Rapper Rick Ross was keeping a low profile Tuesday, one day after his brush with bullets on the streets of Fort Lauderdale.
Though he has yet to comment on the incident, the self-proclaimed “Boss,” did what he does best: He rapped about the incident.
“I can’t believe I’m alive,” he said, dropping a rhyme about his near-death experience into a recording by a fellow rapper, Kendrick Lamar, titled “B---- Don’t kill my Vibe.” The verse was distributed through social media by his record label late Monday, and spread quickly over the Internet. Ross, whose real name is William L. Roberts II, also posted a link to a story about the shooting on his Facebook page. His publicist did not return phone calls.
Social media sites, however, were abuzz about the incident, mostly skeptical that he was the target of an attempted assassination. Many tweeters theorized the gunfire was staged to help boost his “street cred,’’ which has been a source of contention in the rap community. The timing of the episode also raised eyebrows, coming a little more than a week before the Grammy Awards. Ross is nominated for “Best Rap Album,’’ and referred to his nomination in the verse released Monday.
Rapper 50 Cent — who knows something about street violence, having been shot nine times in a single incident — declared the shooting a hoax, saying “lol it looks staged to me. No holes in the car,’’ referring to the 37-year-old Ross as “Fat Boy.”
Ross has frequently feuded with fellow rappers. He admitted to placing Young Jeezy in a choke hold at BET’s music awards last year and had reportedly received death threats from a group called “Gangster Disciples” a Chicago street gang that felt he disrespected one of their leaders by using his name in a song without paying him. Following the threats, Ross cancelled the second leg of his 2012 tour, though he denied he pulled the plug because of the threats.
In a move that may have further antagonized the gang, at a concert in Chicago, he made producers turn off the sound system as he arrived on stage in a $40,000 black Chinchilla coat.
“I told them to cut the music off. I wanted them to just look at me for a while,” he said in a December interview with Miami’s 99 Jamz. “Look at the beard, look at the coat, look at the walk. I’m here to make money.’’
The bulky, tattoo-covered rapper, who graduated from Carol City High and attended Albany State University on a football scholarship, formerly worked as a corrections officer, leading some to ridicule him for producing urban lyrics that seem to contradict his stable upbringing and law enforcement background.
Fort Lauderdale police were reviewing video surveillance tapes of the scene Tuesday, but released no new details of the shooting, which happened early Monday on Las Olas Boulevard, near the landmark Floridian diner. Witnesses said anywhere from five to 20 shots may have been fired, but they missed Ross, his girlfriend and the Rolls Royce they were riding in — no small target. Ross crashed the Rolls into some trees, but was not injured. His girlfriend, Shateria Moragne-el, is a native of Maryland who has her own fashion line.
Miami Herald staff writer Nadege Green contributed to this story.
