Rick Ross names his favorite "Mastermind" tracks, says his second collaboration with Jeezy is "crazy."
Among the 16 tracks featured on Miami rapper Rick Ross’ newly-released Mastermind album is “Nobody,” a song which samples the late Notorious B.I.G.’s “You’re Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You)” and features guest appearances from French Montana and Diddy. Ross was recently questioned about the song during Hip Hop Nation’s Tuesday Night Live with DJ Envy as he was asked about the range of reactions the record has received.
According to Ross, “Nobody” was a song he would not have released if he hadn’t received a blessing from D-Roc, a close friend of Biggies.
“I love that. Just to see fans have that much love for an artist,” Ross said. “Otherwise I wouldn’t know it. You know what I mean? I wouldn’t see that. So, it’s that much love for B.I.G, but what even the true B.I.G. fans gotta respect—Because you know when I made the record I did it the G way. I took it to D-Roc, you know, Biggie right-hand. He blessed the joint. You know what I mean? And that’s what was important to me. You know, he could have told me to kill it and I would have chilled. So, that was a lot of love. And just for everybody that’s hearing the record that don’t—haven’t heard the original, go get both of B.I.G.’s albums right now.”
In addition to speaking on “Nobody,” the Maybach Music Group founder also rattled down his list of favorites on Mastermind. Among the records Ross named were "BLK & WHT" and the Kanye West and Big Sean-assisted “Sanctified.”
“My favorite record? ‘Sanctified’ was most definitely one of the favorites,” he said. “It’s because how much time—Just watching Kanye put into this because it actually started as a sample. We did the sample maybe 10 different ways and then we ultimately went with a beautiful lady out of Miami, Ms. Betty Wright. She blessed us. So, just hearing that chorus. Just hearing the way it came out. All the time we put in it. It most definitely was dope. As well as the joint ‘BLK & WHT.’ It’s kinda Southern, kinda Southern drawl to it. You know what I mean? And it was just something real different for me, but it was dope.”
Ross also discussed his reconciliation with fellow rapper and former rival, Jeezy. He says the two have recorded two songs together, Mastermind’s “War Ready” and another record, which will appear on a project from Jeezy.
In a past interview, Ross revealed that there was “a lot of misconfusion” behind his beef with Jeezy and spoke on setting an example for those younger than him after patching up his feud with the Atlanta emcee.
“It was a lot of misconfusion at the end of the day because me and his personally never had an issue and I think that was one of the reasons we were able to really resolve this problem because we never really personally had an issue,” Rick Ross said while speaking to HuffPost Live last month. "Amongst bosses, you know we like to call it, ‘That rapper stuff.' Real bosses get over that and that’s what we did and I’m happy we was able to do that and set the examples for some of the younger bosses that’s coming up and let ‘em know it’s all about making that positive progress."