S. Samuel
A North Carolina pastor is making headlines this week after losing his job at a local church for attending a concert by Maybach Music Group head Rick Ross.
According to reports, Pastor Rodney Wills‘ unexpected termination was determined last weekend.
Pastor Rodney Wills was just nearing four years at Mt. Salem Baptist Church in North Carolina. He is the youngest pastor to be installed at 26 years old and is now the shortest term pastor in Mt. Salem’s 109 year history. On Saturday, Mt. Salem voted him out for attending a local Rick Ross concert. With a vote of 11 to 3, the 14 deacons met at 11 o’clock Saturday night to discuss and come to a conclusion that they did not need his services anymore. William Leonard Roberts II, known by his stage name Rick Ross (often stylized as RICK RO$$), is an American rapper who is no stranger to the drama associated with “thug life.” Rick Ross recently made nationwide news when he was dropped from Reebok and other endorsements for lyrics advocating rape towards women. (Guardian LV)
Coincidentally, he also attended a concert by frequent Ross collaborator Lil Wayne late last year.
Rev. Wills arrived to the church the next day for Sunday morning worship service and notice his parking sign taken down and his name removed from the office door. The deacons even asked another minister from the community to officiate the service that morning. “We cannot have our leader supporting people of this world who are tearing down the kingdom of God.” said Deacon Miles Langley. According to Deacon Langley, this is not the first time Rev. Wills has attended a concert while pastoring Mt. Salem. 9 months ago the diaconate board met with Rev. Wills when word was given to them that many youth and young adults spotted the pastor at a Lil’ Wayne concert. “We know that many saints will have mixed opinions from our actions, but this is not how we do things here at Mt. Salem. We cannot have a pastor praising the world one minute then praising the Lord the next. Period” said Deacon Langley. (Guardian LV)
Recently, Rick Ross gave a take on why hip-hop continues to make headlines for dicey rap lyrics.
“I don’t take it too personal, I just feel like hip-hop is the biggest force in the world right now, it’s the biggest voice right now,” Ross added. “I feel there’s a lot of people that want to step on that stage a lot of times. At the end of the day, we’re writers, we’re entertainers. It’s just like writing a film. It’s like Scorsese or Tarantino. We may direct a film you may not like, you don’t have to watch that one. You don’t have to catch that particular film. In my situation, if I offended someone or anyone taken advantage of or raped or so on, that’s what that apology was sent for. But as far as Rozay, you know how it is in the streets, we just translating this reality. If you’ve never heard some of these things, I understand, make sure you don’t go to King of Diamonds.” (“Los Angeles Leakers”)
This summer, Cash Money Records CEO Birdman said he nearly started a boycott against Mountain Dew and Reebok after they cut ties with Lil Wayne and Ross earlier this year.
“Really, we could’ve reversed that [termination of endorsement deals] because my whole take was, ‘Since they wanna clown, I can clown and group all my people up.’ But on the respect I have for Swizz [Beatz, a Reebok partner], that’s why I didn’t clown,” Birdman told Sway. “I could’ve put all my people together and say, ‘Now my culture and my community, we’re not supportin’ y’all.'” Birdman says he wouldn’t apologize for any of his lyrics and the next time one of his artists come under fire from a corporate entity, he’s ready to flex his muscle. “Next time, we’re gonna stand up and we’re gonna shut that sh– down,” he threatened. (MTV)
