2 Rappers Confess to the Same Crime.. Only 1 is "Guilty"

Two extremely famous rappers admit to committing the same horrible crime at the height of their popularity. Rick Ross's admission was in 2013, and Cardi B's six years later in 2019. Rick Ross received an incredible amount of backlash, tens of thousands of petitions signed, and hundreds of people standing outside of the Reebok headquarters demanding them to terminate their endorsement deal with the rapper. Cardi B, on the other hand, received tons of support from her fans and in the media, breaking down all of the nuances of her crime and why it was okay. Today, we are going to take a look at both of these situations and examine exactly why Cardi was perceived as a victim and Rick Ross was perceived as guilty in the court of public opinion.

thousands of petitions signed and hundreds of people standing outside of the Reebok headquarters demanding them to terminate their endorsement deal with the rapper cardi B on the other hand received tons of support from her fans in the media breaking down all of the

Starting with Rick Ross, in March of 2013, a rapper by the name of Rocco released a remix of his song "U.O.E.N.O." alongside Future and Rick Ross. "U.O.E.N.O." is not an acronym but rather a slurred slang term representing a phrase, "You don't even know it." At the 2-minute and 10-second mark in the song, Rick Ross says, "Put Molly all in her champagne, she ain't even know it. I took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain't even know it." Listeners were shocked to hear Rick Ross directly confess to drugging a woman and then insinuating that they had sex after. It's hard to interpret this bar as anything other than a confession. At first, this was just a crazy lyric that made you and your buddies look at each other in disbelief, but the song was getting more and more popular, making the rounds on social media and in the clubs. As more people were exposed to the specificity and boastfulness of Rick Ross's delivery, they felt like they had to speak out. First, a petition calling for Rick Ross to "publicly apologize for glorifying drugging a woman" was posted to Change.org. The organizer wrote, "This should be investigated further, and he should be prosecuted." With only 1,294 signatures, it didn't have a large enough impact then. Rosa Clemente, who was the 2008 vice presidential candidate of the Green Party, posted a YouTube video criticizing the rapper. "This is disgusting, to say the least. This lyric is obviously promoting not just date rape but rape and culture and violence against women. We live in a society that by the time African American women and Latina women are 18, almost half of them, 44%, have been sexually abused." From there, more media personalities used their platform to encourage people to speak out against Ross. "Sex without consent is what you should know. Sex without consent is rape. That's what we know, Rick Ross. It's a shame that you don't know." The controversy spread like wildfire. Every major news outlet started to chime in. When Ross responded to the controversy, he did more harm than good. On the New Orleans radio station Q93.3 FM, he said, "I want to make sure this is clear: that woman is the most precious gift known to man, you understand. There was a misunderstanding with a lyric, a misinterpretation. The term rape wasn't used. I would never use the term rape in my records. As far as my camp, hip hop don't condone that, the streets don't condone that, nobody condones that. So I just wanted to reach out to all the queens that's on my timeline, all the sexy ladies, the beautiful ladies that had been reaching out to me with the misunderstanding. We don't condone, and I'm not with that." Ross claiming that this lyric was all a misunderstanding and then shouting out the sexy ladies just fueled even more outrage. Hip hop outlets began speaking out against him. "Guys, Rick Ross has come to a crossroads. He is a great artist, good dude. Put me, he put me on his mixtape. I love the guy, but he's got to step up right now and do the right thing. And that right thing is a thorough and sincere apology about the lines that made people think he was endorsing date." Ross's peers, such as Talib Kweli, began speaking out against him. "I don't care if Rick Ross is 40 years old. He's a misguided 40-year-old person. When we embraced him, we have to embrace him with love. Everything everyone's saying about that line is correct. Rick Ross condoned in that song, and he shouldn't, and he should apologize. And his apology that he offered was unacceptable." So he apologized again. On April 4th, 2013, he tweeted, "I don't condone, apologies for the # lyric interpreted as # boss." This was his second attempt at an apology but still sticking to his belief that you, the listener, misconstrued his words and he didn't say anything wrong. Whereas many argue that there is no other way to look at this lyric, like Adam Howard from The Grio, who said, "There's no way to argue that he's not describing rape. Most other hip-hop songs describing sexual contact, while still often misogynistic, at least leave room for a listener to believe that women are consenting parties. But in this case, listening to a man gleefully rhyme about drugging someone and having sex with her while she's unconscious feels like an alarmingly pointed threat." Critics were tired of Rick Ross's inability to accept responsibility, especially the National Organization for Women in New York City, who rallied in hundreds outside of the Reebok headquarters in New York, asking them to disband their partnership with Rick Ross. "It is a hate crime to be out there making fun of, making light of drugging and raping women, something that happens all too often in our culture. These are actually 72,000 petitions signed by our members all over the country, and there are also comments from people about why they feel like Reebok needs to drop Rick Ross. Rick Ross is a disgrace to humanity. This guy's a joke. How do you say, you know, I slipped her Molly, went home and enjoyed that, and she didn't even know, and then say you didn't mean to condone rape? He knew exactly what he's saying. The fact of the matter is he's just a coward, and now he's trying to avoid dealing with it." Just a few days after the protest, Rick Ross was officially dropped from his multi-million dollar endorsement deal. The company made a statement: "While we do not believe that Rick Ross condones sexual assault, we are very disappointed he has yet to display an understanding of the seriousness of the issue or an appropriate level of remorse." They continued, "At this time, it is in everyone's best interest for Reebok to end its partnership with Mr. Ross." I guess Ross was hoping the outrage would eventually die out because it was after Reebok dropped him that he finally made a formal apology. "My choice of words was not only offensive, it does not reflect my true heart, and for this, I apologize to every woman that has felt the sting of abuse. I apologize. I recognize that as an artist, I have a voice and with that the power of influence. To the young men who listen to my music, please know that using a substance to rob a woman of her right to make a choice is not only a crime, it's wrong, and I do not encourage it."

