For those who don’t know the real Rick Ross is beyond a legend. His life story sounds like a Hollywood blockbuster and a story cooked up by the greatest storytellers to ever have lived.
Not Rick (prison guard) Ross the rapper
And we are not talking about the chubby rapper who posed as a gangster and made music with Drake, no sir.
The real Rick was one of the most prolific drug dealers in American history.
He was making $3 million a day selling cocaine to local gangs via a Nicaraguan connection all before the tender age of 23.
Rick moved metric tons of the party powder across 42 cities.
He grossed $900 million and took home a $300 million profit in 1980s dollars ($2.5 billion and $850 million in today’s money).
Life in prison
But he was caught, his connection was eventually his downfall but this is where his real story begins.
Ross was sentenced to life, under the three-strikes law after being convicted for purchasing more than 100 kilograms of cocaine from a federal agent in a sting operation.
In early life he did not get a good education, he played tennis in his younger years.
In prison he made a change, he taught himself to read.
He then taught himself to be a lawyer which is when he realized his sentence and conviction were unlawful.
Two of his convictions had been given at the same time, which went against the three-strike rule.
Since his release, he’s embraced cannabis culture and remade himself as a legal entrepreneur and political activist who organizes nationally against mass incarceration and systemic racism.
When asked in an interview; What are the perks of your new career versus your old one?
Ricky Ross Said; Cocaine is very highly addictive, and it hurt a lot of people. But marijuana helps people. Even myself; I usually do my edibles at night before I go to bed, and it gives me a good night’s sleep. Normally, I’m waking up throughout the night.
A lot of people don’t know, but when you do 20 years in prison, it’s kind of stressful, and you have these nightmares like you’re back in prison. Marijuana helps me get around those.
Now Rick is squared away with his legal pot business he goes to school and colleges around the country telling the truth about the life these rappers glamourize for fame and fortune, and he paints a real picture of what being locked up is like and how important education is.
