I have been addicted to Rick Ross’s “Lay Back” for over a week now – I just cannot stop listening to it – and I’ve posted it for you here to listen to yourself – you tell me I’m out there or if its a bangin’ track::

Best line by far: “Number 1 at whatever, I get buddles of cheddar, ditch that black cloud, you deserve wonderful weather.”
The walking dichotomy of Rick Ross, a pseudo-gangster, maybe real gangster, and his feud with Fiddy has sent him to the top of the charts and made him stand out from the rest of the rap landscape. I usually only skim the surface of what is going on in the rap world, paying attention to the most famous / popular (unless you happen to be affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan) and Rick Ross has done that here by elevating himself to a level that even I am paying attention. Not bad for a media savvy former corrections officer. Too bad for his persona though that Freeway Ricky Ross, his inspiration, has denounced him for his law ties.
One of my favorite aspects of his site is that his album drop countdown clock is totally off by one month on his MySpace page– the album has been released yet it says that is coming out over two weeks from now:

Last but not least, of course I learned about Rick Ross from the most hip of places – no, not Vibe or The Source but the Grey Lady. Yup, that is right – the N Y f’ing T baby. Believe it or not, they provide some good rap info in the Sunday Arts and Leisure section. Keep in mind that the NYT is the same place that a few years ago I learned about Ghostface Killah dropping a new album.