Actor Michael K. Williams' role on The Wire may be his most notable but he recently opened up to TheGrio about notorious drug dealer "Freeway" Rick Ross and comparisons to the rapper, just a month after the former kingpin called the MMG leader fake.
As reported by the site, Williams will portray Freeway in the new film Kill the Messenger, which is based on a true story derived from the 2001 novel of the same name that follows a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist, Gary Webb, who ultimately exposes the CIA for helping import cocaine into California during the 1980s.
Kill the Messenger portrays Freeway as a wealthy, powerful drug dealer who's in jail awaiting trial on trafficking charges.
"I prepared [for Kill the Messenger] by meeting ["Freeway"] Ricky Ross. I got to meet him. I consider him a friend now," Williams said.
Since emerging on the music scene, Miami rapper Rick Ross has created a persona based on the luxurious lifestyle of Freeway from his days as a drug kingpin but Williams says that's not true to his actual character.
"The persona that the rapper has created couldn't be further from the real Rick Ross," he said. "The real Rick Ross was a young man in the streets of L.A. that had dreams of becoming a tennis player. He excelled in tennis and was allowed to go through the L.A. school system completely illiterate. When it came time to talk about college scholarships for him, they found out that he was illiterate, and it all went away. The system literally failed him. That's what intrigued me about taking this role and portraying him. Not to glorify the fact that he was a drug dealer, because I don't think that's something he's proud of."
Last month, HipHopDX caught up with Freeway and there seemed to be some tension between him and the rapper.
"No homage is ever being paid," he said. "It wasn't like that when we came up. When we came up our stars always said good things about the guys before them. Jordan talked about Dr. J and them and shit. Now, you got the new attitude like, 'F--k who was before me, I'm better than all of ya'll.' It's all me, me, me now. When you steal a motherfucker's identity, that's when you really crossing all the way over. You can't even be yourself. If you a fake motherf----r you just fake. But when you impersonating somebody else, you the worse kind in my eyes. You faker than a fake motherf----r."
Kill the Messenger hits theaters nationwide October 10.
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