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Rick Ross's forthcoming debut, Port of Miami, may be the summer's biggest rap record, but Ross has made sure fans will have plenty of other opportunities to hear his brawny, hypnotic flows. In the past year, he has added to the string of mixtapes he began selling on the streets of Miami in the late Nineties, and he has recorded with several other big-time MCs. Here's a roundup of some of Ross' recent output.
Hustla Music Sounding alternately undercooked and mesmerizing, this mixtape plays like a lesser version of Ross' debut, Port of Miami. Most of Hustla Music's forty tracks set Ross' laid-back rhymes about drugs, guns and cars over well-known beats and grimy Dirty South grooves that don't pack the same slow-rolling power as Port of Miami's production. Assembled by up-and-coming Miami producer DJ Kronik, the album features tracks that'll show up elsewhere: "Chevy Ridin' High," a menacing banger thick with ominous synths, will be on Cool and Dre's upcoming album, and "I'm Bad," an uptempo cut full of scratch guitar and horn blasts, will appear on Port of Miami. But much of the time, Ross drops merely decent freestyles over beats made famous by other A-list rappers, including Notorious B.I.G.'s "Who Shot Ya," the Game's "Dreamz" and Kanye West's "Drive Slow." Here's a typically tossed-off rhyme, from "Trap or Die": "I'm buck-wild, baby, you lookin' at a star/She love the car, fascinated with the Onstar/I'm in another state, eatin' off another plate/I'm a heavy-hitter, pimp, I'm heavyweight."
M.I. Yayo Assembled by DJ Khaled -- the Miami radio DJ and producer who has worked with Young Jeezy, Fat Joe, the Game and Lil Wayne -- this twenty-three-cut mixtape reprises several freestyles and cuts from other mixtapes (including "I'm Bad" and "Chevy Ridin' High"). But it also features a wider array of beats and more vibrant, less-tossed off rhymes. Cuts like the funked-out "Dear Lord" and "Holla at Me Baby," a club-shaker that samples Afrika Bambaataa's "Looking for the Perfect Beat," are hooky, upbeat and irresistible, and on the soul-drenched "Doing My Job" Ross pledges thug-love to his woman: "Them other 'hos are nothing to lose sleep about/Your pink thong, pull it to the side and eat you out."
The Chief of Miami Splitting the difference between Hustla Music and M.I.Yayo, The Chief of Miami mixes Dirty South bangers ("I Love My Niggas," "Blowin'") and funkier, more expansive cuts ("Jack Move," "Thugs Need Love Too"). Highlights include "God Bless the Dead," on which Ross tells a vivid tale of a drug deal gone horribly wrong and the sex-crazed ballad "Fuck With Your Shoes On," on which Ross spits uncharacteristically speedy flows about needing to get laid alongside equally horny rhymes from fellow Miami MC Trina.
Ross can also be heard on the remix of Young Jock's "It's Goin' Down," on "Some Real Shit," the first single from Daz's new album, and the remix of LeToya Luckett's R&B hit "Torn." He'll also be featured on an as-yet-untitled, Timbaland-produced cut from Snoop Dogg's new album, and on new albums by Too Short and Lil Wayne and Baby. Ross is in negotiations with P. Diddy to become the newest member of the Bad Boy Records rap-group Boyz N Da Hood, and his Miami clique, the Carol City Cartel, is planning a debut album. Ross also has loose plans to collaborate with some of his favorite MCs -- either on one of his albums or one of theirs.
"I'm going to reach out to who I wanna reach out to," Ross says. "I just talked to Beanie Sigel. I'm pretty sure me and him are gonna do some shit. I'm a fan of Project Pat, Three 6 Mafia, and Scarface. E-40 -- that's a good homie of mine. I got nothing but love for Busta Rhymes. Those are some of the cats I want to work with in the future."