was frequently the one to start one.

The two rap moguls initially got along great as 50 congratulated Ross on his number-one album. However, despite 50 Cent's allegation that he couldn't even recall Rick Ross being present, Ross became irritated that 50 had a particular way of looking at him during the 2008 BET Awards. Typical 50!😂

Ross apparently concluded that there might be some beef, and attacked 50 Cent in "Mafia Music." Due to the fact that 50 likes to get passionate over beef, he was undoubtedly happy to hear the diss. He made the decision to fully go into Ross's background, releasing songs, involving Ross's baby mama, and producing "Officer Ricky," a full-fledged animated series. 50 is a Psychopath!😂It was funny to watch him talk about that entire argument in such a calm and manic manner. 

Ross did, however, manage to make an impact on the game, and he did it just by creating excellent music. Regardless of whether you believe 50 won in terms of pettyness and originality, Ricky continued to produce hits.

The catalogue of Ross's singles, videos, albums, and features much exceeds that of the majority of rappers. He released "Deeper Than Rap" in 2009, which included Maybach Music 2. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, thus it appears that Ross's sales weren't affected by 50's diss.


Ross then released "Teflon Don," widely regarded as his best album, which featured the songs "Aston Martin Music" with Drake and "Free Mason" with Jay Z.

Ross continued to produce works that delighted audiences year after year, solidifying his reputation in the industry. 

But working so hard all the time can catch up with you. And later, Ross experienced two seizures in October 2011. He had another one six months later, at which point he was checked into a Birmingham, Alabama, hospital. He interpreted it as a sign that he had to act; he knew he had to put his health first and lose 90 pounds to prolong his life. But his health remained an issue. Ross had a heart attack in 2018 and was put on life support.

Ross proposed to Lira Galore, who was his girlfriend at the time, in September 2015 with a $350,000 11-carat ring. Although the engagement was ultimately broken off, Ross seems to still be in love.

Ross has 4 children with his last baby being born in 2017, with his girlfriend Brianna Camille, the two also share a daughter Toie. Billion is the name of his son. There is no denying that Billion Roberts is destined for greatness.


In 2019, Ross dropped his album “Port of Miami 2” bringing things full circle in his career and it seems like Ross will continue.