After lukewarm reception to 2014's Hood Billionaire, Rick Ross returns more forthright than before on eighth album Black Market, released Friday. With a stacked guest list featuring John Legend, Mariah Carey and Mary J. Blige, his latest arrives at the tail-end of a trying year for the hip-hop mogul, who was jailed this summer on charges of kidnapping and assault, and whose on-and-off engagement to model Lira Galore became TMZ fodder.
Rozay called USA TODAY to chat about new music, the Drake and Meek Mill "beef," and why he shares our obsession with Adele:
What sets Market apart: "It's definitely a more personal album," Ross, 39, says. The music is inspired in part by his relationships, prison time and subsequent house arrest this past year. "All of those things came in a place where we created music and I just took advantage of the time that I had to myself." It also sounds more cohesive than past efforts, he says. "I love the way the music feels, just opening the album with Free Enterprise, and by the time you get to Silk Road, you appreciate the silky, soulful sound."
Most personal songs: "When I hear Free Enterprise, I think about when I wrote that record on a small piece of paper and a pen I wasn't supposed to have in county jail," Ross says. "That's followed by me sitting in the cell, pondering what means most to me, which is family, and the head of that is my mother. So I followed that with the record Smile, Mama, Smile. I tried to lay the records down in the same format that they came to me."
Throwing shade at Drake: On new single Color Money, the rapper appears to take a jab at Drake, who publicly feuded this summer with Meek Mill, an artist on Ross' Maybach Music Group label and Nicki Minaj's boyfriend. (The lyric: "My lil’ homie made a million on his girl tour / We back to back and down to whack a (expletive) unborn ... So run, Forrest, got some shooters and they dying, too / I got more money than that (expletive) that you’re signed to.”) Asked about speculation that he's dissing Drake, Ross says, "It's supposed to wake the streets up — it was never about me taking sides. I am (Maybach Music Group). I'm only on one side. Color Money is doing exactly what it's supposed to do: talk to the streets and the real G's."
Why ghostwriting can be OK: Mill's beef with Drake started when he accused the Toronto rapper of using ghostwriters, which has since reopened the conversation about MCs writing their own rhymes. It's a topic that Ross addresses on Market cutGhostwriter, in which he asserts his status as one of hip-hop's most prolific ghostwriters for other artists. "I feel, personally, at the end of the day, it's about the music — it's never been about credit of being a writer," Ross says. "The reasonGhostwriter was created was because it was such a right-now topic." As for rappers he's ghostwritten songs for, he won't name names. "I always just keep it real broad. I respect the artists that I work with and their privacy. I've never needed any validation or outside credit other than the artist just respecting me for coming up with some dope (expletive)."
He loves Adele, too: Shortly after Adele released comeback single Hello last month, Ross surprised hip-hop fans with his own remix of the scorching ballad.Since her 2011 album 21, "she gave me a lot of time to miss her voice, and when I heard Hello, I was like, 'This is a powerful record,' " Ross says. "I remember being in the studio that night and I said, 'Yo, let's pull it up,' and I jumped on it. I'm a huge fan and I love Adele music and I'm just sending love her way." Of course, Ross would be down to collaborate and "that was my way of reaching out. That's how the Boss reach out." As for her impressive sales of more than 4 million since Nov. 20, "it most definitely speaks volumes about her caliber as an artist and the role she plays and the crowd she entertains. She's a powerful figure with a beautiful voice and beautiful music."
