During a recent interview, Rick Ross talked about meeting and befriending Kanye West before both artists earned fame.
“Me and Kanye, we actually met in [a studio],” Ross says in an interview with Juan Epstein of his initial encounter with Kanye West before the two became famous. “He actually was making beats for — I don’t want to say they name…But I just remember the beats were hella cheap. I wish I bought all that shit. It was so much of it. I’ma be honest. I would have bought all of his beats. We was in the studio. He was playing beats. Somebody was buying beats. I began writing for somebody that was buying beats from him. I was writing for this person that began just buying beats from Kanye.”
Ross says Kanye West was likely earning approximately $5,000 for a beat at that time.
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While Ross was reportedly ghostwriting for a different rapper, West and Ross honed a friendship that week.
“We was kickin’ it,” Ross says. “I was spittin’ my raps that no one liked locally. He was playing me his beats. He was like, ‘Man, you should let me executive produce your album.’ I was like, ‘You trippin” because we just meetin’. But I rapped non-stop. We just began bouncing from room to room. This went on for maybe a week. Ludacris came and did a collaboration with Trina on one of the beats that [West] did. It was a single. I went to the video shoot with him. We in the video, but you’re not gonna even see us…You can’t even fuckin’ blink.”
The single Ross is describing is likely 2002’s ‘B R Right’ from Trina featuring Ludacris. The song was featured on Trina’s Diamond Princess album.
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Rick Ross Says He’s Always Respected Kanye West’s “Genius”
Ross says that his encounter with West made him request several beats from the rapper-producer soon after. As the two were ready to begin working together, West was involved in a car accident, which he later detailed on his song and video for “Through the Wire” off 2004’s The College Dropout.
“The week before he got in his accident, we made plans for that following week for him to make beats for me, for us to get together,” Ross says.
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West’s accident changed those plans, according to Ross. The two eventually followed different paths to stardom. Still, Ross says he considers West a friend. He also added that he has respect for West because of their initial encounter.
“I always respected his genius,” Ross says. “When a lot of people didn’t see it…I sat with him for 4 or 5 hours writing and talking about ideas and he said it right then. ‘I want to executive produce your album.'”
Ross and West have collaborated, notably on “Devil in a New Dress” and “Monster,” a track that also features Jay Z, Bon Iver and Nicki Minaj. Ross and West also appear on Pusha T’s new album, My Name is My Name, collaborating on “Hold On.”
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A video of Ross’ interview with Juan Epstein can be viewed below.
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