I’m so inspired by this young man! The way he moves in business, the way he supports his team and his business savvy is nothing to glimpse at .. you stare in amazement! Salute @rickyrozay! xo @RozOonTheGo

He’s the William Howard Taft of the rap game, the guy T-Pain once called “Boss” 20 times in 11 seconds, the only man alive with a diamond-encrusted medallion of his own face: Rick Ross, whose latest album, God Forgives, I Don’t, debuted atop the the charts to cement his star status. For the cover story of the new issue of Rolling Stone, which hits newsstands on Friday, August 17th, writer Josh Eells followed in Ross’ considerable shadow as the rapper hustled from radio interviews to strip-club bashes in the buildup to the album release. Among the highlights:

Ross suggests that the seizures he suffered late last year were probably the result of smoking too much weed: ”I’m most definitely an avid user, a pothead, however you want to look at it. I call it green caviar. It’s like a short vacation – it helps me chill out. And people really love it when I chill out, because I can really be a dickhead.”

For the first time, Ross talks about his past life as a corrections officer – an opportunity, he says, to “wash my hands” after his best friend was sentenced to 10 years for trafficking cocaine and heroin: “This was my best friend, who I ate peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches with, and pork and beans with, my buddy, my partner, my number-one dude. Suddenly I’m talking to him over federal phone calls. Hearing the way it was building, I knew I couldn’t take nothing for granted,” says Ross. “My homey’s father was a huge influence on my life, too … He was the one who was like, ‘Yo, go get a job somewhere, man. Go be a fireman. Or go be a fucking corrections officer. Just go sit down somewhere.”

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