Being a successful boss in both music and business takes sacrifices. Keeping a small but loyal team, putting the art first and knowing your value when it’s time to negotiate is just as important.
It’s the blueprint Rick Ross told a class of Georgia State students has made him who he is today. The Grammy-nominated rapper and businessman visited the students for a conversation with Professor Moraima “Mo” Ivory Tuesday evening at Rialto Center for the Arts for the final day of The Legal Life of Rick Ross course offered by Georgia State University’s College of Law.
For an hour, Ross sat next to Ivory on creme-colored plush furniture to share some tips on what it took to own over 30 Wingstop restaurants, his own record label, Maybach Music Group, and earn equity in the spirits company Luc Belaire.
The “Hustlin” and “Aston Martin Music” rapper, born William Leonard Roberts II, also didn’t shy away from personal problems and high-profile lawsuits including his five-year legal battle involving 50 Cent suing him for copyright infringement over his hit “In the Club” and Fayette County not wanting him to host his annual car show.
“To become amazing at anything or a boss, you will make a lot of sacrifices,” Ross told the audience of about 420 people. “The most valuable sacrifice you’ll ever make is time. You’ll miss a lot of family get-togethers with the catfish coming out of the grease. When you look at the bigger picture, it’s not just for me. It’s for my team.”
Credit: NATRICE MILLER
Credit: NATRICE MILLER
For 13 weeks, students enrolled in the Legal Life of Rick Ross course studied 15 agreements and read three books, including Ross’ two best-sellers, “Hurricanes” and “The Perfect Day to Boss Up.” Eleven guest speakers like Maybach Music Group general manager Yvette Davila, Ross’s attorneys Leron Rogers and John Rose of Fox Rothschild, his defense lawyer Steve Sadow, Grammy winner DJ Drama and Ross’s mother and sister pulled up to the class to give them a bird’s eye view of the artist and businessman.
“We have to maximize everything and everyone that’s around us,” Ross told the audience. “I do what’s best for business.”
Beginning with Ludacris in 2019, The Legal Life course uses case studies each semester to understand the legal and business negotiations behind high-profile talent. That was followed by Kandi Burruss and Steve Harvey and ends each semester with the subject of the course showing up pro bono to interact with students and share additional information about their brands.
“I always ask talent to let us dive deep into their career and make their advisors available to come as guest speakers so they can put a context around the deals they negotiate,” said Ivory, who directs GSU Law’s Entertainment, Sports and Media Law Initiative. “The artists are serving their communities, and they are willing to share what they’ve learned.”
The students asked him about how he handles fear, what he looks for in his business deals and what advice he would offer to future entertainment attorneys.
Ross was chosen to align with the celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. Ivory, a radio and media personality, was given carte blanche from then-GSU law school Dean Wendy Hensel in 2017 to create whatever she wanted with the curriculum.
Ivory, also a practicing attorney, created the curriculum because there was a demand from incoming students in the law program to have more courses themed around sports and entertainment.
“I really wanted to have a class that I would have wanted to have taken as an aspiring entertainment lawyer when I was in law school,” said Ivory, a Spelman College alumna who received her law degree from Temple University. “I had to learn everything about that specialty practice area from organizations I belong to or mentors I tried to seek out.”
Ivory’s course is now one of the flagship courses in GSU’s College of Law that keeps a waiting list.
“Students are trying to seek out classes that speak to what they want to learn about, are interested in and have a dynamic experience,” Ivory said.
Credit: NATRICE MILLER
Credit: NATRICE MILLER
Ivory said the success of the course is rooted in the celebrities usually appreciating not being asked to perform or respond to a trending topic in the news. Creating a learning environment that marries law, pop culture and student engagement inspires Ivory to continue to find public figures each term that help students move closer to becoming successful legal practitioners.
“It’s a joy to see the light bulbs go off with the students,” Ivory said. “I don’t ever want them to walk out of a classroom not feeling like they haven’t fulfilled or learned something that they’re going to hold on to for the rest of their lives.”
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