With the successful release of Rick Ross' sixth studio album, Mastermind, (although, there was a shooting at his DeKalb County album release party, so that wasn't very successful) the rapper has kicked off some interview promotion. We recently saw him talk to Angie Martinez on Hot 97, and now he's spoken to TIME.
Rozay discusses the milestone of his sixth LP, his surprising collaboration with Jeezy, and getting Mr. Brainwash to create his deluxe edition album art, among other things.
"It was me and Jeezy running into each other," Ross said when asked what prompted "War Ready." "It was one of those moments when his crew was on one side of the door and mine was on the other side of the door. I don’t want to disclose that location yet. I wasn’t expecting it, but when we saw each other, we clarified all the misunderstandings and miscommunications. At the end of the day, I never had a problem with him and it was vice versa. We never lost money together. Nobody ever got hurt. It was just a lot of talk. We said, 'Let’s do it for the game.'The culture is bigger than us."
He added that he never had any personal issues with Jeezy, "It takes a great man to go to war but an even greater man to make peace. At the end of the day, we got to do what’s best for the team, for the culture, for the streets. It’s bigger than us. Me and him never had personal problems."
Ricky Rozay also discussed connecting with Mr. Brainwash for the deluxe edition Mastermind artwork, explaining how it happened. "I’m a fan of art. I might have got a piece or two at Art Basel. That’s one of the homies. I forgot where we met. I go over to his studio, smoke, let beats play sometimes. He has a huge studio. I let Brainwash get on the mic one night. He was on the mic for three hours, just saying different things. His whole slogan is “Life is beautiful,” so he was saying some powerful things. I love it. If it ain’t controversial, what is it?"
As for whether or not that song featuring Mr. Brainwash will ever see the light of day, Ross said, "It may. He wants to put it out. He has a vision and he has a lot of powerful quotes. The same quotes he puts in his art. He wouldn’t stop for three hours. My engineer said, “I quit. I’m going to stop.” Brainwash is one of them dudes that has ideas."
