With all the recent news about Rick Ross used to be a prison guard, MTV News asked a few MCs if this created a rift between Ross and his fans that can't be patched up?
"I think real n---as won't think so," the Clipse's Malice said when asked if this episode will hurt Ross' credibility. "That don't mean what he's talking about [in his rhymes] ain't true. The thing I wish is he came clean, if in fact that is him [in the photos]. 'Cause you ain't gotta make no excuses for whatever you did. You might have thought differently at one point in time. I don't think that should discredit that man."
"I'm not even going to go that far into it," said Mal's brother, Pusha T. "I don't know what it's gonna do to him, what it can or what it should do to him. I know the hip-hop community has given passes for much [worse]."
Fabolous also weighed in:
"I don't know if it will really hurt him," Fab said. "As an artist, I think Rick Ross makes great music. He's always shown me love and respect whenever I met him. Everybody has a past. I don't know if [being a prison guard] is his past or not. That's not my place to say. I think if he continues to do what he does, sweep all that garbage under the rug you know what? That's success. That's success taking a shot back at him. All of a sudden past pictures come up. He should just keep doing what he do."
Maino's response was different:
"I'm disappointed. I'm really disappointed. I pride myself on being 100 percent who I am. If I went to college and had a job before, I would just say that. ... Him, in my opinion, I just think he should have just addressed it. ... 'Look, man. I was 19. It was a part of my life. ... I got to the coke later.'
"I don't have a problem with what he was doing before the rap game," Maino added. "That ain't my beef with him. The thing is, he was denying he was doing it. He said [the pictures] was Photoshopped and wasn't real."
Fat Joe: "He's a great dude. He's my friend," Joe said. "We'll just wait to see what [else] he has to say about it.