S. Samuel
Southern rapper Rick Ross has justified his decision to partner with Diddy and be managed by the Bad Boy Records CEO.
Ross believes Puff will help him take his brand to the next level.
“The experience and the knowledge that Diddy possesses is priceless,” Ross said in an interview. “The relationships that he’s accumulated over the last 20 years is priceless for a young artist such as myself. We developed a mutual friendship. We just stayed in contact. I was calling him for advice anyway. He was doing it for free…He was doing so many different things for me on that level..I expressed my interest in developing and designing my own clothing label. I expressed interest in branching off into liquor endorsements, book deals. I’ve yet to headline my own major tour yet, which I’ve never had a problem with, because I love the intimacy of clubs. I love when I can run in the club with 2,000 people in there, and I can look the majority of them in the eye and make sure they feel Rick Ross and understand what Rick Ross brings to the game.” (MTV)
Last week, Ross confirmed making Diddy his new manager.
“Most definitely, we making a lot of big moves,” Ross told radio host Ricky Smiley. “We making a lot of big moves, you know what I’m saying? Shout-out to Diddy, the Ciroc Boys. You know what I mean? We got a big announcement we gonna be making real soon. And we got a lot of big ventures we’re looking into so I’m excited. June 29th is the tentative date [for my album] we’re looking at right now. (“The Travis Smiley Show”)
Earlier this month, Ross spoke on his upcoming solo album, Teflon Don, and his relationship with Diddy.
“Teflon Don, that’s actually the first moniker I ever went by,” Ross revealed in an interview with DJ Envy. “It was my first rap name so I’m coming back doing the full 360 and it just makes it more intimate. It makes it more special, it brings back so many memories so that’s why, the project, I put even more into it…I’m having more fun with the records, I’m just in the spotlight, in a good spot right now…Shout-out to the big homie, Diddy. We gonna make a big announcement soon. We got a lot of plans laid out for this year. You know what I mean? It’s all love.” (Sucker Free)
Reports of Diddy managing Ross circulated online last week.
A source close to the entrepreneur/rapper has confirmed to Billboard.com that Diddy is not only co-managing Lil Wayne protégé Nicki Minaj but also Rick Ross. According to our source, Minaj subsequently went on to seek management from Troy Carter, Lady Gaga‘s manager. Although some websites claim to have confirmed that Carter is co-managing Minaj with Diddy, our source says it isn’t the case and that Gaga pumped the breaks on the deal, threatening to find another manager if Carter took on Minaj as well. When that happened, Carter stepped back and Diddy stepped in, asking one of his own managers, James Cruz, to co-manage Minaj with him instead. (Billboard)
Check out some Rick Ross footage below:
