Rick Ross, born William Roberts in 1977 (02/08/1977), is an American rapper from Carol City, in northern Miami-Dade County, Florida. He took his rap name from Los Angeles drug kingpin "Freeway" Rick Ross, who ran one of the largest crack-cocaine distribution networks in the country during the '80s and early '90s. He is signed with Slip-N-Slide, which as of 2006, is distributed under Def Jam Records. Port of Miami, Ross' debut album, was released on August 8, 2006, with the lead single "Hustlin'" peaking at #7 on the hip-hop charts and #54 on the Billboard Hot 100. A remix of the single featuring Young Jeezy and Jay-Z also achieved some popularity in digital downloads [1]. Ross has stated that his inspirations for rapping are Ice Cube, The Notorious B.I.G, JT Money, and Trick Daddy.

Rick Ross raps about being one of the biggest coke dealers in Miami before he hit the music scene. However, it came out that Rick Ross was actually just a corrections officer in a prison facility in Florida. The papers to prove this have been posted on The Smoking Gun.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0721081rickross1.html