Rick Ross

Even though the foundation of Rick Ross’s rap persona is a lie, and that lie echoes through most media accounts of his career, Ross has somehow managed to build that lie into a dynasty so fiercely opulent that it’s almost a legend. Also — like Gatsby faking hard in his West Egg mansion — Ross believes his own hype, flossing so furiously that the dead past becomes something hazy, indistinct, malleable, and open to interpretation. His brand of luxury fronting has become as much a cottage industry — dude improves almost every single he guests on — as an exercise in gross self-actualization.

Fri., Nov. 15, 8 p.m., 2013