Ross, a solo artist, is the founder of
Maybach Music Group, a record label
that release albums through
Warner Bros Records. He was set to perform with
fellow Maybach artists Wale, Meek Mill and
Machine Gun Kelly in Greensboro on
Friday and Charlotte on Saturday. A quick look at the Ticketmaster page evinces
that Live Nation has canceled the shows, but a Live Nation spokeswoman did not
immediately respond to a request for comment.
Various sects of the Gangster Disciples (
GDs), a gang founded on the
South
Side of Chicago, appear in videos on YouTube, threatening Ross and asking him
for money. A nearly 10-minute
video published recently features members of the
North Carolina crew, and is titled "Rick Ross in Trouble With the GD's
North Carolina."
They claim to have already given Ross a pass "for using our honorable
chairman's name in a disorderly fashion -- a dishonest fashion." That courtesy
is over, and they know where Ross will be, mentioning Greensboro and Charlotte.
They then say when they catch him in his Maybach, his "time is through," and
that Ross should know his penalty.
Some of the conflict seems to arise out of a reference to Gangster Disciples'
leader
Larry Hoover in Ross' song "B.M.F (Blowin' Money Fast)" -- hence the
comment about "our honorable chairman."
Others have said it is not about Hoover, and the GDs also appear to be
upset that Ross has been acting like more of a gangster than he really
is. Affiliated groups, such as ones in Florida and Georgia, have made their
displeasure known on YouTube, and have demanded money.
"We need that cash now, we need that cash -- now. We need that
cash right now," one man says in a
video from a Florida sect.
"We coming to you as a man William [Ross' birth name], he adds. "As a man,
you supposed to honor your obligations. Therefore you going to do so. Until you
do, you going to deal with the mob."
While both those shows have been canceled, a Sunday show in Nashville, Tenn.,
remains on schedule.