starting with Rick Ross in March of 2013 a rapper by the name of Rocco released a remix of his song uo n o alongside future and Rick Ross u oen o is not an acronym but rather a slurred slang term

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ain't even know it listeners were shocked to hear Rick Ross directly confess to drugging a woman and then insinuating that they had sex after it's hard to interpret this bar as anything other than a confession at first this

was just a crazy lyric that made you and your buddies look at each other and disbelief but the song was getting more and more popular making the rounds on social media and in the clubs as more people were exposed to the specificity

and boastfulness of Rick Ross's delivery they felt like they had to speak out first a petition calling for Rick Ross to quote publicly apologize for glorifying drugging slring a woman was posted to change.org the organizer wrote this should be investigated further and

he should be prosecuted with only 1,294 signatures it didn't have a large enough impact then Rosa Clemente who was the 2008 vice presidential candidate of the green party posted a YouTube video criticizing the rapper this is disgusting to say the least this lyric

is obviously promoting um not just date rap but rap and culture and violence against women we live in a society that by the time africanamerican women and Latina women are 18 almost half of them um 44% have been sexually

abused from there more media personalities use their platform to encourage people to speak out against Ross sex without consent is is what you should know sex without consent is rap that's what we know Rick Ross it's a shame that you don't know the

controversy spread like wildfire every major news Outlet started to chime in When Ross responded to the controversy he did more harm than good on the New Orleans radio station q93.3 FM he said I want to make sure this is clear that

woman is the most precious gift known to man you understand there was a misunderstanding with a lyric a misinterpretation the term rap wasn't used I would never use the term rap in my records as far as my Camp hip hop

don't condone that the streets don't condone that nobody condones that so I just wanted to reach out to all the Queens that's on my timeline all the sexy ladies the beautiful ladies that had been reaching out to me with the

misunderstanding we don't condone and I'm not with that Ross claiming that this lyric was all a misunderstanding and then shouting out the sexy ladies just fueled even more outrage hip hop Outlets begin speaking out against him guys Rick Ross has come to a Crossroads

he is a great artist good dude put me he put me on his mixtape I love the guy but he's got a step up right now and do the right thing and that right thing is a thorough and sincere apology about the

lines that made people think he was endorsing date Ross's peers such as Talib quali began speaking out against him I don't care if Rick Ross is 40 years old he's a misguided 40y old person when we embraced him we have to

embrace him with love everything everyone's saying about that line is correct Rick Ross condoned in that song and he shouldn't and he should apologize and his apology that he offered was unacceptable so he apologized again on April 4th 2013 he tweeted I don't

condone apologies for the # lyric interpreted as # boss this was his second attempt at an apology but still sticking to his belief that you The Listener misconstrued his words and he didn't say anything wrong whereas many argue that there is no other way to look

at this lyric like Adam Howard from the Grio who said there's no way to argue that he's not describing rap most other hip-hop songs describing sexual contact while still often misogynistic at least leave room for a listener to believe

that women are consenting parties but in this case listening to a man gleefully rhyme about drugging someone and having sex with her while she's unconscious feels like an alarmingly pointed threat critics were tired of Rick ross' inability to accept responsibility

especially the National Organization for Women in New York City who rallied in hundreds outside of the Reebok headquarters in New York asking them to disband their partnership with Rick Ross it is a hate crime to be out there

