(EXCLUSIVE) THE REAL FREEWAY RICKY ROSS: The Evolution of Redemption (Part 2)

In Part 1 of The Heat’s EXCLUSIVE with The Real Freeway Ricky Ross, we left off with Ricky speaking on his earlier ventures in the music industry. We pick back up in Part 2 discussing modern day rappers and their lyrics and material. He has a lot to say on that subject, as well as many more important ones dealing with social ills. Here’s the rest of that interview:

THE HEAT MAGAZINE: That’s really good to hear. So, what do you think of these rappers who give themselves names – we all know who we’re talking about – whose lyrics speak of things that they’ve never done – that they’ve never even been involved in. What do you think of rappers keeping it real?

FREEWAY RICKY ROSS: I think they have to be careful with the messages they send. Right now, they may look at things one way, but in 5, 6 years you got the same situation and it may end up being harmful. It’s all perception. For instance, when I started selling cocaine, at that time, it was mainly for the Hollywood parties, the “get funky, get loose” and then all of a sudden, it turned into the crack mamas and the crack babies, so you got to be careful about what you do now, because that could wind up being your legacy. You could wind up one day being the guy who rapped about something that you don’t want that to be your legacy. Like me, I don’t want cocaine to be my legacy. I don’t want my grandchildren to say their grandfather sold crack. I don’t want that to be my legacy. I want it to be when people bring it up to them, they say, “That was just for a small period of his life. He was a philanthropist, an innovator, and he started the #1 website in the world.” I want my legacy to be all of these other things I am involved in. Just take the energy of the time and channel it in the right direction.

THE HEAT MAGAZINE: Something else that we talked about earlier was the mass disparities between the races in this country. First of all, and I think most importantly, is the number of minorities incarcerated and also the small number of African-Americans that are millionaires in this country. Tell me a little bit about your thoughts on both of those items.

FREEWAY RICKY ROSS: Those numbers reflect each other, you know. It’s crazy because this country was built on the backs of our people, yet there are only like 400,000 African-American millionaires when you look at it. Also, when we look at the incarceration thing, you find the government will tear down a perfectly good school to build another school, just so they can create jobs. So now we also have to look at how maybe they tore down the black community, so they can incarcerate them so they can build prisons, to create jobs. All this goes together and is so intertwined and there are so many pieces that we as a people, are going to have to sit down and see how we can piece this thing together.

THE HEAT MAGAZINE: And you are right about that. I think something that most Americans are very ignorant to is the prison industry and how much private companies make off of supplying things to the prison. It just kind of makes you go back and look at the era where it started, which was the early ‘80’s – now here we are in 2011. We’ve got all these archaic drug laws that lock people up for having a little bit too much crack or something like that on them.

FREEWAY RICKY ROSS: Crack rock – 5 years in prison.

THE HEAT MAGAZINE: Yeah. And what people don’t look at – and I’ve looked at this – I’ve researched it – a lot of large contributors to campaigns, especially federal campaigns, own companies or have ties to companies that supply these prisons with uniforms, with food, with all sorts of things. And what people don’t look at, is there has to be a connection there somewhere. It’s not just about locking up people for the so-called drug war. There’s money behind it and it just so happens that they preyed upon – my opinion – the community that they thought they could get away with preying upon and that’s who we have locked up in most of these prisons, especially on the drug charges.

FREEWAY RICKY ROSS: And on top of that, this is the most underprivileged group in the country. These are the people that were once slaves. These are the people who were brought here in handcuffs and shackles and chains. Now you’re preying on them. On top of everything else, the biggest contributors to “Get Tough on Crime” are the police and prison unions. All of them are together – prison guards and police officers.

THE HEAT MAGAZINE: How do we open people’s eyes to where they listen? I mean, you can preach and talk and post things day in and day out, but people don’t have the background knowledge most of the time, to understand this. I know I’ve had conversations with people, even with attorneys and others in the legal profession, and they look at me like I’m crazy – I even had one that called me a conspiracy theorist until I started actually printing up the declassified documents and showing it to them. How do we get people to listen and realize what’s taken place?

FREEWAY RICKY ROSS: Well, the first thing I’ve noticed about people, is they don’t want to listen to you until you become successful at something. When you’re a nobody or appear to be a nobody, nobody wants to listen to you. You don’t become relevant until you’ve achieved a higher status. Once you’ve done that, people will start paying attention to what you say.

THE HEAT MAGAZINE: Well, we definitely know that you’re relevant and there is no doubt that young people are listening to you. They look up to you and with that being taken into consideration, what do you have to say to young people – or anybody – that may be in the dope game or considering getting into the dope game? What do you have to tell them that it is really about?

FREEWAY RICKY ROSS: Well, the first thing I have to tell them is that it’s a trap. I mean, when they trapped us over in Africa, they used trackers. They called them trappers – first they traded beads and trinkets and they promised that they were bringing our people over there to a better life. So now they’ve changed their techniques. You’re heard of Jim Crow – what I believe is that they’re using crack cocaine as the new Jim Crow. Author Michelle Alexander has a great book out now called “The New Jim Crow” and in the book, she talks about how they no longer need to use Jim Crow era tactics to keep us under control – now they’re using drug laws and things of that nature, to keep us in check.

The Real Freeway Ricky Ross Interview Snippet Part 1 by Arlene_HeatMag

THE HEAT MAGAZINE: Right, I’m very familiar with that unfortunately. A lot of people would sit here and tell you it’s a glamorous life. There’s money, cars, women, houses, Rolexes – I mean, all kinds of material items. When somebody tells you that, how would you still address that, as far as letting them know that it’s not a good idea to take part in that?

FREEWAY RICKY ROSS: I want them to know that they’re absolutely correct. Those things do come with drugs. But the end result of the game is either the penitentiary or death. There are very few people that get into the drug business and have the will or strength to walk away before one of those things happens. Me myself, I don’t know anybody – maybe one person – that got in and got out without going to prison or without getting killed. Very rarely does that happen. You can get money. You can have cars. You can have clothes. You must pay a price. You must go to the penitentiary. That is mandatory. If you want to be a drug dealer, you’re going to the pen.

Snippet of Interview with The Real Freeway Ricky Ross Part 2 by Arlene_HeatMag

EDITOR’S NOTE: Check out Part 1 of our interview with the Real Freeway Ricky Ross & stay tuned for Part 3 coming up!

(EXCLUSIVE) THE REAL FREEWAY RICKY ROSS: The Evolution of Redemption (Part 1)
https://theheatmag.com/exclusive-the-real-freeway-ricky-ross-the-evolution-of-redemption-part-1/
(EXCLUSIVE) THE REAL FREEWAY RICKY ROSS: The Evolution of Redemption (Part 3)
https://theheatmag.com/exclusive-the-real-freeway-ricky-ross-the-evolution-of-redemption-part-3/
(EXCLUSIVE) THE REAL FREEWAY RICKY ROSS: The Evolution of Redemption (Part 4)
https://theheatmag.com/exclusive-the-real-freeway-ricky-ross-the-evolution-of-redemption-part-4/