It’s taken for granted that the vast majority of rappers who rap about moving weight and trife life in general are exaggerating or just lying wildly. There are a few who aren’t, but nobody wants to blow up spots here.

But when Rick Ross was revealed as a former correctional officer it really was something else. You what? The rapper whose first hit was the admittedly big Hustlin’, who built a career off of being in the game that saw BMF shut down, was actually a former employee, not captive, of the state. Despite the fact that the revelations were truly breathtaking, and the accompanying pictures very amusing, they don’t seem to have hurt his career when it comes to stashing figures. Blame it on the youts who don’t need an excuse to get over excited and start fronting. It’s all very strange. Maybe he’s in the game on a Departed tip and can’t talk about it for obvious reasons. But if you believe his son’s mother, admittedly a far from objective source, he’s just delusional and describing the lifestyle he’s seen in M-I-Yayo.

There were rumours that Officer Ricky was keen to come clean and offer up hip-hop’s biggest ever ‘my bad.’ ‘Hell to the nizzaw’ was the rumoured reply from the big dogs at Def Jam. Why? Despite everything, the baaawwse is one of the most commercially successful rappers in 2009. Largely off the back of his feud with 50 Cent, Deeper Than Rap did big first week numbers despite the twin threat of the recession and internet. It continues to sell well. That show money must be pouring in too – he was in London clocking cash this very week. Which is probably why the gravy train continues to roll. The money may even have attracted a few real people to get involved. But at some point something’s gonna have to give. Or someone with inside information will reveal something truly damning. Although it’s hard to think what’s worse than being on the side of ‘the man.’ Will the fact that the real Rick Ross is now free make any difference?