Rick Ross’s Arrest and How the Rapper Navigates Fact and Fiction

On Wednesday, rapper Rick Ross was arrested in Fayette County, Georgia, and hit with felony charges for aggravated assault, aggravated battery, and kidnapping. Ross and his bodyguard Nadrian James (who is also facing charges of kidnapping and aggravated battery) allegedly pistol-whipped Jonathan Zamudio, who was working as a live-in groundskeeper at Ross's home, pointed a gun at him in a threatening fashion, and detained him in a bedroom against his will. Reportedly, the victim lost use of his jaw as a result of his injuries.

That incident took place on June 7, four days before Ross was reportedly arrested in the Atlanta area with marijuana.

Even without this latest incident, the history of William Leonard Roberts II is almost as bizarre and convoluted as the persona under which he produces music. Many of the media narratives surrounding Ross call into question exactly where Roberts the human and Rick Ross the rapper meet—is Ross actually the stone-cold gangster rapper he portrays in his songs, or are his raps nothing more than ten pounds of shit stuffed into a gilded, five-pound model of a luxury yacht?

Certainly, Rick Ross is a fantastical character. He's a pro wrestler reimagined as a rapper. He's also a large, large man who makes exaggerated boasts about how he is rich off of cocaine. If you don't believe that characterization, just check out his song that is literally called "Rich Off Cocaine." He once made a music video in which he avoids arrest by jumping off a bridge, only to get picked up by a speedboat full of beautiful women. His on-record persona is that of a remake of Scarface in which nothing goes bad for Tony Montana, ever.

Now, that Rick Ross is not real. But part of why Rick Ross is such an enduring presence on the charts (he was on hit songs—sometimes his own, sometimes as a guest rapper—every year from 2006 to 2014) is because he actively cultivates an air of absolute grandiosity, often to parabolic excess. You can hear it in his monster hits like "B.M.F." and "Hustlin'," both of which feature beats so punishing they rattle the listener to their core. You can see it on his Instagram page, where you can find him posing next to exotic cars, getting a massage, or on safari, looking at a giraffe. This stuff certainly isn't out of the norm when it comes to rap personas; far from it.

But often, Rick Ross can come across as the biggest bull in a china shop that's already filled with, like, 15 other bulls.

In real life, William Roberts has faced his fair share of public controversy. In 2008, the Smoking Gun famously revealed he had once been a corrections officer at a Florida prison, earning him the derisive nickname "Officer Ricky." Shortly thereafter, he addressed the rumors in an issue of Don Diva Magazine, saying, "I never ratted on a n—ga! I never prosecuted a n—ga! I never locked up a n—ga that is first and foremost. I always felt that me being the n—ga I am, I never owed a n—ga an explanation." Continuing, he said, "When I say that I'm rich off of cocaine, it's because I did it. Those are the street principles that apply." Months later, Samuel Ferguson, the journalist who conducted the interview, was gunned down on the highway. Rick Ross was never connected to the murder, but media outlets pointed out that he had called Ferguson a "rat" and a "bitch" in subsequent interviews.

2008 was a busy year for Ross. That's when he was slapped with a $4 million lawsuit by hip-hop personality DJ Vlad, who alleged that Ross's entourage had issued him a beating at the Ozone Awards for his coverage of the Officer Ricky scandal. Meanwhile, a Miami public records search revealed that Ross was charged with felony possession of a firearm and misdemeanor possession of marijuana in that same year. (The marijuana charge was eventually dropped.) The deposition for that charge was obtained by the Smoking Gun, which revealed a bizarre line of questioning in which Ross's lawyer denied any connection between Ross and any street gangs, specifically the Carol City Cartel, with whom Ross has claimed affiliation on record (going so far as to name one of his rap groups Triple C's).

According to public records, in 2009, Ross was hit with another gun charge, this time a misdemeanor of openly carrying a firearm.

On Noisey: Why Rick Ross Doesn't Get It

In 2011, Ross was arrested for possession of marijuana in Shrevport, Louisiana. In 2012, TMZ reported that a man was murdered in front of his Miami house (though Ross was later ruled out as a subject). The next year, Ross was the alleged target of a failed drive-by shooting. The Smoking Gun, which was pretty much serving as a Rick Ross watchdog site at that point, uncovered that Ross was armed at the time of the incident.

Then there's the fact that Ross's lawyer's denial that his client is affiliated with gangs is tough to square with lyrical shout-outs to Carol City Cartel boss Boobie/Black such as, "Let me think back to '96, when Boobie had the realest n—ga feelin' like a bitch," and "When they snatched Black, I cried for a hundred nights/ He got a hundred bodies, servin' a hundred lifes." On "Ashamed," from 2012's God Forgives, I Don't, he goes so far as to rap, "Boobie gave me the game."

This is what's confusing about Ross. His persona is performance, but that performance bleeds into real life. When it does, the question we're left to ask ourselves is this: How much of what Rick Ross raps about is real, and how much of it is fiction?

Then again, this is almost certainly the question Ross wants us to ask. After all, he once rapped, "The rumors turn me on/I'm masturbating at the top."

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