The wait was well worth the anticipation of Rick Ross' eleventh studio album, Richer Than I Ever Been. Announced shortly after his Verzuz against 2 Chainz in the thick of the pandemic in 2022, the album went through numerous delays until it officially dropped in December 2021. The project is only 12-songs in length -- his shortest project since 2011's Teflon Don -- and the deluxe edition dropped earlier this month with an additional three songs.
Our recent interview with Rick Ross offers insight into the creation of the project, and the influences he drew from. The opulence, and even the title itself, stems from the time he had to explore the Promised Land during the pandemic, taking in many aspects of his sprawling Georgia home that he didn't have time to discover prior to the lockdowns.
Ross has a penchant for bringing out some amazing features for his projects, like when he got Dr. Dre and Jay-Z on "3 Kings." Throughout 2021, he hinted at potential collaborations with Lil Baby and Drake that would end up on Richer Than I Ever Been, though they weren't included in the final tracklist. Ultimately, it was a decision that was rooted in creating a cohesive, succinct body of work that fully represents the state of his career right now.
"I got records with the both of them, of course. Baby did some dope as s***," he explained. "It came down to one of those things where we wanted to keep it short, let's keep it clean, let's give it to them just like this. Drake is great, that's the homie. Baby is that homie, that's the lil' homie, and they come through, and I appreciate the way they come through for me."
Even names like Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Lil Wayne, with who he's built strong rapports over the years, didn't make an appearance on the project. "I don't feel any pressure to make that necessary, man. It just comes down to us releasing the dopest s***," he explained before reflecting on his come-up. "Me coming up in the game and collaborating with my homies is timeless. The s*** me and Drake have done is timeless. the s*** me and Jay have done, the s*** me and Wayne has done, the s*** me and Ye have done -- you know, look for it, you can most definitely expect it."
Ross remains a student of the game, even after eleven studio albums. It's why an artist like AZ, that Ross admired as a youngin', made his way onto the deluxe edition, marking their second collaboration together. "When I think of Vacheron, this is timeless, this is priceless. you can't put a number on this. You can’t put a number on what AZ brought to the game," he explained.
"I remembered when I cut [Richer Than I Ever Been] down to 64 [songs], and I was like, 'okay, out of these 64, I'm going to pick twelve,' and you got to understand that I got some of the biggest n***as in the game that I know, but it wasn't about that. Let's give 'em this," he explained. "Let's do 'The Pulitzer.' Let's take it back to the Miami n***as and let 'em know we never forget where we come from. We from the mud to the marble and we still hustlin'," he continued. "We gon' get Falcon to do the intro. The OG, the richest -- man, please. We showing you what these relationships mean. We gonna give youngsters like Yungeen Ace & Major Nine some opportunities. We gonna do this, we gonna do that. We gon' remind mother****as what a boss is. We could go and get Madonna, Kanye -- click over and call. We could do that, but we need to remind them of the fundamentals of what a boss is."
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