Everyone Who Was At The Davis-Garcia Fight This Weekend

First off: big congrats to Gervonta “Tank” Davis, who shook his opponent to the point of temporary blindness. Second: it’s amazing to see how everyone came out to D.C.’s Capital One Arena to make the event as important as it was, and it’s hopeful that there will be more to come in the future. Just don’t give Meek Mill any drinks.

Anyway, check out who was in the building below.

Shy Glizzy

Meek Mill, Wallo, and Gillie Da Kid

Lil Baby

Stephen Jackson

Young E Class & Kacey Williams of Black Alley

Kingpen Slim

D.C. Councilmembers Trayon White and Janeese Lewis George

Freeway Rick Ross

Curtis “Curtbone” Chambers

Journalist/Host Britt Waters

DJ Flexx

Ronald Moten (and — by way of his post — Brent Faiyaz)

Young Moose

OTR Chaz and Roddy Rackzz

Sauce of BYB

Rui Hachimura, Kyle Kuzma, Boosie Badazz, Pusha T, Bradley Beal, Red Grant, Fat Trel, Young Moe, and more

Credit: https://www.instagram.com/cassyathenaphoto/

Freeway Ricky Ross Issues Statement Following Court Ruling Over Name

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So, a judge has ruled that Freeway Ricky Ross cannot stop Rick Ross (the rapper, William Roberts) from using said alias for performance purposes. Probably not the best day ever for the former drug kingpin.

Today, he has released a statement on the matter, and it gets pretty deep:

I respect Hip Hop as an art form and consider many of its artists some of my close friends. But I believe the art form owes an obligation of authenticity. You cannot go out and say you sold cocaine at Kilo to Metric ton scale and be so detached from the experience. If you do, you have an obligation to the youth to tell them the truth and not lie about the facts of your circumstance to try to further validate the mistruth.

There is a teachable moment about the state of our community when a man who has a respectable job as a correctional officer, has to recreate himself in my former image as a large-scale kingpin to gain what he feels is social acceptance as a successful man. I along with many others would have given it all up for stability and opportunity, when Reagan came into office with Trickle down gutting assistance programs, and privatization of public sector jobs ripped through our cities it strip-mined those types of stable jobs in a very short period from Black America.

I will continue to go around the country and speak at schools, speaking to the need for the youth to avoid getting caught up in the dope game. Also I will be going city to city giving artists that don’t get looks by labels Mixtape exposure. I look forward to the release of my autobiographical book due out in February, and film in development to help tell the truth about how Black American Cities developed and turned to drugs, the dope game and its consequences.

(The Rapper) Rick Ross Scores A Win Over ‘Freeway’ Rick Ross In Court

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Spotted on the Hollywood Reporter:

With a First Amendment bullet, hip-hop superstar Rick Ross has shot down a lawsuit from a former drug kingpin who ruled Los Angeles during the 1980s.

That drug kingpin was “Freeway” Ricky Ross, who once sold as much as $3 million worth of cocaine a day, had ties with the Nicaraguan Contras and became the object of scorn for many prominent politicians during the Iran-Contra political scandal. He served 13 years in prison, and before he was released in 2009, came across a magazine article about “up-and-coming” rappers including William Roberts II, whose stage name was Rick Ross.

Now released, and by many accounts a model citizen these days, “Freeway” Ross has been pursuing Roberts in court for appropriating his name and likeness. Other defendants in a $10 million lawsuit included Warner Bros. Records, Universal Music and Jay Z as those who allegedly helped the hip-hop star hit it big with a stolen identity.

At the trial court, though, “Freeway” Ross struggled with a technical issue.

The plaintiff had known about the rapper since at least 2006, but didn’t file his lawsuit until 2010. As such, his claims were deemed by a judge to be untimely.

On appeal, “Freeway” Ross challenged whether the rapper’s work with a new label should be considered as part of the same “single publication” as his earlier work or whether it should be considered a “republication” that entitled him to more time to bring claims. As Ross himself put it to The Hollywood Reporter, “This is classic republication as to all defendants, there was consistently new music, management decisions and product made. The statute of limitations was never meant to be used to hide defendants actively infringing with new decisions and campaigns.”

Last week, a California appeals court issued its ruling and decided to open things up beyond “Freeway” Ross’ challenge. Judge Roger Boren says he is “not convinced” that the trial court was correct in its rulings, but nevertheless affirms the dismissal on First Amendment grounds.

In the dispute, there was some evidence to suggest that Rick Ross had Ricky Ross in mind when creating his persona. For example, the defendant said that the plaintiff’s life story “grabbed him.” (On the other hand, the rapper said his performing name was based on his high school football nickname of “big boss.”)

The judge decides to view Rick Ross v. William Leonard Roberts through the frame of other cases that have balanced a celebrity’s right to control commercial exploitation of his or her likeness against another individual’s right to free expression. In one famous case involving an artist who sold lithographs and T-shirts bearing the faces of the Three Stooges, the test became whether the use of celebrity likeness is one of the “raw materials” from which an original work is synthesized, or whether the depiction or imitation of the celebrity is the very sum and substance of the work in question. Here, the judge applies the test beyond visual expression.

“We recognize that Roberts’ work—his music and persona as a rap musician—relies to some extent on plaintiff’s name and persona,” writes Judge Boren. “Roberts chose to use the name ‘Rick Ross.’ He raps about trafficking in cocaine and brags about his wealth. These were ‘raw materials’ from which Roberts’ music career was synthesized. But these are not the ‘very sum and substance’ of Roberts’ work.”

Ultimately, Judge Boren finds that the hip-hop star’s persona is entitled to protection as expressive speech because it’s transformative.

“Roberts created a celebrity identity, using the name Rick Ross, of a cocaine kingpin turned rapper,” says the ruling. “He was not simply an impostor seeking to profit solely off the name and reputation of Rick Ross. Rather, he made music out of fictional tales of dealing drugs and other exploits—some of which related to plaintiff. Using the name and certain details of an infamous criminal’s life as basic elements, he created original artistic works.”

‘Freeway’ Ricky Ross Speaks On Rick Ross Shooting

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In what really sounds like nothing more than pure promo, the legendary ‘Freeway’ Ricky Ross spoke on the recent happenings regarding the rapper using his namesake:

“I’m not surprised that it happened given recent ongoings, when someone doesn’t understand the street rules they get confused and incidents like this can take place,” he said. “I’m still dealing with ongoing litigation about something as basic as using my name and identity, that should have been dealt with properly a long time ago. No ill will is wished upon anyone, but when you tell these stories about the streets you have to be careful. We covered it in more depth in the Power of the Name Rick Ross piece.”