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| Steal from this man. |
Criminal court proceedings involving
rappers have become depressingly common in recent times rendering
pronouncements that an MC likely will be spending significant time as a government slave, mundane to audiences likely to be alerted of them.
Luckily
for (those not being sued) us, there was recent ruling in civil court that
should be very intriguing to
Hip Hop fans, rather they be of the ardent or fleeting variety.
No I’m not
referencing the odd but interesting lawsuit Lord Finesse brought against Mac Miller a few weeks back. The civil matter in question deals with a
Hip Hop entity with an even larger identity than the youthful Burgh star.
Rick Ross has been
ubiquitous in the world of mainstream coke rap since he dropped the audacious
“Hustling” in 2006. Via hard work, precise calculation, and most importantly,
the creation of quality music, Ross has steadily ascended in fame over the past
six years.
Ross will drop
2012’s most anticipated album outside of anything associated with Kanye West
next week and has, at least symbolically reached placement in Hip Hop’s pantheon.
So life is good
for Mr. Ross no? Well yes in a sense but for now where going to haft leave that type of phraseology to Mr. Jones. Nas might have ever contagious “Rapper Tax Disease” and will haft to pay for every ridiculous outfit Kelis wears for the
rest of his life, but at least he never had/ doesn’t have somebody stating that
he stole his entire image off of them.
Last week a judge
ruled that a lawsuit by legendary former (destroyer of Black people) drug
impresario Freeway Ricky Ross against Warner Brothers records and Rick
Ross the rapper, was valid, allowing it to proceed through the court system.
Actual convicted
felon Ross is suing Hip Hop mega star Ross for unjust enrichment and false
adverting, amongst other claims which can be basically summed up as the Florida
rapper being accused of stealing and then profiting off Freeway Rick’s entire
life.
Let’s take a
second her and be completely honest with ourselves.
Rick Ross is
guilty as F**k of the claims against him.
Your IQ would haft
to be at a level that doesn’t prevent you from slobbering on yourself to think
the man with the government moniker of William Roberts II didn’t derive his
name from one the biggest cocaine traffickers known to the American populace.
It’s hard to
imagine an MC who boasts about being about “The Biggest Boss you ever saw” who
took it upon himself to adopt Rick Ross as a stage name, not doing so in homage
and or reverence for the man, who when adjusted for inflation, made over a billion off the distribution of that white.
Now that’s “Rich Off Cocaine”.
As hurtful as it
must be to see somebody else profiting off of YOUR life to the point that
individual literally trademarked your likeness, the general empathy conjured
for someone in that circumstance is lost upon Rick Ross.
While being told
that you can’t profit off of your (criminal) past may be a difficult yet
understandable blow, having to watch somebody else make millions off of it has
to be soul crushing.
But
Rick Ross deserves
to suffer.
Ross wasinstrumental in the destruction of incalculable amount of lives via his drug
network; whose impact Black America in particular, is still reeling from. In an
ironic but still ultimately detrimental twist, the likeness the real “reformed”
Rick Ross is trying to get back from Rick Ross the rapper is now beingutilized
to promote and ultimately influence others to engage a lifestyle he’s long
disavowed.
Meaning
The negative
impact of the “work” Rick Ross engaged in still reverberates strongly against
the American landscape.
Based on the
crimes he was convicted of an his own boastful admissions, the 14 years Ross
served were a ridiculously paltry recompense to the public, whose well being he
willfully help degrade.
Ones, moral and
logical leanings might summarize the forever bearded Florida MC should be
obligated to break some of that estimated 17-25 million dollar bread with the
aforementioned street legend.
True fairness being meted out demands a
harsh truth be told. Our finite caches of empathy are better spent elsewhere.
The ongoing
nightmare Freeway Rick Ross continuously endures happens to be no more than an unknowingly
indebted man, continuing to pay his debt to society.
Side Note: Come to think of
it Cormega did try to Gusto Nas for scribing and living out other people’slives, but somehow 5 for 40 isn’t making 2 million in one day.
