Rick Ross

Drake Adds Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi, Rick Ross, And More To The Star-Studded Guest List For ‘Certified Lover Boy’

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The world is just hours away from receiving Drake’s highly-anticipated album, Certified Lover Boy. It follows the promotion-heavy week that the Toronto rapper has put up to increase the excitement for the project. It includes “hacking” a SportsCenter broadcast to share the release date for the album as well as revealing its controversial artwork.

Drake also revealed Jay-Z, Young Thug, Future, 21 Savage, Lil Baby, Giveon, Ty Dolla Sign, Lil Durk, Yebba, and Project Pat as guest features on Certified Lover Boy. While the cast is already impressive enough, Drake revealed on Thursday that there are more individuals coming to the party.

Just like he did for the guest features that were revealed on Thursday, Drake used digital billboards from across the country to share the additional features for Certified Lover Boy. Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi, Rick Ross, Masego, and Nigerian singer Tems will also join Drake on his upcoming album. The rapper used shared the news on billboards in all of the additional guests’ hometowns except for Lil Wayne, whose birthplace of New Orleans is currently in the midst of extended power failures due to Hurricane Ida.

You can view the billboards announcing the new guests in the posts above.

Certified Lover Boy is out 9/3 via OVO Sound/Republic.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Rick Ross Celebrates Smoke Bulga’s Addition To MMG With A Video For Their Collab ‘Water Whip’n’

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In the 2010s, Rick Ross seemed to be building one of the next rap empires with his Maybach Music Group imprint. The Teflon Don rapper had recruited names like Wale, Meek Mill, Omarion, Gunplay, and more to join him on the team. While their early days were bright, the MMG has been much quieter of late, with Ross, Meek, and Wale carrying most of the responsibilities for the label. Now, for the first time in years, Ross has signed a new artist: Boston rapper Smoke Bulga.

The two rappers have some history together, having previously collaborated back in 2010 on a track titled “We Made It.” More than a decade later and Bulga is the newest name to join MMG. To celebrate, he and Ross unleashed a video for their collaboration “Water Whip’n.” The track samples Black Rob’s “Like Woah,” and it captures a true celebratory moment between the rappers as they begin a journey as labelmates.

“It really feels like Draft Day because I’m teaming up with one of the best to ever do it in Rozay with one of the premier labels in hip-hop history,” Bulga said to Billboard about signing to Ross’ label. “MMG has long represented excellence and I look forward to representing the new generation of MMG starting with this new ‘Water Whip’n’ release.”

Ross, on the other hand, expressed his desire to help Bulga grow in the industry. “Smoke Bulga has potential to be a star,” he said. “I’ve seen him put in the work from afar and all he needed is the right opportunity, so I’m excited to welcome the homie to the MMG family.”

You can watch the video for “Water Whip’n” above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Rick Ross Chimes In On Kanye West And Drake’s Beef: ‘I Love It’

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After things were quiet between the two rappers for several months, the beef betweern Drake and Kanye West’s seemed to flare back up over the weekend. It began with the former apparently dissing Kanye on a guest verse on Trippie Redd’s “Betrayal.” “All these fools I’m beefin’ that I barely know / Forty-five, forty-four (Burned out), let it go,” he raps. citing Kanye’s current age. “Ye ain’t changin’ sh*t for me, it’s set in stone / Rollin’ stones, heavy stones (PinkGrillz) / Precious stone, let me make my presence known.” Just a day later, Kanye posted and quickly deleted the address to Drake’s Toronto mansion, which for the record was already public information.

While we wait for the next event in the duo’s longstanding beef, Rick Ross — who has worked with both rappers on multiple occasions — chimed in with his own comments on the back and forth. When asked about the beef during a recent interview on SiriusXM Urban View’s Mike Muse Show, Ross replied, “I love it.” He then shared a portion of a conversation he recently had with Drake.

“He said, ‘Everything is unfolding. I’m about to be as free as a bird,’” Ross recalled. “And he put the caption with the owl. And I just, I couldn’t do nothing but put ‘hahahaha’ because to me, I understand the genius to both of these artists, and I understand this is nothing personal to them. This is two levels of creativity inspiring each other.”

Ross added, “Because they both are right now thinking of the artwork, thinking of the credits, where do we place, what color is this, and to me, it only makes the game that much more genius, that much more valuable.”

Ross also commented on Kanye’s social media antics. “Kanye posted Drake’s address on the Instagram, but who didn’t have Drake address already?” he said. “It’s the only 100 million dollar estate in Canada. So if you don’t understand what’s going on, you would’ve thought that was personal. It really wasn’t. That’s just them getting ready for as Drake said everything unfolding.”

You can watch Ross’ interview in the video above.

Drake Labels Rick Ross As The ‘Greatest Rapper Alive’

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Drake has worked with a long list of names in his lengthy career. While many of them have proved to be successful, few have created chemistry with the Toronto rapper like Rick Ross has. The duo has a decent list of collaborations, with each receiving positive reviews from fans when it arrives. With that being said, it comes as no surprise that Drake has high praise for Rick Ross, but his recent comments bring things to a new level.

On Thursday, the Toronto rapper shared a video to his Instagram Story that captured the first meeting between Rick Ross and Smiley, OVO Sound’s newest signee. Drake captioned the post, “The greatest rapper alive met my favorite rapper alive.” While the greatest rapper alive title might be debatable to some, Drake has had a front-row seat to seeing Rick Ross work thanks to their many songs together. Their most recent effort, “Lemon Pepper Freestyle,” follows highlights that include “Free Spirit,” “Stay Schemin” with French Montana, “Aston Martin Music,” “Diced Pineapples” with Wale, and many more.

The compliment from Drake also comes after Rick Ross spoke about a possible joint album between himself and Drake. “He’s wrapping up his project and I’m in the same space,” he said. “So the timing and everything is aligning. It’s something that we really want to give to the streets, on some real sh*t.” He added that the project’s potential release is “looking real solid.”

You can watch Drake’s Instagram Story post with Rick Ross and Smiley above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Rick Ross And G Herbo Will Headline The Nobody’s Home Festival In Support Of Cannabis Law Awareness

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A number of rappers have stepped into the marijuana industry, among them Jay-Z, G-Eazy, Ice Cube, and Russ, at a time when recreational weed use has become increasingly legal across the nation. It’s not just about making it easier for people to get high. There’s been a push to alter past penalties given to those were placed in prison when it was still widely illegal. And ot raise awareness for this idea, some in Michigan have decided to start a new music festival.

Former NBA player Al Harrington’s Village, who is responsible the largest conglomerate of black-owned cannabis brands in the United States, is starting Nobody’s Home, a hip-hop festival on September 4 to bring awareness to marijuana laws. Rick Ross and G Herbo will headline, with Freddie Gibbs, Jay Electronica, Chase B, Babyface Ray, G.T., and more set to appear. The festival will take place in Benton Harbor, Michigan with performances running from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Dwight Mitchell City Center Park.

According to HipHopDX, Kanye West’s longtime manager John Monopoly is responsible for curating the festival while another former NBA player, Wilson Chandler, leads the cannabis brand, Nobody’s Home, that flagships the event.

The Nobody’s Home festival is free to attend for anyone over the age of 21 years old. RSVPs for the event can be made on their website here.

Freddie Gibbs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.