“I’ve never heard anybody that went onto Drug Empire from Tennis.” (c) Jim Norton
Last week, we were introduced to VICE’s new talk series, The Jim Norton Show. The pilot episode featured tons of hilarity with Mike Tyson, UFC President Dana White and some dirty comedy to welcome fans. The fun continued this week, with former drug kingpin “Freeway” Rick Ross featured as the next guest. At the tender age of 54, F.R.R. has a story most his age will not be able to tell on a talk show – as they are locked behind bars for life or dead.
He opened up about his childhood in South Central, Los Angeles, revealing he wanted to join the Crips; but by the age of 12 fell in love with playing Tennis. He initially wanted to go to college and continue his career in tennis, but didn’t have the financial means or reading skills to advance his collegiality. Being a dedicated athlete, Ross went to discuss never smoking or drinking, but focusing his entire life only on sports.
Disclaimer: Interview starts at 10 minutes. Look for part two tomorrow!
After returning to his neighborhood of South Central after not being accepted into college, he got linked up with the wrong crowd being home every day. Getting his start stealing cars Rick eventually linked up with a local drug dealer and began arranging sales for him.
Ricky quickly realized he needed to start his own business after doing favors for a connect with no residuals returned. Rick’s plan was to make $5,000, get his car fixed, and then jump out the game – but that obviously wasn’t the case. Before part 1 closed, Norton would greet F.R.R. with a surprise special video tribute from Snoop Dogg. He cited his fellow Los Angeles native as a “Snoop Dogg before Snoop Dogg,” revealing Rick always wanted to make sure people in less fortunate communities had the resources to properly prosper in life.
When the real Rick Ross started his journey into kingpin status, a gram of cocaine cost $300 and was reserved for stars like Rick James & Quincy Jones. “it was like I brought a piece of Hollywood to South Central LA” he lamented. While making a staggering three million dollars in one day, he went out of his way to keep a low profile – even driving around in a station wagon modified to look like it belonged to LA’s coroner department. In sharp contrast to the image portrayed by the rapper Rick Ross, Freeway Ricky asserted his reasoning for selling drugs was financial stability & never was interested in jewelry or a flashy lifestyle.
In fact, the real Rick Ross quit selling drugs a year and a half before he was ever indicted and got his conviction overturned via a legal loophole he discovered while studying the in prison. One thing particularly interesting, his connect was reportedly a CIA-backed Contra informant who’s story will be told by investigative journalist Gary Webb’s upcoming movie, “Kill The Messenger” Rick’s character is in this movie, portrayed by XXX better know as Omar from the “The Wire” Rick is currently touring the nation doing anti-drug seminars & even spoke at Brown University.
Interviews like this are the reason I purchased a Chromecast & if they can keep the guests this interesting, Jim Norton & VICE will have a serious hit on their hands. To find out more about “the real” Rick Ross, you can cop ‘Rick Ross the untold autobiography’ right here.