Multiple rappers and film projects have since appropriated Rick’s likeness to boost their own street cred, and his life story has become the source material for documentaries, films, and award-winning series. Ross recently appeared in Netflix’s new documentary, Crack: Cocaine, Corruption, and Conspiracy, which claims “the war on drugs funded policing.” Though many details of the cocaine conspiracy are still clouded by government interference and outside speculation, Webb’s reporting cemented Rick’s name as legendary to aspiring kingpins worldwide. What BET’s SMOKE: Marijuana + Black America showed us about the future of weed He grossed $900 million and took home a $300 million profit in 1980s dollars ($2.5 billion and $850 million today, respectively), but was eventually sentenced to life in prison.

To hide the astronomical revenues from his mother, he invested in real estate and creative projects like Anita Baker’s 1983 debut album, The Songstress.įederal prosecutors estimate that from 1982 to 1989, Rick moved metric tons across 42 cities, stretching between New Orleans and Seattle.

Long before weed was legal in California, cannabis activist and entrepreneur Freeway Rick Ross was one of the most profitable drug lords in American history.īy 1982, before the age of 23, Rick was a college dropout making $3 million a day selling cocaine to local gangs via a Nicaraguan connection. “Freeway” Ricky Ross is more than just an O.G. I ain’t gonna do like some of these clowns who forget about their people.”

LA’s most notorious former kingpin on launching his own brand of legal cannabis, opening a dispensary, and taking control of his legacy. Conversations with an O.G.: Freeway Rick Ross

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