making fun of making light of of drugging anding women something that happens all too often in our culture these are actually 72,000 petitions um signed by our members all over the country and there are also comments from people about why they feel like Reebok

needs to drop Rick Ross Rick Ross is um a disgrace to humanity this guy's a joke how do you say you know I slipped her Miley went home and enjoyed that and she didn't even know and then say you didn't

mean to condone rape he knew exactly what he's saying the fact of the matter is he's just a coward and now he's trying to avoid dealing with just a few days after the protest Rick Ross was officially dropped from his

multi-million dollar endorsement deal the company made a statement while we do not believe that Rick Ross condones sexual assault we are very disappointed he has yet to display an understanding of the seriousness of the issue or an appropriate level of remorse they

continued at this time it is in everyone's best interest for Reebok to end its partnership with Mr Ross I guess Ross was hoping the outrage would eventually die out because it was after Reebok dropped him that he finally made

a formal apology my choice of of words was not only offensive it does not reflect My True Heart and for this I apologize to every woman that has felt the sting of abuse I apologize I recognize that as an artist I have a

voice and with that the power of influence to the young men who listen to my music please know that using a substance to rob a woman of her right to make a choice is not only a crime it's

wrong and I do not encourage it have you ever Googled your name and seen yourself on one of those strange sites that has too much information about you feels pretty weird I'd really rather have that stuff not available to just anyone who's

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Aura has many other features to protect you and your family from online threats you can't see instead of having multiple different apps to get things like antivirus VPN parental controls password management identity theft and more Aura has them all in one place and you get

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your private information or you can go to r.com Patrick cc to start your twoe free trial link is in the description thanks Aura now rappers have been spitting extremely controversial lyrics for decades in a 2001 song called Fight

Music by D12 rapper bizaar said I hate you I'll take your draws down and ape you while Dr Dre videotapes you which is extremely blatant and descriptive Eminem has a laundry list of descriptive admissions of crimes I mean at this

point what rapper hasn't glorified or admitted to some heinous crime many people argue that none of these lyrics can be taken seriously because they are made up to represent a character or Persona that doesn't represent the reality of the rapper he raps about drug

selling drug trafficking being a boss violence that's what his brand is about that's what he raps about Rick Ross is quite literally a stolen name from a real 1980s drug kingpin Ricky Donald Ross AKA Freeway Rick the rapper Rick

ross' entire Persona is fake but based on a real criminal many people use the argument that if music lyrics should be taken seriously then why is there no outrage when rappers rap about robbing shooting and murdering people but there

is a very specific reason why this particular line from Rick Ross garnered so much backlash and that's due to a shifting cultural perception on these types of crimes after two Ohio teens ried a girl and basically got off with a

slap on the wrist on March 17th 2013 just one week before Ross's lyric blew up two teens in Stubenville Ohio were found guilty of rape but the way these teens had absolutely zero empathy or regard for the victim was a shocking

wake-up call for the the realities of these horrible crimes the two teens were promising football players who were beloved by the small Ohio town at a party a 16-year-old girl drank more than she could handle leading to her blacking

out multiple times only waking up to vomit the defendants eventually brought her into the back of a Volkswagen where Trent may quote proceeded to flash the girl's breasts and penetrate her with his fingers while another football player videotaped it on his phone Malik

Richmond the other defendant took his turn violating the girl with his finger although there was no penile penetration any sexual conduct where the person is unable to give consent in the state of Ohio does constitute as rape then

compromising and explicit photos of the girl were shared on the internet and some of the witnesses mocked her even more on Twitter the police were notified about the crime a couple days later they were given a flash drive of evidence

including the post shared on social media but the police said the case was challenging partly because too much time had passed since the suspected rape all of the local press about the situation appeared to be biased is towards the

boys discussing their football dreams and how important football is to the community lots of kids in town grow up hoping wishing one day they could play for big red football were you one of those kids yes I was and then there's

