Free Enterprise

Album: Black Market (2015)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song acts as the intro to Black Market. It sets the stage for some self-reflection as Rick Ross raps about how he feels his image is perceived.
  • Ross wrote the rhymes in the summer of 2015 when he was incarcerated for kidnapping and assault charges. "I recorded it the first day I came home," The Bawse told Billboard magazine. "I wanted the album to feel like you're walking into a room and just completely open your mind to all the possibilities. Everything is a go, so I made the title 'Free Enterprise.' It costs you nothing to dream as big as you can. My feet are on the ground and I just wanted to take you through my timeline. It most definitely (set the tone) and I recorded it the way it played out in my mind."
  • The song features John Legend. Previous tunes on which the pair worked together include Ross' own "Magnificent" and "Rich Forever" plus Meek Mill's "Maybach Curtains." "John Legend is brilliant," said Ross. "I feel he may be my best collaborator when it comes to delivering that undeniable soulful sound, and he does it in such a classy way."
  • The song features a controversial lyric about assassinating Donald Trump:

    Assassinate Trump like I'm Zimmerman
    Now accept these words as they came from Eminem


    Walmart reportedly removed the Black Market album from its inventory after a writer named Mark Dice contacted the company about the lines.

    Ross claims the line is simply a metaphor, and refers to "lyrical assassination" (in case he's ever in a rap battle with The Donald).

    "That's me being a poet, putting words together in my art form, with no violence in my heart at all," Ross told Rolling Stone. He added that his cameraman used to caddy for Trump, and he says Trump is "cool as f--k."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Gary Lewis

Gary LewisSongwriter Interviews

Gary Lewis and the Playboys had seven Top 10 hits despite competition from The Beatles. Gary talks about the hits, his famous father, and getting drafted.

Joe Ely

Joe ElySongwriter Interviews

The renown Texas songwriter has been at it for 40 years, with tales to tell about The Flatlanders and The Clash - that's Joe's Tex-Mex on "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"

16 Songs With a Heartbeat

16 Songs With a HeartbeatSong Writing

We've heard of artists putting their hearts into their music, but some take it literally.

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Creedence Clearwater RevivalFact or Fiction

Is "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" about Vietnam? Was John Fogerty really born on a Bayou? It's the CCR edition of Fact or Fiction.

Country Song Titles

Country Song TitlesFact or Fiction

Country songs with titles so bizarre they can't possibly be real... or can they?

Cy Curnin of The Fixx

Cy Curnin of The FixxSongwriter Interviews

The man who brought us "Red Skies" and "Saved By Zero" is now an organic farmer in France.