Rick Ross Announces New Singles, Album Release Date
Tuesday night, on New York radio station Hot 97’s Funkmaster Flex show, hip-hop heavyweight Rick Ross premiered a double single from his fifth solo album, God Forgives, I Don’t, and announced a December 13th release date for the highly anticipated project. The first single, “I Love My Bitches,” finds producer Just Blaze returning to his trademark style of high-pitched soul samples, over which Ross muses, “Am I really just a narcissist / ’cause I wake up to a bowl of lobster bisque?” The follow-up, “You The Boss,” recruits reigning hip-hop queen Nicki Minaj for a silky, down-tempo duet.
“I wanted to go to another level, and make sure my sound continues to evolve,” Ross told Flex of the two singles, which are slight departures from the bass-heavy street anthems he’s been known for since last year’s Teflon Don. “I wanted to collaborate with Nicki in another way, letting us hear her beautiful voice.” The rapper also professed that many late-Eighties hip-hop classics served as his muse while recording for this project. “The emotion I got when I heard certain records growing up, that’s the emotion I search for as I’m making my music,” Ross said. “When I heard [Ice Cube’s] AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted for the first time, when I heard [Eric B. & Rakim’s] Eric B. For President for the first time, that’s what I chase to recreate.”
Ross also touched on some recent controversies, including conflicts with Def Jam labelmate Young Jeezy and polarizing up-and-comer Kreayshawn. “I just introduced myself to her from afar,” Ross said dismissively of a heated red-carpet exchange with Kreayshawn’s entourage at MTV’s Video Music Awards, after she insulted him in a freestyle weeks prior. He was less reserved regarding Jeezy and their longtime feud: “We were just at the BET Awards and I sat in the front row. He performed. If there’s any pressure . . . handle it right there. We label that ‘feminine ways.'”
Ross boasts three Number One albums, and is confident that God Forgives, I Don’t will follow suit without any threat of delays from Def Jam: “On December 13th, we gon’ cash another big check,” he told Flex confidently. “We ain’t pushing that back. That’s in cement. We don’t push nothing back around here but the top on that Rolls Royce.”