He has a slow, husky drawl, almost always sounding like he should either clear his throat or drink some water, and raps almost exclusively about peddling coke and the lifestyle that comes with the trade. He's Miami's answer to Atlanta's Young Jeezy, Def Jam's breakout artist of 2005.
"Hustlin'," a leviathan, trunk-rattling single released a few before Port of Miami - Rick Ross' official debut album, following a series of mixtapes - informed everyone within earshot about Ross' modus operandi. Rather than merely lure Ross away from his initial label (Slip-N-Slide) with a lucrative contract, Jay-Z linked up with the entire label and netted a distribution deal. Nicknamed after a notorious drug dealer, William "Rick Ross" Roberts claims to have dealt drugs himself, prior to becoming an MC and gaining the interest of Def Jam president Jay-Z.