<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Rick Ross the rapper named himself after \u201CFreeway\u201D Ricky Donnell Ross, the drug dealer. Ricky Ross sued Rick Ross for use of the name but, as TMZ reported today, lost. There is also a less popular rapper, Freeway, who named himself after the same drug dealer. All three have distinctive beards. Like their beards, each man grew his name (adopted and otherwise) on his own. But we think the Rick Ross born William L. Roberts, the rapper who also refers to himself as Rozay, has a special claim on it.We\u2019ve discussed the certain kind of fantasy that Rick Ross \u2014 once a corrections officer, never a known drug dealer \u2014 offers. The dismissal of this lawsuit just verifies his inside-out version of the American dream, where he took what he wanted with little risk and, in the end, won out. The meaninglessness of the importance of the name is precisely its meaning: He adopted a well-known \u201Cbrand\u201D to rap about a lifestyle he probably never led \u2014 until he made enough money that he might as well have led it \u2014 and found his greatest success after being \u201Cfound out\u201D for having worked in law enforcement rather than law breaking.If Jay-Z\u2019s career has come to balance suggestions of past wrongdoing with executive work, fatherhood, and links with the White House, Rick Ross simply (although maybe paradoxically) embodies a sort of simulation \u2014 roots and current connections irrelevant. And this artistry you can see extending to different parts of his career: Claims that he\u2019s too slow and incapable of a rapper, when he once rapped fast; Kreayshawn and the \u201Cwhite girl mob\u201D putting him down; even the fact that an album released this year free as a mixtape, \u201CRich Forever,\u201D may well equal his forthcoming official album, \u201CGod Forgives, I Don\u2019t.\u201D You can\u2019t even buy the \u201Ccorrect\u201D version of Rick Ross. He just comes correct, take it or leave it. He has transcended any kind of tradeoff. Anyone who wants to lay claim to the word \u201Cros\u00E9,\u201D just step right up.&amp;nbsp;Previously: Rapper Rick Ross, \u201CRich Forever,\u201D Turns the American Dream Inside Out[content:advertisement-center]"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.blouinartinfo.com/print/node/796973>