Trent his father Brian a football coach says there's football in his son's DNA one of his dreams since he was since he was a kid was to play quarterback for Stevenville as one of Stubenville football coaches told the New York Times

quote the r was just an excuse I think what else are you going to tell your parents when you come home drunk like that after a night like that she had to make up something now people are trying

to blow up our football program because of it just like the Rick Ross outrage slowly grew bigger this story took on a life of its own as larger Publications started to write about it the anonymous hacker group leaked personal information

of 50,000 Ohio residents that they believed were helping obstruct the investigation they also leaked a video that was taking place that night when a small group of friends including the defendants videotaped themselves bragging and laughing about the crimee

she's dead because there was a naked picture on her a weang in the but and she wasn't moving there's usually reaction the boys proceeded to laugh and make fun of the girl on camera for 12 minutes straight and some this video

went extremely viral with people all around the world demanding Justice for the victim many people referred back to the abhorent mentality of these boys when criticizing Rick Ross's lyrics whereas others felt like blaming a rapper's lyrics was merely a cop out and

outraged people should be pointing fingers at parents then Anonymous organized the # occupy Stubenville protest which got over 1,000 people to protest this case we want Justice we want Justice wetice finally because of the outrage the case went to

trial and the boys were found guilty Trent Mae who's 17 was sentenced to serve at least 2 years in the state juvenile system the other Malik Richmond 16 was sentenced to serve at least one year although it took thousands of

outraged people on the internet to escalate this issue for them to receive Justice many believe that the punishment for these teens was not enough perpetuating the reality that these types of crimes are not taken as seriously as they should be and then one

week after this guilty verdict that people are outraged about Rick Ross has an extremely popular song that people see as glorifying this same horrible crime it was a recipe for disaster yet despite all the backlash this didn't even have any long- lasting impact on

Rick ross' career or even the song youe o debuted at number 99 on the Billboard Hot 100 3 weeks after Ross was dropped by Reebok and by July 20th it peaked at number 20 on the Hot 100 they even

released a visual to the song a few months later that depicts a woman drinking a spiked drink and begins spiraling before Rick Ross takes her home and even though Reebok dropped him he has still managed to secure tons of

multi-million dollar business deals that he reaps the benefits of still to this day have you seen this guy's house he is doing just fine at the end of the day Rick Ross does have deniability that what he said said was fiction as it was

just a part of a song cardi B on the other hand does not have that deniability because she admitted to drugging multiple people on an Instagram live however the reason she did it is what caused many to shower her with

support rather than outrage on an Instagram live in 2017 rapper cardi B was discussing the struggles that she went through to survive in the streets of New York City [ __ ] must have forgot my [ __ ] the [ __ ] that I did so mother

survive like I had to go straight I to go oh yeah you want to me yeah yeah yeah let's go to this hotel and I Dro [ __ ] up and I'll Rob them that's what I used to do just like Rick Ross cardi B admits

to drugging people but specifically she said drugging men and robbing them for more context cardi B was a stripper before she was a rapper and in this instance she was describing situations where men would try to solicit sex from

her and strip clubs to which she would say yes then she would drug them and Rob them but this Instagram live didn't go viral until 2 years after it was recorded in March of 2019 it resurfaced via Twitter and sparked outrage online #

surviving cardi B began trending worldwide on Twitter which was a reference to the surviving R Kelly docu series that detailed all of the horrific sex crimes committed by the R&B singer cardi B quickly tweeted I never claimed to be an angel I always been a street

[ __ ] y'all be glorifying this street rappers that talk and do the grimy [ __ ] but then they can't stand a street [ __ ] then she continued to gloat about how people are trying to cancel her I'm that

they love to hate I'm that they hate to love when they try to cancel me on Twitter and Instagram critics felt like she was taunting them which just added fuel to the fire redditors Unleashed a firestorm of criticism including this

post on the subreddit black people Twitter calling the rapper cardi B Cosby the post read she better get the Bill Cosby treatment or gender equality doesn't exist this so stupid she called this hard work as many of you know Bill

Cosby was accused by 60 women of rap sexual assault assault and sexual harassment and less than a year before cardi B's post went viral he was not only rightfully vilified for his disgusting actions but found guilty and jailed for his crimes cardi felt like

her words were being twisted and lacked context so she posted a lengthy response on social media explaining her point of view there are rappers that glorify murder violence drugs and robbing crimes they feel they had to do to survive I

never glorified the things I brought up in that live I never even put those things in my music because I'm not proud of it and feel a responsibility not to glorify it I made the choices that I did

at the time because I had very limited options I was blessed to have been able to rise from that but so many women have not the men that I spoke about in my live were men that I dated and was

involved with men that were conscious willing and aware after the rapper's response major media Outlets began to clarify and highlight the quotes where she said that she was doing what she had to do to survive there were no protests

no demanding of a deeper apology no attacking her sponsors for card's fans and business partners they weren't surprised to hear this information since she never hid who she was from the people I'm a rapper I'm a that came from

the streets that came to the industry I wasn't a Disney Channel star I wasn't a nun I wasn't a saint I never was a saint okay let me tell you something I'm a good-hearted person but I have done

