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Venue

Ocean Center

101 North Atlantic Avenue, 32118, Daytona Beach, FL, US

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Doors open: 19:00

Concert in your area for Hip-Hop, Electronic, R&B, and Pop.

Find out more about Hip-Hop, Electronic, and Pop.

Rick Ross biography

William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28th, 1976) is an American rapper, better known by his stage name, Rick Ross.

It’s difficult to quite put your finger on how conventional Ross’ pre-hip hop life was, by the genre’s usual standards; he certainly didn’t have the most comfortable of upbringings, but it’s also fair to say that serving as a prison officer - as Ross did for a couple of years in the mid-nineties - is hardly something that’s a common occurrence in a genre of music with a general lack of regard for law enforcement. After addressing that particular issue on his commercial breakthrough record “Deeper Than Rap” in 2009, though - he’d initially denied that the rumours were true - he’s gone on to make himself one of the best-respected and most widely-revered rappers in the world, having been named Hottest MC in the Game by MTV in 2012. He’s probably best-known in the hip hop community for having created his own label, Maybach Music Group; named after his favourite brand of luxury car, Ross has signed the likes of Meek Mill, French Montana and Wale to the imprint.

In terms of his own solo career, Ross’ lyricism has usually focused on the decadent lifestyle he enjoys, with money and material possessions clearly his primary motivation. He frequently offsets that kind of imagery, though, against his struggles as a youngster, both with the law and with his family; it’s this dichotomy that makes him one of his genre’s most compelling artists. 2014’s “Mastermind” met with critical acclaim, even if it didn’t have a single quite as big as his signature song, “Hustlin’” - it’s testament to Ross’ work ethic, though, that it’s not the only new album he’ll release this year, with “Hood Billionaire” being readied, too.

Live reviews

Even by hip hop standards, Rick Ross has an opinion of himself so high that he borders on caricature; most recently, he’s taken to referring to himself as ‘Mastermind’ and has long declared via his Twitter bio that ‘I RUN RAP’; he certainly leads the kind of outrageously lavish lifestyle typically enjoyed by the genre’s biggest stars. His live shows, meanwhile, do little to go against the grain of the public persona he’s carved out; they’re relentlessly energetic affairs, with little room for contemplation or reflection. Instead, he keeps things relentlessly high-octane, putting together intelligently-judged setlists that blend the best of his own classics and new material with reworked versions of collaborations and the odd cover. With a hype man who does his job in the old-fashioned sense of the term - raising Ross to the level of near-deity over the course of his live shows - it’s left to the self-proclaimed Teflon Don to deliver his famous flow with minimal backing and an impressive consistency. Many hip hop shows feel a little incomplete without a live band, but in Ross’ case, that’d almost be defeating the purpose; his gigs, to put it bluntly, are all about him and his legendary appetite for materialism. Don’t go looking for anything especially complex, or nuanced - do go expecting banger after banger, and you won’t be disappointed.

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Joeg_67

Lloyd - who, for my money, should really be going by his fabulous birth name, Lloyd Polite Jr. - is one of those R&B singers who has a lifelong grounding int he music industry, having come up through a boy band in the form of N-Toon; he started out with the group at the age of just ten. Since then, he’s released a slew of solo records, signing with the likes of Def Jam and Murder Inc. down the years and seeing two of his albums go top ten in his native U.S., thanks in no small part to chart smashes like ‘Southside’ and ‘Get It Shawty’. More recently, he’s decided to veer away from the smooth R&B sound with which he made his name, swapping crooning for rapping and signing with G-Unit Records last year. He’s released one new track to date - the considerably heavier ‘Get Dat Doe’ - and looks set to make a serious tilt at the genre on his as-yet-unconfirmed fifth solo album. How that will affect his live shows remains to be seen; they’ve generally been mellow affairs, as was the case when he appeared at 2012’s Wireless Festival; he performed a slew of his laid-back classics, in a dubious leather jacket/bare chest combo, to a packed tent, and it’s difficult to imagine rap tracks fitting in with that particular vibe - time will tell.

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Joeg_67