The boss at Def Jam might be L.A. Reid, but Rick Ross doesn't know. The patient Miami rapper, deeming himself "The Boss," waited nearly 10 years to release his debut album Port of Miami. He would wait less than two to follow up with Trilla.

In older times, Rick Ross might still be working his previous works to multi-platinum status and fifth or sixth singles. In today's cutthroat climate, Ross has to contend with Young Jeezy, T.I. and The Clipse for the crown of "dope boy rap," and a strong connection with the youth.

During a brief conversation with HipHopDX, Ross explains the challenges of a fast transition, what Michael Jackson means to him and a unique, street-embedded friendship with D-12's Bizarre. When you get to Miami, Rick Ross says he already knows you're there. Nearly 20 years after Luke's 2 Live Crew, some rap fans had no idea that Miami mattered till it knew Ross was there.

HipHopDX: What correlation do you see between your album and Michael Jackson’s Thriller?
Rick Ross: Just me wanting to be Michael Jackson when I was a kid, and me picking up that vinyl and spinnin’ those records, and single-after-single, record-after-record was just… it was a masterpiece. That inspired the title of my album, and I wanted to catch that electricity again.

DX: Musically, did you go for an updated sound as well?
RR: Most definitely. I wanted to step everything up. That’s why I reached out to R. Kelly for the first single. I got Marsha [Ambrosious] from Floetry to come in and help get the females on my team. She did a lot of work with Michael Jackson. When I was working with her, I thought about that. We laughed, we chopped it up, we just had fun. We put together some real big records. This album is going to be much better than Port of Miami and possibly the best album of the year.

DX: Those are powerful words. Although it struggled with big album sales, a lot of us consider your debut a classic, and one of the better offerings from last year. Because that was only a year and a half ago, and because it was received so warmly, what will you do to ensure that it still finds new fans?
RR: I can’t do an interview without mentioning Port of Miami. I watch a lot of artists…I released that album a year and three months ago. For this promo tour I’m doing now, I had to cancel some booked shows. I look at it as a blessing to a testament of how the streets embrace me, my music and [Port of Miami]. With Trilla, from the intro to the outro, I made sure I stepped my game up. Because there’s nothin’ like walkin’ in a packed house somewhere, thousands of miles away from where you’re from, in a city you never imagined of being in, and these people love your music. That’s why I do it.

DX: On the heels of that album, another Rick Ross album, Rise To Power, released. We’ve seen that with Snoop, with Juvenile and The Game. Did it bother you that Suave House Records was trying to capitalize off of the success that they couldn’t give you?
RR: I knew what it was. Those were songs that I did in ’97, ’98. I got my first deal in ’98, ’99 with Suave House Records. Me and [Suave House CEO] Tony Draper, we was real cool. We had a great business relationship. Him and his company fell under hard times, and that’s what it was. But when he the opportunity, he came back like a G, we chopped it up, and it was all good. He put the songs out, and he told me he was gonna be promoting it. It was just meaning so much to him, ‘cause he saw this happening years before it happened. So to see Rick Ross, with two singles, do what I did…he was still sitting on a lot of music. It’s the only project that he will release, and I was cool with that. He’s still one of my cool dudes. I wish him the best.

DX: Last year Def Jam flooded the fourth quarter with a bundle of releases. Last year, you were released into open waters. Does it bother you to be going against, so to speak, your boss Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel, Ghostface, all these people…is this crowded release schedule beneficial to you?
RR: Most definitely. You already know, it’s a competitive game. If you want to compete, you’d better be ready to compete with the best. I was fortunate enough to be on a lot of big records and stay hot. The anticipation is there. Everywhere I go, I rock. I feel real good about all the releases that’s coming. I’m fans of Beanie Sigel and Freeway and Jay-Z. So hopefully all the consumers that’s like myself, who can’t wait for all these artists, it is what it is.

DX: You and Freeway both took your names from a similar place. Will we ever see a collaboration?
RR: Oh yeah! We just filmed a video last week for his album, “Lights Get Low.” That’s Freeway featuring Rick Ross. Then me and Free did a record for my album entitled “Mecca of the Trill.” Most definitely we’re collaborating. I’m a fan of his. We’re real Gs, and real Gs do real things. Continued on page 2 »