[ __ ] up sh for many women and fans of the rapper they understood her struggle and were ready to move on Even Rick Ross told people to leave cardi alone like I say leave Carter B alone because we

don't need to persecute her for her past we need to be leaders and lead by example and regardless of what you did in the past if you stole a car in the past that don't mean you shouldn't be

able to get money in the future long as you change your ways and we all know cardi B focused on the money now and she is a leader but it seemed like mostly men who were not fans of cardi B to

begin with were outraged at the lack of further outrage change my view if cardi B was a man we would be boycotting her music and her career would be destroyed to which people countered that most other male rappers have had extremely

public controversies that didn't destroy their careers Chris Brown's long history of assault has not hindered his career Dr Dre has a history of accusations that have not hindered his career 69ine pleaded guilty to the use of a child in

a sexual performance which was well known even during his popularity and as we detailed before Rick Ross did lose out on some money but ultimately it had no long-standing impact on his career another post went viral on the subreddit

unpopular opinion cardi B drugging and robbing men makes her a predator now it actually took months for cardi B to clarify that she didn't have sex with these men which was a huge reason why redditors were so angry she was alone in

rooms with men who thought they were going to have sex with her since she told them that she would then she drugs them into unconsciousness which is enough evidence for some people to assume that she could have also raped

them but cardi denies this have actually sex when you touch somebody without their consent I never nobody let me tell you something I never ever wanted none of these [ __ ] an online comment read no one cares about male victims when it

comes to these types of situations they say well that's what his horny ass gets for going to a hotel room with a woman he just met let it have been a male rapper who was drugging women though sex

crimes against men are more common than people think but there is an assumption that men don't care or that they can't be sexually assaulted because of gender-based stigmas and at this time the me too movement and the believe

women movement was at an all-time high so many people just automatically believed cardi when she said that she wasn't sexually assaulting anyone and rather just hustling them for their money but the outrage calling for her to be cancelled continued throughout the

years until someone found another old video of her where she explains a hypothetical situation where she describes setting up a sexual assault I'mma take him out we're going to get drunk I'm going get him all perked up and everything we're going to have a

good time get him super twisted then bring a b around we're gonna have a threesome and when he wake up he gonna be like what the Yeah because the [ __ ] was a [ __ ] I'm be like yep yep we had

a threesome with a [ __ ] yep yep a [ __ ] suck your dick you don't got to [ __ ] another [ __ ] to get even there's other ways to get this is a case of I

didn't do it but if I did do it this is how I would do it the descriptiveness of the situation is hard to interpret as just a joke this was enough evidence for detractors to confirm that she was a

predator so when they saw this tweet in 2023 they felt like she had no right to speak on the matter this world is full of predators they pray on the innocent the ones who are most unknowing our children Predators could be our

neighbors our school teachers even people with money power and our churches constantly talk with your kids about boundaries and what they shouldn't allow people to do to them and with the entire internet calling her a hypocrite she dug

a deeper hole as she spoke about the situation yet again and now people want to come at me like oh you're the wrong messenger you're the wrong messenger then you robbing drug men and it's like listen listen listen you're not going to

keep doing this because when it comes to [ __ ] weird ass predators and rapist and pedophiles and I'm really like I don't play that I really don't play that [ __ ] and and then y be like you drug and Rob

them did I touch their body did I touch their penis did I touch their ass did I touch them did I put my lips on them no no type of [ __ ] touching don't confuse and even if y came oh you robbed them

what's robbing and and robbing and is two different type of [ __ ] don't call me no don't call me no Fu Predator don't play with my name like that because I don't play that cardi stays firm in her

stance that she was never sexual with these men but she does wholeheartedly admit that these men deserve to be robbed however there is a third opinion that the vast majority of people hold for cardi B cardi B came in the game

during the vine era promoting herself as a gang affiliated stripper her off-the-wall Persona made her who she is you can't ask what can she say or do that would get her cancelled because she's been talking and acting crazy from

the jump LOL at bringing up her drugging and robbing men yeah well she told us from the jump she was a blood what do you think Bloods do sell Girl Scout cookies no they commit crimes most people love to point out the double

standards and hypocrisy they simplify the situation as men do bad thing get big trouble and girl do same bad thing no consequences but the truth is there is tons of nuance to consider when assessing any type of crime social issue

drama or whatever you want to call this no two situations are ever the same the only similarities here are Rick Ross and cardi B are both rappers who admitted to drugging someone the context the intent the time frame the clarity of the words

the behavior before and after the admission are all entirely different but extremely necessary to assess before you make a decision on what you think about these rappers now I'm not saying they should be absolved of criticism but if

you're expecting rappers to be beacons of moral good you're going to be angry forever