Wale Unlocks Rick Ross' C.O. Image, "I Don't Care What Anybody Say"

Maybach Music Group's Wale recently talked about his admiration toward label boss Rick Ross or why haters need to find a better critique than him previously working as a correctional officers prior to launching a rap career.

Along with defending Ricky Rozay's image, Wale described the Boss as a certified musicial pro.

"That dude is a genius," Wale said, referring to Ross. "I don't care what anybody say. That's my brother. He's a genius. I've seen him work from the business side, I've seen him work on the street side. People don't know Ross, man. They think, 'Oh, C.O.' I know C.O.s, dog. The dude's gettin' the money doing that other thing. I know that! We come from that. I'm not by any means a trap dude, but I know that. My best friend doin' six, got six left to do...That's what the most important thing is: Someone that you can look them in the eye and say, 'I put my heart and soul into this album. I want you to put it out-- as is.' I never had that luxury. With my previous situation, people wanted the luxury to say, 'But you didn't do this, but you didn't do that.' ... They tell me 10 things, and I do nine of them, and when their plan didn't work, they blame it on the one thing I didn't do." (BET)

Recently, West Coast hip-hop newcomer Kreayshawn took a shot at Ross' street cred.

"I'm about to grab a knife, you tryin' to play me like a boss/But you faker than Rick Ross/I'll f*cking cut your d*ck off/Like Lorena Bobbit/Yeah, I'm Kreayshawn, and you can't stop it." ("Cosmic Kev")

Last April, rapper Shyne aired out Ross for his past ties.

"The difference between me and everybody else, I was talking to Fat Joe the other day when he was like, 'Yo, it's entertainment,' and I was like, 'That's the difference between me and a former correction officer or any of these other dudes.' It's not entertainment for me. You dig? Whatever I give you, is me...[I'm definitely talking about] Rick Ross. Absolutely. He's the only officer I know that's a rapper. I don't know anybody else that used to be a cop that raps...Hip-Hop comes from the gutter, it's from the struggle, from the dudes that's in prison so for a dude that used to lock dudes in, for the dude that used to be like, 'Yo, on the wake up! You got a visit,' for that dude to turn into the biggest gangsta rapper is like shocking to me. I don't even understand that. That makes no sense to me..." (Superstar Radio)

Despite the hype surrounding his image, Mobb Deep's Prodigy recently defended Ross.

"Rick Ross is just one rapper out of many that we've been reaching out to," P added. "Number one, aight, he a correction officer. Aight, so what? I know a lot of cops, I know a lot of corrections officers. I know some people that's on the other side of the criminal sh*t -- and just because you got that job or whatever, whatever, that doesn't necessarily mean that you a part of the people that's trying to target us and f*ck with us. Not all of the law enforcement gets down like that. It's a select few of them that do...That doesn't bother me that he was a corrections officer. Like, so what?" (This Is 50)