God Forgives, I Don't

This article is about the album. For the 1967 spaghetti western film, see God Forgives... I Don't!

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God Forgives, I Don't is the upcoming fifth studio album by American rapper Rick Ross, scheduled for release in early 2012. The album is preceded by two singles released simultaneously, "You the Boss" featuring Nicki Minaj and "I Love My Bitches".

Background

Rick Ross first revealed the title of his fifth album on January 4, 2011 on the Breakfast Club, along with the release of the song "Made Men" featuring Drake produced by 2 Tall Beats. A music video for the song was later released on April 11, 2011. Made Men will not make the album, as Ross confirmed it just to be on his Ashes to Ashes mixtape. The album was highly promoted by the official twitter account of Maybach Music Group, along with DJ Khaled. Drake spoke on the album during an interview with MTV saying "That God Forgives I Don't; the only way I can describe it, it's like Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle, The Notorious B.I.G.'s Ready to Die, or Clipse's Lord Willin' or any of the albums that I collected and held on to as a kid — whether it was cassette or CD." DJ Khaled also sang Rozay's praises when MTV News interviewed him back in July. "God Forgives, I Don't is a classic-in-the-making. Let me tell you something right now: This album is so crazy from the beginning of what I've been in the studio hearing already," he said. "I can't give you too much because I'm going to let him do that, because that's his project, but I could tell you right now it's classic and he is talking that talk." Rick Ross revealed that he would like to collaborate with Lionel Richie on the album. Bun B confirmed his appearance on the album. Rick Ross spoke about the album during an interview with MTV at the October 11th BET Hip Hop Awards saying that "Me making my album is just a real tedious process that I go through and the response from the people that I did play a few records for, the feedback is incredible" and he also spoke on his upcoming collaboration with Mary J. Blige. "That's the Queen. I can just tell you about the experience," he said. "We actually worked in Michael Jackson's L.A. studio and we made some magic." Mary J. Blige also spoke of the experience with XXL in September, clarifying that the two actually recorded in the last studio the King of Pop ever recorded in. "It's a private studio that one of our friends, he was really close to Michael Jackson, he let us use it," Mary said. "It's actually Marvin Gaye's studio. It has murals of Michael Jackson all over the walls and Marvin Gaye. That was the last place Michael actually worked at before he passed. It's such a good vibe." The first video log of the making of God Forgives, I Don't was released, and featured The Alchemist, in a studio session released by Rick Ross, and is a confirmed producer on the album.

On October 4, Ross appeared on Hot 97 with Funkmaster Flex, as he premiered his two new singles, "You The Boss" and "I Love My Bitches". Funk Flex interviewed Ross on topics such as his beef with Kreayshawn and Young Jeezy, along with details from the new album, however Ross declined to divulge information on the album, preferring to keep details of the project under wraps. Two days later on October 6, Ross appeared on the Breakfast Club to promote the album. Ross maintained his tight-lipped approach of not divulging details of God Forgives, I Don't. Later on October 6, Rick Ross along with Def Jam Records held the official "GFID Conference Call", to discuss the album and have Ross answer questions. When callers of the music industry asked questions on producers and features of the album, Ross declined to answer, stating that recording God Forgives, I Don't was still in process and did not wish to disclose too many details of the album, preferring to open up about the album as the release date nears. Ross emphasized that less features would be on the album, as opposed to previous releases, as well as creating the album with a "90s Vintage hip-hop sound. Ross recently worked with Dr. Dre, saying that Dre "highly influenced" his work. Ross confirmed that he and Dre collaborated on records for God Forgives as well as Detox.

While on his 2012 European Tour, Ross explained the reasoning for the album title, saying "I wanted to approach [this album] like Scorsese would have approached a film. I wanted it to be a bold statement, a dark statement and have music to tell the story behind it. It felt like a film." Ross also confirmed Jay-Z as a featured artist.

Release and promotion

On December 24, 2010, Ross released the Ashes to Ashes mixtape, which included the song "9 Piece" featuring T.I. and produced by Lex Luger. Following T.I.'s legal trouble, Ross scrapped T.I. from the song and instead released the official remix, featuring Lil Wayne was released on April 4, 2011, which was used as the first street single for the album. "9 Piece" was released to iTunes on May 10, and debuted at number sixty-one on the Billboard Hot 100. Exactly six months later, on October 4, 2011, Rick Ross released the albums first two singles. The lead single was "You the Boss" featuring Nicki Minaj, and the second was titled "I Love My Bitches", which was produced by Just Blaze. Three days later on October 7, both tracks were released on iTunes for purchase. On November 1, 2011, Rick Ross and Wale appeared on BET's 106 & Park to help promote Wale' new album, Ambition, which was released under Ross' Maybach Music imprint. Ross also promoted his own LP, God Forgives, I Don't. It was Ross' first television appearance since his reported seizures on October 14. Ross announced that he, and Jay-Z had completed a collaboration track for the album, which Rick called "the biggest record we've ever done together". On November 16, 2011, Ross appeared on MTV's Rap Fix to promote Wale's Ambition album as well as to give details on his own album. Rick Ross said that the December 13 date was still tentative, but the album was likely to be pushed back to a 2012 release because of the health scare he suffered in October. Ross expanded by saying that because he was resting due to doctors orders, he was unable to work and had to postpone the groundwork of his album, which he felt was highly important. Consequently, Def Jam Records and Ross' own Maybach Music Group label had scaled back promotion of the album. Ross added that he felt he could make the December 13 date he had originally set, but felt it was in his best interest to push the album back to 2012 in order to create the best possible body of work.

On January 6, 2012, Rick Ross released the mixtape Rich Forever to help promote the upcoming album. The tape contained all new material and features from the likes of Diddy, 2 Chainz, Wale, Meek Mill, John Legend, Nas, Drake, French Montana among others.

Confirmed tracks

• "You the Boss" (featuring Nicki Minaj; produced by K.E. On The Track)
• "I Love My Bitches" (produced by Just Blaze)