Why Rick Ross quit the force

Last night, I got a chance to check out part two of CNN's Black in America. Today at XXL, I did a post on five things I learned from watching it.

One of the things that struck me about CNN's Black in America was that, with a lot of these guys who fell into a life of crime, and thus, without fail, ended up tangled up in the prison-industrial complex, it's not like they didn't have any choice but to sell drugs or rob banks or whatever.

A lot of these guys had steady employment and gave it up, because they felt they couldn't make enough working a regular 9 to 5 to fund whatever lifestyle it was they aspired to.

I wish CNN would have delved a bit deeper into these guys financial situations, just to get an idea of the forces that led them to do what they did. Was it materialism that caused these guys to opt for a life of crime, or were they really struggling to put food on their families? I know these days, it's hard to get by even on $40,000 a year, but I thought it didn't used to be like that. Maybe it was always like that if you were black.

There's an obvious correlation to be drawn to the situation Rick Ross is in, where he built his career on being this drug kingpin, and now it's been revealed that, for a year and a half, back when he was 19, he was making $22,000 a year working as a motherfucking prison guard.

When I wrote about Rick Ross for XXL the other day, one of things I noted was that $22,000 didn't strike me as being that bad of a salary for a 19 year-old black dude in 1995. He could probably afford to move out of his mother's basement, and cop all the new Air Jordans. And you know how it works in the ghetto. Girls will have sex with you, if they're impressed enough with your tennis shoes.

I wonder if Rick Ross found himself in the same position as a lot of these guys on the CNN special. Maybe he worked as a prison guard for a year or so, but then it occurred to him that, with what he was making, he was never gonna be able to afford any fancy cars or bling bling. Air Jordans are one thing, but you can only bang so many morbidly obese, neck-rolling welfare mother types before it begins to lose its appeal.

So he was just like, "Fuck it, I'm gonna have to start selling drugs."

I'd be willing to bet that's what happened, for a few reasons:

1) If you notice, Rick Ross seems to have a pretty hardcore thing for material bullshit, for being a guy. It's obviously not just about attracting women with him.

2) But obviously the material bullshit helped. A lot of broke black dudes get by on that po pimpin' shit (I'm so jealous). That obviously wasn't about to happen for Rick Ross.

3) You never hear Rick Ross whining about the pain of growing up in the ghetto, like Jay-Z does. Rick Ross didn't deal drugs to escape the ghetto. He was escaping the middle class.

Which is not to say that I necessarily blame Rick Ross for falling into the trap he fell into, assuming that's what happened to him. Lord knows I know what it's like to not have what it takes. And this ain't 1995 anymore. These days, the only way a nigga making $22,000 is getting some Air Jordans is if he puts 'em on credit. Which is not all that different from resorting to drug-dealing, if you think about it. The main difference being, if you get caught up in credit, they let you do your time on the outside.