In part 2 of our BlackEnterprise.com exclusive with entrepreneur and hip-hop star Rick Ross, we sat down at Def Jam Records to talk about the emerging marijuana business market, his recordMMG branching out into movies, his business interests in Nigeria, the importance of team support, and why the “bawse” only selects certain brands to rep.
BlackEnterprise.com: You are constantly looking to expand your empire. Are there other franchise concepts you are eyeballing right now— if you feel comfortable telling us, so we don’t steal your thunder?
Rick Ross: (Laughs) No, you don’t have to worry about that. I feel the one for you to join is Wingstop. It’s the fastest growing movement and I feel like the future is real bright.
Let’s talk Nigeria. You visited and they loved you. We’ve been hearing about a potential oil business. What’s that about?
You know, I actually went down a few days before my concert. I’m fortunate to have a lot of Nigerian connections, friends— my artist Wale is Nigerian.
So when we got down there, we already had everything set up. It was a lot of love and a lot of fun. We actually left the hotels and got out into the city, and and they took us out on the water. We could see the city from the roads, as well as from the sea. One particular story, we were going through a channel when we rolled up on a huge ship that was halfway sunken. It had been there for years— all rusted—it was one of those ships from like the old days, historic, and I know I’ll never see another ship like that. We circled around this huge ship, with its nose in the air … Only a quarter of the ship is out the water. The rest is submerged … and then suddenly someone stuck their head out. Man we freaked out. I’m not sure how true this is, but we were told that was the captain and he never left the boat.
It was just one of those spectacles that if it was photographed and put right here, people would hang it on their walls. So Nigeria, man, it was just a lot of beautiful people. I really had a lot of fun. And I ate great. The food there is really good.
Let’s talk about Belaire Rose. Why do you endorse that?
It’s just one of those things that I really loved a lot. And I took a hold of. Like me looking at my iPhone and saying I love this product, I’ma rep it. Me being a person who is always traveling, always in the clubs, there’s something always to celebrate, I wanted something that I always wanted to feel was kinda mine. You know for me. And
I thought a lot of people was unfamiliar with it so I said, let’s become a part of this movement. It’s just something cool to do and I just love the energy that the streets and the culture are giving the brand.So do you only endorse products or brands that you like?
You know I most definitely have done certain things for money, but I have turned down a lot of things as well. I was offered seven figures for cigarette deals and I turned those down. I don’t smoke cigarettes. I may smoke, but I don’t smoke cigarettes. As a matter of fact, I’ve eased out of the smoking game, hence my affiliations today with the number one E-Cigarette company (m-Cig) which is a little healthier, so that was my way of balancing that out. So to answer your question, when I rep something I make sure it’s the best.
More on Rick Ross’ entrepreneurial plans and his take on the emerging marijuana business market on the next page …
Continued from first page …
Speaking of smoking, do you believe African Americans should cash in on this emerging marijuana market?
Yes, I do. Most definitely. It is scientifically proven to help a lot of people. Take me for example—with the seizures I had before— and [for] epileptic people, marijuana h
as been diagnosed to help them out in different cases. I feel as minorities if we are going to help generate money then we need to be a part of the profit and we need to sit at the table as well. To me, the biggest plus about legalizing marijuana is that it will cut down the number of 14 or 15-year-old high school kids trying it for the first time. Now, instead of catching an arrest case, they can just go home. Now that it’s legalized, it takes the thrill away from running around in an alley and smoking with your friends. Hopefully, now it will be for adults who really need it.RELATED: African Americans ‘Deserve’ To Cash In On Emerging Marijuana Boom
There’s also news you’re branching out into movies?
Yes we are. We did a documentary, M.I Yayo, back in ’06. I was still traveling a lot but I wanted to represent Miami in another fashion. It was my first project and now I feel like I’ve got to do a better job at bringing visuals to the table. So now we just finished writing our first film and hopefully we can start filming before the year is out and release for summer next year.
Meek Mill just launched his album and he’s on the MMG roster. How important is team support at MMG?
I feel it’s everything. My biggest slogan is,”Team work make the dream work.” And I credit our full success to our team. I’m just the spark, the one that turns it up to the degrees it needs to get to. But without a team you can’t really be doing what you could be.
So how about the evolution of yourself as an entrepreneur?
As far as my evolution, I just feel that as a young black male it’s no better time than now to set the precedent, set the example, rewrite the game. And that’s what I’m trying to do. You know being a young artist, coming from making street music, to becoming a global franchisee and all the perks that come with that to me are watching these young people use these franchises as stepping stones to going to that next level in life hopefully. So that’s always been my drive, being a part of history. If it’s a brand and we can rewrite history by doing it bigger than it’s been done then that’s what I thrive for. Ricky Rozay. I wanna be a part of the biggest and the best.
What’s next for Rick Ross?
Just continue what we doing, taking it to the next level. I wanna get into the app world, the video game world, I feel like that’s what’s going to be the next step for me. The way we love making moves in social media, I feel like that’s going to be a great avenue for us and a challenging next chapter.