Rick Ross sat down with Patrick Bet-David on the PBD Podcast and what started as a standard sit down turned into one of the more uncomfortable moments on the show in recent memory.
When Bet-David brought up Freeway Rick Ross and asked whether the real life drug kingpin had any influence on the rapper’s chosen name, Ross did not answer the question. He went on an extended rant that lasted several minutes, repeatedly called Freeway Rick a crackhead, questioned the quality of the interview, and at one point pulled out his phone mid conversation trying to find footage of Freeway Rick smoking crack to show the host in real time.
“Why would a crackhead inspire the boss Rick Ross?” he said, repeating the line multiple times throughout the exchange. “Brother, you’re lowering the standard of the interview now.”
Freeway Ricky Ross, born Richard Donnell Ross, is a former Los Angeles drug trafficker who built one of the largest crack cocaine distribution networks in the country during the 1980s. At the height of his operation he was moving tens of millions of dollars worth of cocaine through cities across the country. His story became part of the broader conversation around the crack epidemic and its devastation of Black communities nationwide.
When Ross began using the name in the early 2000s, Freeway Ricky Ross took issue with it publicly and eventually filed a lawsuit claiming the rapper had profited off his name and identity without permission. The case was dismissed in 2013 when a federal judge ruled that the rapper’s use of the name was protected as an artistic choice and that Freeway Rick had not sufficiently proven damages. The legal loss did not end the public tension between the two men.
The rapper’s response to Bet-David’s question was striking less for what it said and more for how agitated he became saying it. He questioned why Freeway Rick had been given a platform on the show at all, challenged the credibility of anything Freeway Rick claimed about his own wealth, and kept bringing up crack addiction as a way to shut down the entire line of questioning.
“Did he ever show you a home? Did he show you his car collection? Did he show you his watch collection? What the $3 million a day, where was it going to? Your listeners deserve better,” Ross said. He also referenced the lawsuit, pointing out that Freeway Rick had to acknowledge during the proceedings that he had cooperated with federal authorities. “When he sued me he had to admit the facts about him being an informant,” he said.
At one point he shifted to promote his upcoming car show and brought up his dentist by name, a move that did not land well and came across as an attempt to change the subject entirely. Bet-David spent most of the segment trying to keep the conversation moving without making things worse.
The tension between the two men goes back over a decade. Freeway Ricky Ross has given multiple interviews over the years arguing that the rapper built an entire public identity off a name that belonged to him first. In a 2019 interview with VladTV, Freeway Rick said he believed the rapper owed him recognition regardless of how the lawsuit ended. Ross has never offered any acknowledgment beyond dismissal.
Because the PBD Podcast caters to the business and entrepreneur crowd, a lot of viewers probably had zero context about who Freeway Rick even was or why this name dispute has been dragging on for over ten years. Rozay likely pulled up expecting to talk business, so getting blindsided with questions about his old nemesis completely threw him off guard and set the tone for the rest of the sit down.
Clips from the segment circulated online fast after the episode dropped. Most people focused on the fact that Ross never actually answered the original question about whether Freeway Rick had any influence on the name. He answered everything around it, but the question itself went unanswered the entire time. Freeway Ricky Ross has not responded publicly yet, but he rarely stays quiet on this topic for long.
Rick Ross GOES OFF while talking about Freeway Ricky Ross and says there was no inspiration behind his rap name:
“He’s a crackhead. What are you talking about? Why would a crackhead inspire the boss Rick Ross? He lost the lawsuit against me cause he’s a crackhead”
“Brother,… pic.twitter.com/cf7L0oI75H
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) May 27, 2026
