Taylor Swift’s new album, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT, dropped at midnight (April 19). To the surprise of many, Rick Ross co-signed the project ahead of its release.
Taking to Twitter on Thursday (April 18), he tweeted, “Fresh out the slammer and Florida! Blasting on the yacht at midnight. Taylor writes like a boss and her song titles are gangsta.” The show of support was unexpected, to say the least, with one of the rapper’s followers responding, “Ross is a Swiftie??”
His praise notably followed a recent jab from Drake’s “Push Ups” — which also hit streaming platforms — where he mocked Kendrick Lamar for working with Swift on “Bad Blood (Remix).” The Toronto native’s lyrics, “Maroon 5 need a verse, you better make it witty/ Then we need a verse for the Swifties,” playfully critiqued the commercial nature of such collaborations.
Ross also defended Swift against conspiracy theories about the Super Bowl LVIII being rigged in her favor during Logan Paul’s “IMPAULSIVE” podcast in February. The Port of Miami rapper said, “That the homie’s girl; she at the game. They can’t help if she sold a hundred million records. She gotta date somebody… She should perform at the Super Bowl, too. That’s my girl.”
Although not unexpected, Ice Spice also reposted Swift’s album on her Instagram Story. The artists previously teamed up for “Karma (Remix)” from the pop icon’s prior album.
“Collaborating with Ice Spice on ‘Karma’ was one of the most natural things. She reached out through her team, just kind of saying, ‘Hey, you know, Ice has been a big fan of Taylor’s since she was a little kid; we’d love to collaborate if that was ever something that came about.’ And I had been listening to her nonstop,” Swift told Spotify. “I immediately got her number and said, ‘Hey, would you want to do your version of ‘Karma,’ do you relate to this?’ And so she jumped in headfirst.”