Rick Ross’s kingpin image may be giving him more trouble than he’s ready for, with multiple parties lining up to get their shot at the Maybach Music star. Yesterday it was announced that dates for the North Carolina leg of Ross’s tour were cancelled, which area radio station WCNC believed to be the result of gang threats levied against the rapper. Now, AllHipHop.com reports that the rest of the tour’s remaining dates have been cancelled, making a total of eight shows including those scheduled for North Carolina. Representatives for Ross said the cancellations were caused by an “apparent lack of organization and communication on the part of the tour promoter.”
While Ross’s tour came to an abrupt end, his label Warner Brothers Records was defending his image from namesake Freeway Ricky Ross, the 80s drug kingpin who seemingly inspired the rappers career. Freeway Ricky Ross claims the Warner Brothers artist born William Leonard Roberts has built his career off both his image and his life story. The real-life Rick Ross filed suit against Warner Brothers for false advertisement, unfair business practices and unjust enrichment for its handling of Rick Ross the rapper and Maybach music. During a court hearing on December 6, trial dates for Ross’s case were scheduled for early next year.
“The reality is I want justice done. I know that he took his name and image from my life and believe he is unfairly profiting off my story,” Freeway Ricky Ross said during an interview with AllHiphop.com. “At one point Suge Knight came down to the hearings earlier this year and specifically laid it out to all of us, including all the lawyers, that he spoke to William the rapper directly. Rozay (the rapper) said clearly he talked to people that were around me when I was dealing and studied me in taking on my image and name.”
Rick Ross has also been accused of stealing his image from gang culture that he does not belong too. Namely, sets of the Gangsters Disciples have made several public threats against Ross, having taken his use of gang co-founder Larry Hoover’s name in a song and the placement of the group’s signature six point star on his mixtape cover as signs of disrespect. On the cover of Black Bar Mitzvah Ross’s face is pictured in the star, and in the song “BMF” Ross refers to himself as Hoover.
In videos uploaded to Youtube, Gansters Disciples members threatened violence against the former correctional officer unless he pays an unspecified amount of money to the group. Ross did not make mention of the threats when announcing the end of his tour, but promised ticket holders that he would return in a statement via AllHipHop.com.
“I want to apologize to all of my fans who I missed performing for due to the cancellations and want to let them know that I will get back to their cities.”
