Rich Is Gangsta

Album: Mastermind (2014)
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Songfacts®:

  • The song title is a quote that Ross used in his explanation of why he canceled the 2012 Maybach Music Group tour. He said:

    "And to me, Rich Is Gangsta. Loyal is gangsta. You understand?
    Family is gangsta. If that's not gangsta, I don't wanna be gangsta.
    I'm a BOSS."
  • The song was produced by Black Metaphor, who also made The Game's Jesus Piece cut "Ali Bombaye," a track Ross was featured on.
  • The song finds Ross rapping about his controversial stint as a prison guard and his motivation of becoming one.

    "Feds tore apart the squad, nigga
    That's why I had to play the part, nigga
    That wasn't me, it was a job, nigga
    It gets deeper, that was just a start, nigga."

    "That particular line most definitely referred to me being a C.O.," Ross explained to RapFix Live host Sway Calloway. "And that being a job and just understanding the grind and the hustle and anything else I may have done. It's just a job, it's a hustle."
  • Ross told us that his pal, Jabbar, got hit with a 25-year prison sentence on his God Forgives, I Don't track "Pirates." Two years later, Rozay is celebrating his friend's release on this song when he shouts out, "Fresh up out the Fed system, welcome home Jabbar."
  • Black Metaphor's beat utilizes a sample from Scottish R&B act Average White Band's 1976 tune, "Soul Searching."

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