Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
You work a job long enough, and you start to pick up certain occupational perks.
Doctors have steady hands.
Shippers are great drivers and routers.
Think of all the great hip-hop party videos Big Poppa, Nuttin But a G Thang, Big Pimpin.
Not a single bead of sweat.
I walked in and immediately started melting, but I never saw Rick Ross sweat.
Thats been Rosss story since his 2006 debut albumPort of Miami.
Life tries hard to throw him off his game, but he remains steady.
This year has been full of peaks and valleys for the rapper/mogul and his Maybach Music Group.
Ross had ahealth scarein March when paramedics were called to his home on reports that he was unresponsive.
(He returned to social media the same week but hasnt spoken much about the incident since.)
The week of the Belaire shoot marked the start of a comeback season for MMG.
Meek came home the next day.
Actually, to be precise, he flew from jail to the nearest Philadelphia Sixers game, via helicopter.
I think I speak for the whole of hip-hop when I say we didnt know you had hair!
Weve seen you bald for ten years.Rick Ross: In Miami, we call it a number one.
Thats what the hustlers always wore, because it worked on every coast, regardless of where you went.
Thats what it was.
Shout out to RICH Haircare.
You do a lot.
If it was something that I didnt really care for, then it would actually be work.
I love Belaire, the crew that we got, the team.
It makes it fun.
It only makes sense to shoot a video.
Lets have some fun with it.
So thats what this is right now.
Its just a cool day.
Where do you go after that?
You have your feet in music, in entertainment, in food …Maybe, possibly, an airline.
Its been kind of a quiet year for MMG so far … Wale came out with the EP.
Wale just released an incredible EP that really touched the streets in a special way.
Hes cooking up his next project.
So we actually got a lot of things going on.
What about you … youre good?Are yougood?We here, man.
You see us all the time posting pics.
We brought back thatFresh Prince of Bel-Airflavor.
Shout out to Will.
Shout out to 215.
What is your favoriteFresh Princemoment?Its so many!
I was a real avidFresh Prince of Bel-Airfan.
I think I may know every episode.
I know I loved that episode … Elise Neal had the black and white striped pants on …
I can go on and on.
That was one of those incredible shows from my generation that really stood out.
As I was finishing high school,Fresh Princewas, by far, out front.
He was doing his thing.
Its a dream … some shit you wanted to do as a kid.
I wanted to play ball, but that aint work out.
The rap shit was something that was cool to me.
But even on a party record, Im still trying to apply some key in of lyricism to it.
Ill never put out some super-dumbed-down music.
Itll always have some substance to it.
But I think about it a lot.
All the greats had them.
All them had them joints.
Nas had Oochie Wally.
Talk to me about what space youre in afterParanoia 2.
That record had a lot of songs about people changing up on you and people treating you differently.
How do you stay grounded in the middle of that?Just keeping the same people around me.
My daughter, my family, shit like that.
But people change for good and for bad.
A lot of people change for good.
Some people just fall off.
It comes with it.
But I give a shot to take the good and the bad.
Just stay in the studio.
You seem like someone trying not to forget where you came from and who you came up with.
What keeps you motivated?Seeing my homies faces every time some new shit happens.
Doing shit we used to talk about.
Like, Im doing a video with Rick Ross today.
Weve been listening to Ross in the hood forever!
So thats what keeps me motivated.
Just trying to scratch shit off the bucket list.
I wanna go to every country on the Earth.
I be watching Discovery Channel and shit when I get high.
I just wanna go see other shit.
Where were from is so small compared to the world.
I wanna travel and stamp my passport.
I maybe have one or two records that I might wanna use for my debut album.
Its a vibe I catch.
Then from that, Ill venture off into a topic, and that shitll turn into an album.
I sit back and listen to the shit I did …
I got a lot of content.
I record three, four records a day.
Shit that people may never hear.
So I just give a shot to keep my gun loaded, so Im ready to shoot at anytime.
So I asked Ross … whats your favoriteFresh Princemoment?Aw, shit.
Probably the episode with G-Money, when they were playing basketball.
G-Money was on the other team.
G-Money fromNew Jack City.
I think his name is Allen Payne.
A lot of people dont know you used to play basketball.
Theres a casket, a sale, an NBA contract, or a rap.
Aint nobody really playing football in Harlem, so its basketball.
That was my main.
The rap shit came after the ball aint work.
I treated it the same way.
I used to go hard with the ball.
Im locked in the studio now.
Ive been in the studio damn near every day since I said I was gonna become a rapper.
