Watch out Rozay

Freeway Ricky | HipHopDx

"Freeway" Ricky Ross, a.k.a The Real Rick Ross, lost yet another lawsuit against William Roberts (Rozay) for stealing his name and identity.For those not familiar with the 'work' of the real Rick Ross (you probably just like how it smells), let's discuss.

(For the purpose of clarity, when I say Ross, I mean the real one. I'll refer to The Human Wing Stop by any number of his other monikers.)

Ricky Ross is a former LA drug kingpin. And I mean a real kingpin, not some rapper with bricks photoshopped on his mixtape cover. He earned the nickname 'Freeway' due to his proliferation of drug houses along LA's freeways. At his peak, he made an estimated $2 - $3 million off cocaine per day across the country. Although not the inventor of crack, he helped to spread knowledge of the necessary techniques to convert cocaine into it's more profitable form. (I'm sure I read it somewhere, but can't seem to find it now, that he popularized the use of microwaves for making crack.) Before his name was used by rappers, Ross became famous for his links to the Iran-Contra scandal. As originally detailed by Gary Webb in his 'Dark Alliance' series of articles, Ross was a part of a CIA plot to funnel Nicaraguan cocaine into America. Over the years, more elaborations of this story have surfaced, such as 'Powder Burns', by former CIA agent Celerino Castillo, and the Kevin Booth documentary 'American Drug War.' (Quick side note here: Gary Webb died of a supposed suicide in 2004, although he died from two gunshots to the head, so make of that what you will.) Long story slightly shorter, Rick Ross is part of the reason people claim the government pushed crack into black neighborhoods.(The other reason is that they did.)

Rick was incarcerated from 1996 until 2009, during which time both Freeway and Rawse became popular rappers. I mention Freeway only to illustrate that Ross could sue him as well, but hasn't. I've never heard Ross say it, but I get the feeling that he doesn't mind people taking his look, (bald with a beard is hard to pull off anyway) or his nickname, but taking his government name and spinning tales of cocaine superstardom is where he draws the line. When the pictures of Rozay as a prison guard surfaced, Ross ratcheted up his pursuit of financial compensation for Rawse's 'identity theft.' Several years and three decisions later, Ross is still empty-handed. In this brief clip of an interview, he points out that the judge in his latest case was formerly a lawyer for Universal (which is essentially the only music label in existence.)



So now, people in LA are ready to do something to The Bawse. Suge Knight, who apparently does care  if you steal his look, and others are ready to put a 'no fly zone' on Officer Ricky for LA. How that would work, I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that moving coke like Ross did means that you know people in airports, or maybe just people with guns. Somebody should just steal Rozay's 'seizure kit' and let the chips fall as they may. (No pun intended)