Becoming the Bawse: Eight-Part History of Rick Ross, From Street Rapper to Maybach Mogul

Trick Loved the Kid
If you were a hungry MC in Miami during the late 1990s and early-to-middle 2000s, signing with Slip-n-Slide Records meant you'd made it. Trick Daddy had become one of the best-selling thugs in hip-hop, and Trina was "Da Baddest Bitch."

Soon, Rick Ross started popping up on Trick and Trina's mixtapes, and often performed alongside them at concerts. Homie built a solid fan base, and when he finally dropped his debut, Port of Miami, on Slip-and-Slide in 2006, it debuted atop the Billboard 200, selling nearly 200,000 copies its first week.

On "Hustlin'," Ross rapped about the dope game and bragged about alleged relationships with infamous drug dealers and even a former Central American dictator. "I cut 'em wide, I cut 'em long, I cut 'em fat ... I know Pablo, Noriega/ The real Noriega, he owe me a hundred favors."

A few years later, however, Ross's past as a corrections officer was revealed. Trick Daddy felt cheated and the relationship between Ross and Slip-and-Slide began deteriorating.