Exclusive: 'Freeway” Rick Ross on Taking Over Boxing & Music, Mayweather’s Missed Move, Rick Rozay’s Business and Why He Never Liked Frank Lucas

Freeway Rick Ross isn’t just reflecting on his past—he’s already waist-deep in his future.

“Absolutely! Well, I’m already in it, you know?” Ross told me when asked about his move into sports and entertainment. “I’m knee deep in entertainment. I’ve been doing music since I’ve been home. I haven’t had the success that I’ve been looking for but, I’ve definitely been doing football — I helped a couple of kids with football; boxing now… I’ve been into boxing. I have eight guys right now under contract for boxing.”

Ross isn’t putting all his bets on one corner. His music ambitions run parallel to his sports ventures. “I’m working on an album right now — We’re working with new artists; I’m not using established artists,” he shared. “I’m going after artists that’s hot in their city, so I’m gonna get about 12 different artists from different cities that’s kicking up some dust and we’re gonna put an album together.”

The sports side of the empire? It’s split cleanly.

“The boxing is under Team Freeway Boxing and the music business is Freeway Music Group,” Ross clarified.

And that Team Freeway Boxing roster? Stacked.

“My leading guys are Raleek Vaughn out of [Queens], New York. Shy Money out of [Goldsboro], North Carolina; Jason Moreno out of [Iselin], New Jersey; Xavier Washington out of Dallas, [Texas]; Chase from Detroit, Malachi Jones out of Philadelphia; Anthony Peterson — I can’t leave out Anthony Peterson,” he said. “And also you know I found Kid Austin (aka Floyd Schofield)…”

The grind is real for Ross. No contracts? No problem.

“I’m going over to Saudi Arabia next month with a kid out of Denver, Troy Nash,” he said. “Even though I didn’t get him under contract, at least his dad is appreciative.”

Ross sees the boxing space as an open lane—one he’s eager to dominate.

“It’s the only sport where you can get a franchise with no money,” he said.

So did Floyd Mayweather take advantage of that same opportunity?

“Not really. I don’t think he did enough,” Ross said. “He could’ve done a lot more and I tried to tell him, but he didn’t listen. When he was messing with me, he was messing with me more for the street clout, when he should’ve been messing with me for the way I think.”

He’s not stopping there.

“I started a YouTube page where I’m playing music videos now — I’ll be doing what I call ‘Rick Picks’ every Friday,” he said. “We’ve done a few shows for artists like little open mics and that type of stuff so you know, just street grinding and grinding my way in, man. When you ain’t got no money, that’s the way you gotta do it!”

He also spoke honestly about the man who shares his name: rapper Rick Ross, aka Ricky Rozay.

“I think that he’s a good rapper,” Freeway said. “He knows how to put music together and he’s a fair business dude from what I hear, you know? I haven’t seen him or anything but, he’s fair. But I feel like that about most of these dudes. Their business skills are fair. When I get a little more money, I’m gonna show him how to do business.”

And what exactly would he show Rozay?

“Well… I think that he can be bigger than he is and he didn’t have to be Rick Ross; he could’ve been William Roberts and still became big if he had the game.”

Ross is also still navigating the larger narrative Hollywood paints about figures like him.

“I watched the Godfather of Harlem. I haven’t watched Power. I don’t really like fiction, you know? I mean, I lived it,” he said. “It’s kind of upsetting to see how Hollywood portrays Black men on camera… They take the worst parts and amplify that.”

He’s long been working on telling his own story, his way.

“You know I’ve been working on my movie for 35 years now,” Ross admitted with a laugh. “Even from the late George Jackson — me and George Jackson were working on it and John Singleton we worked on it but, this thing goes back. But I understand this is like fine wine. You gotta take your time with it and keep grinding it until you get the shape that you’re looking for.”

When I asked if he wants a movie or series, Ross didn’t hesitate.

“I want both,” he said. “I think that we need a real Black story, you know? We really need to see how it was done.”

