(His Seinfeld-theme mixtape, “The Mixtape About Nothing,” helped too.) After one unsuccessful album, he and Interscope parted ways. Ross, who rapped on the remix.įor Wale, from Washington, this is his second major-label dance - he was signed to Interscope after becoming a blog favorite in an earlier day, the era of the streetwear-obsessed hip-hop hipster. (The Internet is where mixtapes live now, on sites like LiveMixtapes and DatPiff.) Last summer he had a hometown hit, “Rosé Red,” which helped inaugurate his relationship with Mr. Meek Mill, from Philadelphia, is an excitable barker, as heard on his “Flamerz” mixtapes, which have been circulating on blogs for the last couple of years. His marriage of convenience with Maybach Music Group has already provided him with his most prominent song to date, the Ross collaboration “Pacman.” But though he signed with Asylum, another Warner Brothers imprint, last year, he’s yet to capitalize on the initial wave of blog interest. He first gained notice in 2009, on the back of his stark video for his single “Trap Goin’ Ham,” which became a favorite of the rap Internet. Pill, from Atlanta, has a coiled, drawling flow. Pill, Meek Mill and Wale have nothing in common but the MMG chain they wear. And “Self Made” is a hilarious name for an album created for the express purpose of coattail riding. 1” (Maybach Music Group/Warner Brothers) were made available online in the weeks before the album’s release.īut where Triple C’s, on its 2009 debut album, “Custom Cars & Cycles” (Maybach Music/Def Jam), felt like an extension of Mr. The group’s rollout shows no fear of the Internet as a distribution platform or as a cannibalizer of sales: about half of the songs on “Maybach Music Group Presents: Self Made, Vol. Ross used rap blogs as a scouting tool, as a virtual farm team, and also as an inspiration.
Judging by the composition of Maybach Music Group, the speed with which it was assembled and the subsequent speed with which its album was released, it’s hard not to think that Mr. The new crew members - Pill, Meek Mill, Wale, among others - with heavy presences on hip-hop blogs, exemplify the modern way of getting attention. Well, maybe that’s not where he met them, but it’s where they’re from, more or less, where they’ve achieved their greatest notoriety outside their hometowns. Ross meet his new friends, the members of Maybach Music Group? It’s 2011: he met them on the Internet. Ross and the other members - Gunplay, Young Breed, Torch - called home. Ross’s first crew was Triple C’s, or Carol City Cartel, named after the rough neighborhood north of Miami that Mr. The old friends are from the neighborhood: Mr. Thanks to stand out moments like “Push It” and the fantastic “Hustlin’,” the gamble pays off.Rick Ross has old friends, and Rick Ross has new friends. His molasses slow delivery thrives amongst Miami’s showy synthesizers and plasticene Moroder samples, his booming baritone ideally complementing the portentous bass drops of tracks like “White House” and “Boss.” On Port of Miami Rick Ross takes a gamble, eschewing virtuosity for the booming charisma of his authoritative voice and the irresistible sheen of glistening beats. Though Ross might flounder in a different context, Port of Miami’s glossy soundscapes lend a weird gravitas to his monotonous baritone. Luckily for Ross, whose comically listless delivery and monochrome flow pose no threat to the likes of Jay-Z and Nas, Def Jam has outfitted Port of Miami with outrageously plush synth-driven beats redolent of the sleazy neon sheen of Ross’s Miami home. Its shambling bounce and gleefully profane church organ roar balance sun drenched menace against teeth gritting aspiration to gorgeous effect, mixing joy with sorrow and good-humored braggadocio with a pose of hard bitten criminality. With “Hustlin,’” Rick Ross crafted a summer anthem in the classic mold.