Rick Ross cancels dates, reportedly over gang threats

God forgives, and evidently Rick Ross doesn’t. But that kind of lyrical bravado doesn’t preclude him from canceling some concerts over rumors of gang attacks.

Ross, the Miami rap-chart stalwart and upcoming headliner of Power 106 FM’s Cali Christmas, had reportedly earned the ire of a North Carolina chapter of the Gangster Disciples, a gang whose imprisoned leader, Larry Hoover, was once the object of a Ross metaphor in his single “B.M.F.” Ross’ cover art for his mixtape “Black Bar Mitzvah” also used a Star of David design that resembles the six-pointed star logo used by the Disciples.

The gang had posted music videos that some have seen as threatening. Local station WCNC reports that those supposed threats, including suggestions that the gang would crash the concert, lead Ross to cancel his Greensboro and Charlotte concerts with Meek Mill, Wale and Machine Gun Kelly.

It’s the latest problem Ross has faced in the last year after suffering two seizures on airplanes and canceling another date for health reasons. Other Gangster Disciple groups, including one in Florida, have posted similar videos demanding retribution -- or, as can be seen in other videos posted on YouTube, some kind of royalty payments for using their leader’s name.

It’s not the first run-in with hip-hop for the Gangsters Disciples this year. The Chicago rapper Chief Keef has hinted a connection with the rival gang Black Disciples, and was widely criticized for mocking the death of the MC Lil Jojo, who reportedly had Gangster Disciples connections.

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