Rick Ross

RICK ROSS’ PORT OF MIAMI DEBUTS AT #1 !

SLIP N’ SLIDE/DEF JAM ALBUM ENTERS ON TOP WITH 187,000 SALES

Album success pushed on street by “Hustlin’” – first pre-album platinum mastertone

Underscoring his dominance of the Rap and hip-hop sales charts this summer, Slip N’ Slide/Def Jam recording artist Rick Ross (a “hip-hop heavyweight,” declares the New York Times) enters the Billboard 200 albums chart at #1 with his first studio album PORT OF MIAMI, on impressive first week sales of 187,000 units.

“Minimal, menacing rhymes…with synth-soaked ring-tone-ready beats that are hotter than the ‘MI-Yayo’ in the summertime,” raved Rolling Stone of PORT OF MIAMI, which is propelled by Rick Ross’ street anthem “Hustlin’,” this year’s most talked-about and sought-after hip-hop track. In an unprecedented achievement, Def Jam announced last month that “Hustlin’” had become the first mastertone to ever sell one million units before the associated album was released.

“Every day, I’m hustlin’,” drawls Rick Ross in the autobiographic – in fact, blazingly graphic – single that bulleted inside the Top 20 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Sales chart, and peaked at #13 on both the Hip-Hop/Rap Airplay and R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts during its six-month run. On deck as the second single from PORT OF MIAMI is “Push It,” whose 1990 movie soundtrack excerpts from Giorgio Moroder’s “Scarface (Push It To The Limit)” evoke the gritty soul of Miami, a city that is always on the edge of exploding.

Rick “taps into the pulse of the streets with his hardcore tales of a drug dealer’s life on the grind,” said USA Today in its 3 star-review of PORT OF MIAMI. “With the help of muscular production…Ross colorfully chronicles his lifestyle with swaggering menace.” New York’s Village Voice greeted the album as “Summer-Movie Escapism… the beats on this album really are magnificent. Cool & Dre, the Runners, DJ Toomp, and even Jazze Pha have come up with some seriously epic burners, all swooping synths and enormous drums.”

The review points the way to the small army of A-list collaborators and producers that Rick recruited for his first major label album. In addition to JAY-Z and Young Jeezy on “Hustlin’ Remix,” highlights of the album include “Blow” and “Boss” both featuring Dre (and both produced by Cool & Dre); “Cross That Line” featuring Akon (who co-wrote and produced the track); “For Da Low” produced and co-written by Jazze Pha; “Get Away” featuring Mario Winans (who co-wrote and produced the track); “Hit U From The Back” featuring Rodney (produced by the Runners); “Pots and Pans” featuring J Rock aka Jean “J Rock” Borges (who co-wrote and produced the track); “It’s My Time” featuring Lyfe Jennings (produced by the Runners, who also produced “Where My Money”); “Street Life” featuring Lloyd (produced by Big Reese, with more Scarface interpolations of “Tony’s Theme”); “It Ain’t A Problem” featuring Carol City Cartel (produced by J. Venom); and “I’m A G” featuring Lil Wayne and Brisco (pro duced by Miami’s DJ Khaled Beat Novacane).

From ruling the underground rap scene in Miami, to generating an all-out bidding war between the most powerful labels in the game, to becoming the most buzz-worthy new rapper of 2006 – six-foot-two, 300-pound Rick Ross has finally come into the spotlight on Trick Daddy’s Miami-based Slip N’ Slide records, where Ross was signed five years ago. “The number one ghostwriter in the South,” as he has described his work behind the scenes, now comes into his own with the success of PORT OF MIAMI.

“I’m bridging the gap between the South and the East Coast,” he told Rolling Stone. “The sound is real Dirty South. But I’m spittin’ hard, to where the East Coast appreciates it. PORT OF MIAMI,” he summed up, “It’s gonna be a classic.”