And if you’re wondering about Snowfall? Don’t.

“Garbage,” Ross said. “Pieces of reality but a lot of fiction… They have glimpses — you know basically, what they did with that show is that they were protecting themselves so they wouldn’t get a lawsuit.”

Ross has no filter when it comes to the past — especially regarding his former street fame and controversial reputation.

“The CIA did NOT give me dope. The Army did,” he said matter-of-factly. “So they took the money that the government gave ‘em — I think America gave them $18 Million dollars — and they took that and they invested it in drugs.”

On whether he believes the U.S. government had a hand in flooding the inner cities with drugs, Ross didn’t blink.

“Yeah I do,” he said. “They had a hand in it. They definitely had a hand in it and gave cover — somebody said that they were suplicit, so yeah absolutely.”

It was in prison where he found his true weapon: knowledge.

“I went to the library and studied every single day until I found an issue that eventually set me free.”

That study time didn’t just change his legal outcome—it reshaped his financial mindset.

“Well you know, when you start making money, money buys knowledge,” Ross said when I asked how he got into investing. “And that’s why we as Blacks have been having it so hard because we haven’t had the money to buy the knowledge that is that other people have the money to buy.”

Now? He’s on to the billions.

“How rich I’m gonna be in a few years,” Ross said, smiling. “I’m going for the billions this time! Legally. Absolutely. Legal money is better than illegal money and I didn’t know that before because I never knew anybody that had made legal money, but now I do!”

He’s been in the rooms. And they remember him.

“I’ve met a lot of ‘em though. A lot of ‘em when they get out of jail, they contact me for books and different things that they want to do,” he said.

That list includes the infamous Frank Lucas — but Ross kept it real.

“I really didn’t like Frank,” he said flatly. “Yeah, I didn’t like how he treated people.”

And when I asked if he would’ve shown up to a big Ali fight in a full-length mink like Lucas famously did?

“No I wouldn’t. Not at all! [laughs]” Ross replied. “I used to go to fights but I was more low-key and really didn’t want to be there. My girlfriend made me go.”

Even with the sport evolving, boxing is still offering surprises—like a high-profile fight lighting up Times Square.

On the Bill Haney fight and boxing now touching iconic NYC real estate?

“[smiles] Never,” Ross said when I asked if he thought boxing would ever land in Times Square. “But, Turkey’s doing it differently. And he’s coming in and changing the whole way that people look at boxing and the way they do boxing and so, it’s amazing.”

Ross added more context about his next international stop: “As a matter of fact, I’m going over to Saudi Arabia next month with a kid out of Denver, Troy Nash who had just so happened a month ago, upset the number #1 guy in the tournament and I have been working with Troy and his dad for about 3 years and his dad called me the other day and asked me if I wanted to come to Saudi Arabia with him and be ringside for the fight because he appreciated all the stuff that I did for his son — even though I didn’t get him under contract, but at least his dad is appreciative.”

And even though the street game has changed, Ross still knows how to shine.

“Do I still floss? Oh yeah. Every day!” he said. “You know when you walk around and you get that light shining on you, you know you can’t do nothing BUT floss it where everybody can see!”

As for what’s different about the game now?

“I don’t really know! The new game is marijuana,” Ross said. “So, it’s a little different but one of my favorite books, The Richest Man In Babylon by George Samuel Clason says, ‘That there’s nothing new under the sun. You can change a little bit here and a little there but at the end of the day, it’s going to be the same.”

Still, Ross has his own philosophy — rooted in forward motion.

“I don’t live in the past,” he told me. “Once I do it, it’s over with and I’m going to the next one. So I don’t live in the yesterday.”

Rick Ross’ journey from freeway kingpin to boxing front office, music exec, investor, and motivator is still evolving — just don’t expect him to slow down anytime soon.

“I stole the dope game. It wasn’t given to me, I STOLE it!” he said. “I’ma steal boxing too! Boxing is done. It’s mine already; they don’t know it yet!”