Rick Ross Surges Out Of His Solo Slump Thanks To 'Suicide Squad'

It took the combined powers of Jared Leto and Skrillex, but Rick Ross is back on the Billboard Hot 100.

Taken from the soundtrack to the summer blockbuster Suicide Squad, the Miami rapper’s ”Purple Lamborghini” climbed to #33 in its second week on the singles chart. Benefiting from the film’s success as well as EDM superstar Skrillex’s co-credit, his track leapt 57 places from last week’s debut position at #90.

“Purple Lamborghini” marks the Maybach Music Group boss’ first single to reach the upper third of the Hot 100 as a non-featured artist in more than five years. He last achieved such heights for one of his own tracks in January of 2011 when the Drake-assisted Teflon Don cut “Aston Martin Music” reached No. 30.

While none of his solo album tracks released since then have performed as well on the Hot 100, he’s fared better as a featured guest on other artists’ singles including Ace Hood’s “Bugatti” in 2011, Rocko’s “U.O.E.N.O.” in 2013, and Chris Brown’s “New Flame” in 2014.

On Spotify,“Purple Lamborghini” has racked up close to 17 million streams in under a month. Prominently featuring the aforementioned Leto as legendary comics villain The Joker, the official music video has already racked up roughly 40 million YouTube views in just two weeks time.

Based on a DC Comics property, Suicide Squad has grossed more than $500 million at the box office worldwide since its August 5th release date. Another indicator of the comic book blockbuster’s popularity, the movie’s soundtrack impressively debuted this week atop the Billboard 200 album charts, supplanting DJ Khaled’s No. 1 peak from last week for Major Key while also keeping Drake’s Views in second place for yet another week.

“Purple Lamborghini” still has a ways to go to catch up with two of the soundtrack’s other songs in the Hot 100. Pop act Twenty One Pilots’ “Heathens” reached its eight week peak at No. 4, bolstered in this particular frame by digital sales gains. A multi-artist affair boasting contributions from Imagine Dragons and Wiz Khalifa, among others, “Sucker For Pain” currently holds the No. 15 slot.

Late last month, his Def Jam debut Port Of Miami finally reached RIAA platinum status almost ten years to the date of the album’s original 2006 release. Featuring his already platinum breakthrough single “Hustlin,” the album went gold back in November of 2006. Earlier this month, he shared a gold award with Maybach Music Group’s Meek Mill for his guest verse on that rapper’s 2011 single “I’m A Boss.”

Teaming up with Skrillex diverges significantly from Ross’ typical production choices, which heavily favor more conventional hip-hop beatmakers. That being said, the immediate success of “Purple Lamborghini” suggests that a shake-up on the instrumental side is in order, especially after the weaker performance of the singles from 2015′s Black Market and 2014′s Mastermind and Hood Billionaire. In stark contrast with Ross’ preceding albums, none of those three full-lengths have achieved even RIAA gold status.

Conversely, Skrillex has enjoyed strong chart and sales performance since 2015. A collaboration between him, Diplo, and Justin Bieber, Jack U’s “Where Are U Now” peaked at No. 8 on the Hot 100 and is now RIAA triple-platinum certified. As a credited producer on Bieber’s chart-topping “Sorry,” he reaps the benefits of the quintuple-platinum hit. Back in July, his own EDM albums Bangarang and Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites both respectively scored platinum plaques.

Given that and the potentially still-rising status of “Purple Lamborghini,” Ross may want to keep Skrillex’s number in his phone for when it comes time to work on his next solo album.

SOURCE