This fall, students at Georgia State University College of Law will have the opportunity to study the legal life of Grammy® award-nominated, multiplatinum recording artist and serial entrepreneur Rick Ross.
Ross, also known as ” The Biggest Boss,” will be the focus of the fourth edition of the “Legal Life Of…” course at the university, which is part of the curriculum for the Entertainment, Sports & Media Law Initiative at the law school.
Ross has an impressive career that spans music and countless business ventures. He is a two-time New York Times best-selling author, real estate investor, the CEO of Maybach Music Group, a franchise owner of more than 25 Wingstop locations, the owner of several Checkers and Rally’s restaurants, the CEO of Rick Ross Car & Bike Show and the Boss Up Conference. He also holds partnerships in the cannabis industry, among other business endeavors.
“The class provides law students with the unique opportunity to gain hands-on legal experience in the practice area of entertainment law by studying the career, contracts, and legal transactions of Rick Ross,” according to a press release by GSU. Through the course, students will have the opportunity to apply those legal principles to a real-world business.
The class was launched by Mo Ivory, professor of practice and director of the Entertainment, Sports & Media Law Initiative at the College of Law in 2019.
“As a lover of rap music, hip-hop culture, and in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop, I could not think of a better time to study the career of a visionary like Rick Ross,” said Ivory. “When I began my research on Ross, I realized early on that my students would learn about a businessman who turned his love of music into an empire that includes massive real estate holdings, food and beverage franchises, investments in the car and bike industry, literary works and corporate equity ownership.”
With guidance from the attorneys who negotiated the contracts, students will delve deeply into the agreements that influenced the celebrity’s career, section by section, in class. They will gain knowledge of legal principles, including contract drafting, interpretation, and negotiation, with an emphasis on different client representations, as well as risk and crisis management essential to today’s entertainment industry.
“The ‘Biggest’ meets the classroom,” said Ross. “I’ve always been a student of the game, and I look forward to being able to teach the next generation how to keep hustlin’.”
