Rick Ross hails from Miami, but make no mistake about, the Bawse runs New York City.
MUSIC: Rick Ross Featuring Wale & Stalley “Another Round (REMIX)”
Ross proved so last night when he and his Maybach Music family — Wale and Meek Mill— shut down the Hammerstein Ballroom.
There were no opening acts. This was a MMG show from start to finish, and Wale was first up to bat. The DMV rapper came out diddy-bopping to the thundering Self Made Vol. 1 banger “600 Benz.”
He transitioned from that song to some of his Ambition highlights, including “Legendary” and “Chain Music.” However, the loudest ovation came when he performed the song that put him on to the masses: 2008’s “Nike Boots.”
Rick Ross Featuring Wale & Stalley “Another Round (REMIX)”
MMG’s second in command, Meek Mill, was next and he came out to his own Self Made anthem, “Tupac Back.” Even though Meek’s set was a little on the short side, the Philly-native left his mark by performing underground street records like “Body Count” and “Tony Story,” which were off of his excellent Dreamchasers mixtape.
Meek already had a great set going, but sh*t got real when those bouncing horns from “Ima Boss” came on.
After Meek did his first verse and the hook, the man of the night, Ross, came out to do his stellar verse. The place erupted. It literally felt like the ground was about to give.
From then on, the crowd was all Ross’.
What made this show extra-dope compared to previous Ross shows was that he performed a multitude of new songs from his incredible Rich Forever mixtape. He did the title track (minus John Legend), “Holy Ghost,” “MMG Untouchable,” “Yella Diamonds,” “Party Heart” and “F*ck Him.”
And even though the mixtape only dropped in January, the audience knew most of the songs by heart.
The highlight of the night came when Ross brought out a very un-sober looking French Montana to perform the hottest song in the streets, the Nas-inspired “Stay Schemin.”
If there were any disappointments, it was the fact that Ross didn’t do “Triple Beam Dreams” which is a very New York record and which gets a ton of burn on New York’s Hot 97. Also, at times, the sound seemed muffled, and the show seem to have a anti-climatic closing, with Ross kind of just ending the show (this came after they announced Rihanna was on stage — and she never came out.)
Still, those are minor discrepancies and no one seemed to be complaining much as they cleared out.
It kind of goes like that when you’re running the city.
