S. Samuel
West Coast rap veteran Snoop Dogg recently talked about the heat Maybach Music Group leader Rick Ross has received over the past month from his controversial "U.O.E.N.O" lyrics and reacted to Reebok's decision to severe ties with him.
In Snoop’s perspective, Reebok pulled the plug on the “Boss” prematurely and also did not take the time to fully consider its investment in him prior to becoming business partners.
“When you’re buying Snoop Dogg you’re buying all that that come with it. When you’re buying Rozay, you’re buying all that come with it,” the newly reincarnated Snoop Lion said Wednesday when he appeared on “RapFix Live.” “You know what his lifestyle is about, you know what his music is about, so you have to engulf all of that. If you’re not willing to take all that on, then step out of the way and stop playing and acting like he’s bringing harm to your company. … He actually made your company worth something and made your company relevant, because who cares about your company if you don’t have a rapper connected to it.” (MTV)
The Dogg Father also spoke up for Ross’ freedom of speech in light of his lyrics being interpreted as an open endorsement for date rape.
“First of all, we as rappers we have a freedom of speech and our dialect shouldn’t be taken so out of context. He has the right to speak on whatever he wants to speak on and that’s his perspective,” Snoop said in Ross’ defense. “Me personally, as a rapper, I don’t have no regrets about what I say, so I wouldn’t give a damn about endorsement deals or none of that. If y’all cut me loose than y’all weren’t meant to be with me — that’s what I say.” (MTV)
After initially making various “U.O.E.N.O” versions, hip-hop artist Rocko revealed Ross would appear on the song’s upcoming official remix this week.
“What I did do, for radio, all the verses I got, I got several verses from all different artists, so I said what I was going to do — every week I was going to put out a different verse with a different artist on it and just put it out clean, just for radio. If you look, on the ‘net, all the verses I put out are clean. … We spoke but we didn’t speak about that. We spoke about something else. He’s on the official remix. I’m going to go ahead and tell y’all, this is a big enough platform, I’m going to go ahead and let it out. On the official remix, he’s got another verse. … Now y’all got something to really look forward to.” (“The Breakfast Club”)
Reports claim Ross may have lost at least $3 million from the fallout with Reebok.
Rick Ross is crestfallen over losing his Reebok deal because of that date rape song … but he’s also bitter because he believes the shoe company owed him a second chance. Sources close to the rapper tell TMZ … Ross will lose between $3.5 million and $5 million … he was getting a check each time he wore the shoes. TMZ broke the story … Reebok dumped Ross for releasing the song U.O.E.N.O., which includes the lyric: “Put Molly [Ecstasy] all in the champagne. She ain’t even know it. I took her home and I enjoy that. She ain’t even know it.” Ross issued a tepid apology … suggesting the lyrics were actually misinterpreted. He also pulled the song — which was only on a mixtape. (TMZ)
