“Look at it,” Rick Ross says,
arms outstretched, head tilted, basking in the brilliant Florida sun. “This is Miami. Beautiful. It’s most definitely for me.” Dressed in a blue Balenciaga tracksuit and New Balance sneakers, his wrist adorned with a rose-gold Rolex “Presidential” Day-Date, Ross has just pulled up to his property on Star Island, the exclusive Miami Beach enclave where Jennifer Lopez, Gloria Estefan, and pharmaceutical billionaire Phillip Frost are among past and present residents. The 47-year-old rapper, entrepreneur, and selfproclaimed “biggest boss” is in a buoyant mood—smiling, shaking everyone’s hand, offering puffs of his blunt, and pouring from the bottle of Luc Belaire rosé he keeps near him at all times. (As a nod to his wine of choice, Ross also goes by “Rozay.”) Because the house Ross spent a reported $35 million on is being prepped for demolition—he wants an upgrade—we’re in the backyard, next to the pool that overlooks Biscayne Bay. The vision of this life of grandeur, Ross says, first came into focus when he was growing up about 20 miles away in Carol City.
“When you seen that Jaguar and you’re stepping out of your Buick,” he says, “you understood what luxury was right then. And we loved my dad’s Buick, but I understood [luxury] early and I was attracted to it early. By the time I was in third grade, I knew I wanted to be riding in leather seats. We pulled it off.” Indeed.
Ross has long been a voracious consumer of the finer things, having amassed enviable collectionssomeone else’s style) is not how the biggest boss rolls. Shortly after taking delivery of the aircraft, he handed it over to private-jet design specialists Duncan Aviation to give it the full Rick Ross treatment, outside and in. Now more than ever, he fully embodies the lifestyle he has always rapped about.
