S. Samuel
Maybach Music Group leader Rick Ross has weighed in on the tensions between his frequent collaborators Lil Wayne and Jay-Z, saying he's trying to sway away from the emcee battle.
Claiming a friendship with both, Ross said the bottom line is both Jay and Weezy are financially good no matter what.
“I put no input in it really,” Ricky Rozay told DJ Absolut. “Those are both of my homies, I’m fans of both of them, they’re both super rich. I ain’t trippin’. You know, I don’t really get into the better emcee. It’s just about accomplishing whatever it is you want to accomplish. You know what I’m saying? And both of those dudes are pretty [secure]. That’s what my focus is right now. Just making sure I accomplish what I set out to accomplish as a team.” (Take This Serious)
Earlier this week, Jay downplayed the seriousness of Weezy’s “It’s Good” diss where he threatens to kidnap his lady.
Jay-Z told us he didn’t want to dwell on the topic, especially considering the education fundraiser was about a positive cause. But he didn’t have much to say about Wayne’s “It’s Good,” other than that it was to be expected in hip-hop. “That’s sport, that’s rap music,” Jay said. “Nothing is going to change but the participants. I don’t even see why that’s news.” (MTV)
In September, Clipse’s Pusha T compared Weezy’s “It’s Good” to Jay’s initial “H.A.M.” diss where he references “Baby Money.”
“I’m a hip-hop fan, I listen to everybody, I listen to everything,” Pusha told Funkmaster Flex Wednesday (September 7) night. “I personally thought the Jay swipe, if that was a swipe because I never heard him say it was a swipe, but the Jay swipe, I thought that was like, mean. I thought it was a mean swipe. But then, the way Wayne flipped back on the new one, that was hot. That was hot as well. That was good. That was good. But see, you know me, I get caught up in a level of realness and that — when you can say, ‘Who really would do what and what really makes a little bit more sense in reality?’ I get caught up in that. You know, when you get caught up in that, you know, it’s reality. The Jay one sounded a little bit more realer, I think Wayne was clever with his, but Jay’s was a little bit, I felt like that was coming from the heart, like he really, really feels like that. ‘If’ it’s a swipe.” (Hot 97)
A couple weeks prior, Cash Money’s Bow Wow said he fully supported Wayne and Jay having a friendly hip-hop battle.
“From the fans’ perspective, I look at it as this is something they want,” Bow explained. “Why not? Battle rapping has been going on in hip-hop since it was created. This is something that’s been in our sport for years…[Boxing champion] Floyd Mayweather is the best but they say he ain’t the best until he fights [Manny] Pacquiao. Sometimes you might have to man up and go for the gold. We see the Patriots going at the Giants. We seen two good teams always go at each other, so how come two great rappers [can’t] go at each other? You have two giants going at each other. To me it’s all competitive, it’s a form of art, it’s rap, it’s something we seen before. But, if you’re gonna do it, then, do it.” (XXL Mag)
Check out Rick Ross speaking on Jay-Z & Lil Wayne below:
