Rick Ross explains why he skipped Jay-Z's Yankee Stadium show
Rick Ross says he was flying from Philadelphia to Cleveland for business when fans expected him to join Jay-Z at Yankee Stadium. Speaking on The Joe Budden Podcast, the rapper confirmed work travel kept him from a possible surprise cameo on their hit "FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt."
Key Takeaways
- Rick Ross told Joe Budden he left the Philly area for Cleveland business during Jay-Z's Yankee Stadium show.
- Fans expected a surprise appearance when "FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt" played, according to Budden.
- Ross did not confirm whether he was invited to perform at the star-studded set.
- He and Jay-Z reportedly have not performed that song together in 12 years, but remain friends.
- On the same podcast, Ross said his past Drake collaborations were real and still worth celebrating.
Why didn't Rick Ross appear with Jay-Z at Yankee Stadium?
Expectations ran high after Jay-Z's packed Yankee Stadium performance. Joe Budden, who attended the show, told Ross that "FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt" came on and many in the crowd thought the MMG boss would walk out, because "everybody came out to perform."
Ross said learning that fans looked for him "feels amazing." When Budden asked whether he had been invited or simply had other commitments, Ross pointed to travel and work, not a snub.
"Well, I was, I most definitely was flying out of Philly to Cleveland to get some munyon," Ross said on the podcast, per Complex. He added that he was glad people "felt the vibrations."
Complex noted that Ross did not confirm if he was invited to the star-studded Yankee Stadium show. The clearest takeaway is logistical: he was already outbound for business when the moment fans imagined might have happened.
Have Rick Ross and Jay-Z performed that song together lately?
According to reporting on the interview, the pair appears not to have performed "FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt" together in 12 years after their other collaboration, "The Devil Is a Lie." That gap helps explain why a Yankee Stadium reunion felt like such a big "what if" for the crowd.
Still, the two remain friends. Ross has publicly given Jay-Z credit for signing him to Def Jam, framing the relationship as lasting even when shared stages are rare. For readers tracking culture crossovers beyond the stage, more stories land in Future Tech & AI Wonders.
What else did Rick Ross say on The Joe Budden Podcast?
The same appearance covered Ross's history with Drake. Budden pressed whether their on-camera brotherhood and summer collabs had been a "facade." Ross pushed back hard: "Nothing about that was fake," Billboard reported.
He compared friendship fallouts to business moves, saying once things "go left," you move on as a boss. Separately, Ross told Budden he will always celebrate the records he made with Drake because "you can't change the past," while urging fans hoping for new joint music to "move on."
Billboard also noted Ross dropped his 12th solo album, Set in Stone, on July 17, 2026, and is in the middle of his Port of Miami 20th Anniversary Tour—context for why travel and business kept colliding with headline stages.
Bottom line: Rick Ross framed the Yankee Stadium absence as a scheduling and money run, not a broken bond with Jay-Z, while using the same podcast to draw a firm line between past chemistry and present priorities.