Ludacris and Rick Ross split the June/July 2010 issue of The Source. MTV has an excerpt from Ross’ feature where he speaks on his Southern roots.

“I always felt in touch with my black side riding by cotton fields at 5, 6 years old, seeing big mills of cotton balls,” Ross revealed.

“I was always in touch with slavery, when I could recognize a palm tree at the same age,” added the rapper, who was raised in Florida. “I always respected my culture, my people. Growing up in the streets of Miami, I saw different ways to escape a lot of conditions that I knew was around the corner in Mississippi. It always made me see the world from so many different aspects. I saw the fast life of Miami, but I also saw the slow countryside of a small, country town with a small population. I heard the struggles.”