Rick Ross is the cover story for this months Rolling Stone magazine. In it he finally speaks on why he became a corrections officer, after his close friend was sentenced 10 years in prison for drug trafficking. Ross says,

This was my best friend, who I ate peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches with, and pork and beans with, my buddy, my partner, my number-one dude. Suddenly I’m talking to him over federal phone calls. Hearing the way it was building, I knew I couldn’t take nothing for granted,” says Ross. “My homey’s father was a huge influence on my life, too . . . He was the one who was like, ‘Yo, go get a job somewhere, man. Go be a fireman. Or go be a fucking corrections officer. Just go sit down somewhere.

I think this is actually a good explanation for his past career choice. Think about it, if you’re really good friend is going to jail for a long time, and his grandpa tells you “get your life together”, you’re probably going to be scared as hell and actually try to get a job instead of hustling. It’s understandable that he didn’t want to admit this when it was discovered years back because he was probably scared that it would ruin his rap career.