GSU students will get the opportunity to study the real-life experiences of rapper Rick Ross.
Starting this fall semester, the Georgia State College of Law will continue to offer its “Legal Life of…” course where students get the chance to experience “the practice area of entertainment law by studying the career, contracts and legal transactions” of a person.
The Miami native will be the fourth person of interest the course has followed, with the last three installments detailing the lives of Ludacris, Kandi Burruss, and Steve Harvey.
The course was the brainchild of Moraima “Mo” Ivory, professor of practice and director of the Entertainment, Sports & Media Law Initiative at the GSU College of Law. Ivory implemented the course so students could get hands-on experience with entertainment, sports, media, and intellectual property law.
As a self-proclaimed lover of rap music and hip-hop culture, Ivory said she could not think of a better time to study the life of the rapper because of the course’s proximity to the 50th anniversary of hip-hop.
Related: Georgia State University’s College of Law Offers Legal Life of Kandi Burruss Course
“When I began my research on Ross, I realized early on that my students would learn about a businessman who turned his love of music into an empire that includes massive real estate holdings, food and beverage franchises, investments in the car and bike industry, literary works and corporate equity ownership,” said Ivory.
The Legal Life of Rick Ross will focus on his turn from rapper to real estate investor, CEO, and franchise owner of dozens of Wings Stop and Checker food locations. In response to the announcement of the course on his life, he said, “I’ve always been a student of the game, and I look forward to being able to teach the next generation how to keep hustlin’.”
“The ‘Biggest’ meets the classroom,” added the founder of Belaire Champagne.
The “Ima Boss” rapper has tried previously to collaborate with Georgia State College of Law. In 2017, Ross was indicted on misdemeanor kidnapping and assault charges, which stemmed from allegedly holding the groundskeepers of his 235-acre, 109-bedroom Fayetteville mansion at gunpoint after they threw a party at his house without permission.
This incident occurred in 2015, just one year after Ross paid over $5 million for his home, dubbed The Promised Land after it had fallen into foreclosure. In a Snapchat rant, Ross called on GSU law students for help when he said “I wanna visit Georgia State University. I wanna speak with some current law students, y’all hit me up. I’mma bring you all copies of my case to go through from top to bottom. Georgia State University let’s go.”
Ross and his bodyguard entered no-contest plea deals to the charges and were sentenced to five years on probation.
