Rick Ross is meh. Rozay makes up for weak flow and same mainstream lyrics with fresh beats. Too bad, hes everything that true hip hop shouldn't be.
Disagree. Ross has one of my favorite flows ever along with Jay-Z, Eminem, Nas, Kanye, DMX, Scarface and Andre 3000 edit: and Game. His lyrics are tight (Valley of Death, All the Money in the World, Ten Jesus Pieces, Paradise Lost, Family Ties have some of my favorite Ross verses). And he has a great ear for beats.
You may or may not legitimately dislike Rick Ross (meaning you've actually given all of his music a chance), but the reality I see is that the majority of his detractors don't like him because they either a) think he's supposed to be bad and never listen to his music or b) think he's supposed to be bad and listen to his music as if they should be afraid to admit they may like him. There's a lot to do about the whole "fake, correctional officer" but I've also noticed that most of that is repeated by middle class white kids who want to seem harder than they really are.
I think this imposition being made by the rap/music community that there's a right way to listen to or like music greatly impacts how we hear certain artists. Rick Ross is a great example of that.
I apologize, I didn't want to come off as a hater. Right now I'm posting from a library, and its tough for me to type or voice out my entire opinions when the T/Y/S button doesn't work on my laptop.
I'm a huge fan of old school hip hop. DMX, Souls of Mischief, Nas, AZ, Big Pun, Tha Alkaholiks, 2Pac, Slum Village, etc.
I've gone to see a lot of Wu-Tang concerts, and just went to see Cunninglynguists a few days ago in my area of NOVA/MD/DC. ToneDeff is a monster live by the way.
I personally went to see Rozay live a few weeks ago, and I wasn't a huge fan of him at all. His stage presence is hype, but he seems winded, and just doesn't seem like a rapper that knows how to really spit on the stage. I've performed before and know how tolling it is on the body/throat when you're constantly trying to breathe, but Ross just seems like the type of rapper that is comfortable spitting in the studio and doing re-takes, than actually performing live, where I believe that defines you as a MC, than a rapper.
Maybe it was just him at the time, but I base a lot of my personal opinions on how they do live, because as someone who recorded music in the studio, its so easy to touch up and make your voice sound twice as better in the studio, especially with the technology that we have nowadays.
I snuck into a New York club when I was 12, after knowing the bouncer, and KRS-One was performing live. Holy cow. I'm not a huge fan of his lyricism, and his flow, but he really did know how to control the crowd, and the club was so loud, I couldn't hear as well for 5 days.
That being said, I do like Rick Ross. I don't think I will ever see him live again, but Valley of Death, and Paradise Lost were my personal favorites. I will give Rick Ross the time of day, because I think he's personally enjoyable. He's just not someone I personally have a high opinion of.
Anyways, do you have any favorites on Hood Billionaire?