Rick Ross says he revisited The Notorious B.I.G.'s "You're Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You)" following last year's shooting.
In addition to producing and appearing on Rick Ross’ Mastermind record “Nobody,” Bad Boy Records founder Diddy also lent his assistance on the album as executive producer. In early February, it was announced that Diddy would executive produce Ross’ sixth studio album, and during a recent interview with Shaheem Reid of DefJam.com, Ross detailed Diddy’s duties as executive producer.
According to the Maybach Music Group founder, Diddy was adamant about the album sounding like it was recorded all in the same day. Ross says that Diddy also helped give Mastermind a ‘90s feel.
“That’s the expertise that Puff bring to the table,” Ross said. “The way he orchestrate the music. Myself I’m in the studio—For example, and I’ll hear a record come on from a writer’s perspective I’m listening to the rhymes, the tones, punch lines, and then the beat. And it’s the total opposite when Puff in the studio. He listening to the snare, to the high hat, to the kick. All previous of my five albums whenever I mixed my album and went to master it I could master my album in three hours. With the process Puff put it through it took three days. Yeah, so it was like giving it a ‘90s feel…I was in the studio. I’m smoking. I’m drinking. And Puff just said ‘This album, this album it’s missing one thing. We gotta make it feel like it was recorded in the same booth, same day.’”
Ross also spoke on “Nobody,” a record that features an intro from Diddy and samples The Notorious B.I.G.’s “You’re Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You).” The Miami rapper revealed that he revisited Biggie’s Life After Death record just days after the Rolls Royce he was traveling in while in Fort Lauderdale, Florida was shot at early last year.
“That was most definitely one of my favorite Life After Death records,” he said. “I went back and listened to it a different kind of way after that night. I heard some things I may have not heard many years before that. So, I had to take a stab at it. And that’s what I did.”
In January 2013, Ross crashed his Rolls Royce Phantom while attempting to escape a shooting attack. The rapper and his companion were not injured during the incident.
Roughly one month after the shooting, Ross spoke with MTV about the incident and revealed that he was attempting to stay positive.
“[There are] no suspects and we not here to speculate on any suspects," he said to MTV in February 2013. "I'm just staying positive, I'm moving forward and I'm just staying on top of my game."