Rick Ross is looking to make a comeback with his latest album, Mastermind. However, the Miami-based rapper is facing criticism, again, due to controversial lyrics.
On the song “Black and White,” Ross uses Trayvon Martin’s name in a peculiar manner. Ross raps, “Too close to a n—a as motherf—g bomb, Trayvon Martin, I’m never missing my target, B—-h n—–s hating, tell me it’s what I’m parking.”
Twitter users exploded over the lyric.
Every time Rick Ross opens his mouth, I lose respect for him “Trayvon Martin, I’m never missing my target” as a reminder to “stay accurate”?
— ☥ △ ૐ (@scarlettsinatra) February 27, 2014
Just read the Rick Ross Trayvon Martin lyric. Ignorance at its finest. “Trayvon Martin, I’m never missing my target” — honestly?
— ru. (@InHerOwnSkin) February 27, 2014
Like listening to the song Rick Ross could have made a poignant point but instead he used Trayvon Martin’s name as a diss to haters
— El Cosby Esq… (@TheCosby) February 26, 2014
Shortly after the backlash grew on Twitter, Ross released a statement to clarify his lyrics.
“It’s so important that today, on the two-year anniversary of the death of Trayvon Martin, we never forget that tragedy,” Ross said. “I’m never going to let the world forget that name. In my song ‘Black and White’ off Mastermind I say, ‘Trayvon Martin, I’m never missing my target.’ There I’m reminding people that if you’re a black person or a person of any color for that matter in this country, you have to be accurate, whatever moves you make, stay accurate. Even when you’re walking down the street, playing music from your car, you have to stay on point.”
Black men are being killed and their killers [are] beating the trial, It hasn’t been this much violence against black men since the ’60s. I am Trayvon Martin, we’re all Trayvon Martin. He was from South Florida. That could have been me or one of my homies. So, stay alert and never miss your target. Whatever that target may be. Getting out the hood, providing for your family. Stay sharp. Stay alive. Trayvon, rest in peace.”
Ross has shared his outrage over George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the past. He even released a Trayvon Martin tribute, “I Wonder Why” in July.
But the open-ended lyric in “Black and White” allows for different interpretations.
Moreover, it’s a bad time for Ross to make another lyrical mishap considering the backlash he faced over the controversial “rape lyrics” on the song “U.O.E.N.O.”
But album sales will determine if fans were truly turned off by the remark. Ross will release Mastermind on March 4.
