Joe Rogan has slammed rapper Rick Ross, real name William Leonard Roberts II, over his stage name's similarity to that of former drug lord Freeway Ricky Ross.
Ricky Ross, whose real name is Ricky Donnell Ross, rose to notoriety in the 1980s after establishing a drug empire in Los Angeles that eventually expanded across the U.S. Ross was sentenced to life in prison in the 1990s; he was later released in 2009 after a resentencing saw his prison time shortened.
Now an author, motivational speaker, and community advocate, Ricky Ross made an appearance on June 12's installment of The Joe Rogan Experience, where he spoke candidly about his experiences with the rapper.
"Have you ever seen anybody confront Rick Ross about you?" Rogan asked, prompting Ross to respond: "Not in person, no. Anytime I'm around he disappears."
"But is there any video of anybody?" Rogan pressed. "Like, 'Hey why are you running around with this dude's name when this dude's out of jail now?'"
Rogan later brought up Rick Ross' brief, pre-fame stint as a correctional officer, a point which Ricky Ross said he found ironic, given the image embraced by some rappers.
"When he got some money, they all they forgot that he was a correctional officer," Ross said. "You got gangsters doing records with him and people who say, 'I hate snitches,' and all this. But they're doing records with a police officer."
Ricky Ross claimed that he "got letters from guys that [were] in jail with him when he was a correctional officer and they told me what a s***ty guy he was. That they would be shooting dice he would take the dice and all the money. And [if] they got extra soup, he'd take the soups."
"They say that's the kind of cop he was," Ricky Ross added. "And then when I hear that he's the biggest gangsta rapper on the planet it's like—"
"It's just so crazy," broadcaster Rogan chimed in. "What is it like having a dude running around out there with your name? Like, if there was a rapper out there named Joe Rogan I'd be like, 'What the f*** ?'"
"Like, how would you take my name and not have the decency to ask me, first of all," Ricky Ross said. "You should have asked. But then to never pay homage. You know he won't even admit that he stole the name? He tells people that he invented the name. Like, how the f*** do you invent this name?"
"Well, it's so crazy because the name was famous—your name was famous," Rogan responded. "Everybody knew who you were when the case came out... When everybody found out what was going on, you were a legend."
Newsweek has contacted a representative of Roberts via email for comment.
"It's one thing if his name was Rick Ross," Rogan continued. "It's possible, there could be another Rick Ross out there. I've met other Joe Rogans. But what the f***, man. The guy knows who you are—everybody knows who you are—takes your name. I mean, it's like it doesn't even make sense."
In 2010, Ricky Ross filed a $10 million copyright infringement lawsuit against the rapper for using his name. Ricky Ross lost the subsequent court battles that followed.
"How the f*** did you lose? Rogan asked.
"The judge got to make a technical decision," Ross explained. "She had to make a decision on when did public first become known of him using my name. So what she did is she picked a little radio station outside of Miami that played his record for the first time. So that was a date that the public first became known that he was using the name."
Ricky Ross, who has claimed the protagonist in TV show Snowfall was based on him, told Rogan that his statute of limitations on suing Rick Ross was two years, meaning that "by [the judge's] time frame, I should have filed five days before I got out of jail. I was five days late."
He went on to state that Rick Ross' legal team spent $1.5 million on the lawsuit, though never sought to offer the complainant any money. At the time, Ricky Ross' mother was facing eviction from her home, so he would have accepted a relatively low offer to settle.
"If [Rick Ross] would have came and said, 'Hey, I'm going your mom's house. Let me have Rick Ross. Change your name to to to Mitch, or whatever," Ricky Ross said. "I didn't care about the name like that, I just felt that it was so disrespectful that he didn't come out and ask me, or he didn't show any consideration or pay any homage to the fact that he actually took my name.
"But yeah, I probably would have took $250,000. If they said $300,000, I would have been tickled pink, because I felt that I didn't need much money to get started."
Ricky Ross, who said that he still owes Rick Ross $1 million in legal fees, added that the rapper claimed he got his name because someone called him "Big Boss" when he was playing football in high school. Somebody else misheard the nickname as "Rick Ross."
Responding to the claim, Rogan said it was "the dumbest f****** story I've ever heard in my life."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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