So Rick Ross is being forced to cancel concerts in the face of
threats by Gangster Disciples members who are upset that the
rapper has invoked the name of a gang founder in one of his songs.
In YouTube videos, gang members warn Ross, 36, that he will end up in a hearse unless he pays tribute for using Larry Hoover’s name in “B.M.F. (Blowing Money Fast).” Hoover, serving life in federal prison, co-founded the Gangster Disciples in Chicago in the late-1960s.
The gang, which has grown to include chapters nationwide, has also accused Ross of coopting its Star of David logo on the cover of his new mixtape “The Black Bar Mitzvah.”
Another gang leader, Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory of the Black Mafia Family, is also mentioned in the song, which shares an acronym--“BMF”--with the Ross song itself. Like Hoover, Flenory is a federal inmate (though he has a release date in 2032).
Ross, of course, has a working familiarity with the penal system, having served previously as a corrections officer in Florida. The rapper (real name: William Leonard Roberts) initially denied working as a screw, but eventually fessed up when TSG published documents from his Department of Corrections personnel file.
Those records showed that Ross swore a
loyalty oath upon getting
hired and
agreed to “shoot an inmate attempting to escape.” His perfect attendance record earned him a nifty
“Certificate of Appreciation” from corrections officials. In his 1997
resignation letter (submitted 18 months after his hiring), Ross thanked his superiors for “your interest in my career and for the experience I’ve gained through my employment.”
Ross--who has an encyclopedic knowledge of hoodlums of every stripe--copped his handle from notorious L.A. drug kingpin “Freeway” Ricky Ross, who earlier this year lost a lawsuit brought againt the performer for boosting his name and identity.
