Listen, I like Ross but this is the textbook definition of shooting yourself in the foot. I get it, attacking Drake's authenticity and credibility is extremely tempting, very low hanging fruit. It plays well with that very vocal audience of rabid Drake anti-stans that will slavishly support anyone that preaches to their ever performing choir. Ross, however, is the absolute worst to take a grab for that low hanging fruit for a number of reasons.
First of all he collaborated with, associated with and was friends (or at least friendly) with someone who he felt was an inauthentic gimmick that did not belong for 15 years. Now of course Rick Ross thinks he himself is authentic (
) and belongs and thus has credibility. But shouldn't he realize that co-signing someone you feel in your heart is a fraud, even if it's all for "pretend," giving that fraud unearned credibility? But I get it, sometimes business must be done and we all know Ross is willing to run the long con if it's what best for business.
So what did Ross do when Meek Mill, his own labelmate and artist, crashed out during a pill induced Twitter rant questioning Drake's authenticity? You'd think he would now have not only the moral impetus, but if nothing else some form of monetary motivation to stand beside, once again his own labelmate and artist, to voice his own concerns about Drake. But Meek was losing the optics war and getting destroyed on social media and I'm sure Rick Ross didn't want to jump into a losing battle with accusations of gimmicks and inauthenticity giving his "history." So instead he praised Drake while giving Meek the most tepid of support from the sidelines, watching him do major damage to his career, waiting for the smoke to clear so that he could resume making music and publicly associating with Drake again (but don't worry, he'd just be pretending).
And speaking of pretend let's talk about gimmicks. Rick Ross's entire career is a gimmick. This man has been cosplaying a drug kingpin for nearly two decades and not even as himself. He took the name of a real drug dealer and battled that man in court over his own name because of the story and legacy attached to it. So weak did he feel his own actually lived story was that he lied about a nine month stint as a CO at the age of 19. So ashamed he was of his own life story that he felt something so inconsequential could bring down his whole career and he had to lie, repeatedly, about it; going as far as to say the picture of him as a CO was photoshopped (prehistoric AI excuse lol). He did finally admit that it was really him but instead of saying he lied, he implied he was indeed a CO but as part of a much more sinister plot only an upcoming drug kingpin would understand.
And see, that's part of the charm, the gimmick. Rick Ross is a gregarious former drug kingpin turned actual business mogul who is motivational, jolly, and sometimes a bit quirky. And people like that, but it is indeed a gimmick. And if we are going by the mythical old rules of hip hop which are always so important (until they aren't), Ross should have been shown the door as soon as he lied about not being the man skinning and grinning taking that CO training completion certificate from that white woman. Yet, here he is today. So if anyone has benefitted from gimmicks and the lack of consequences surrounding inauthenticity as much as Drake has, that would definitely be Rick Ross.
All in all, what is Ross even trying to say with this diss? That he used this "white boy" for hits? Fair enough I suppose. But you pretended to be friends with someone you didn't like for 15 years, threw your own artist, and I assume real friend, under the bus for a few hits? Where's your integrity? You don't seem trustworthy. You hear that Metro and Future? Besides, that didn't seem like a man using someone for hits, that sounds like a man NEEDING someone for hits. This is a narrative Drake has been harping on for some time; his peers don't really like him but need him for the sake of their own careers so they pretend to fukk with him like females do with some of their friends.
So even while dissing Drake he supplies him with credibility while opening himself up for easy responses given his own history of being a gimmick that never breaks kayfabe and being a fraud. And the best thing to come out of this was, "white boy?" Was that even worth it?
He should have let Kendrick do the work and got his kicks in while Drake was on the ground.