Since “Hustlin’” exploded, Ross’s phone has been ringing non-stop, so much so that—after he almost brings the rafters of Bayfront Park down with his verses off Khaled’s “Holler At Me Baby,” Dre’s “Chevy Ridin High” and a multiple-rewind version of “Hustlin’,”—E-Class has cleared Ross’s schedule for a full week so he can get in the studio and actually work on his own damn album for once. With a full decade of grinding behind him, his breakthrough brought on a bidding war that Jay-Z and Def Jam ultimately won. It also brought on a landslide of requests for featured verses as legends and newly minted artists alike sought to co-opt just a little of that ultra-fresh, ultra-credible “Hustlin’” street magic. In the meantime, Ross and Poe Boy have kept new mixtapes in the streets, but many of the songs are misleading, as Ross phones in “cars and coke, coke and cars” verses that sound like cumbersome freestyles. So instead, it’s on some of those guest features—songs with Paul Wall, Lil Wayne, Pimp C, Too $hort, Birdman, NORE, Trina, Trick Daddy, Daz and more—that there are hints of what to expect when Port Of Miami drops.

Dre, for one, has obviously been in the studio with many talented MCs, but the producer swears Ross will prove to be one of the three best rappers alive. “In my opinion, in ’99, 2000, 2001, he was on Jay-Z’s level at that time,” Dre says. “But he was unknown and putting everything on the plate at one time, and it was too much for motherfuckers to handle. So he was like, ‘I’m gonna dumb shit down for you motherfuckers,’ and on ‘Hustlin’,’ he dumbed it down.” Dre then goes on to quote the opening lines of a song called “Blow” that Ross has recorded for Port Of Miami: A big blunt full of kush/ A bomb of heron tucked in the bush/ I don’t give a fuck, I’ll send a nigga like Bush/ You sitting on top I give your ass a slight push/ Motherfucker how the bottom feel?/ I had a lot of scrill way before I got a deal/ I used to wet yay way before I met Jay/ Like chess/ For your boy, that day was checkmate….

Ross might have claimed in the rhyme that his deal with Def Jam was “checkmate,” but that was merely an early round victory—an amateur league championship title that came with an invitation to the pros. In other words, there is still a lot of untapped opportunity in Ross’s future. The night we arrived in Miami, some 20 hours before we met Ross for the victory lap tour around Bayfront Park, we were with Ross’s publicist from Def Jam, Gabriel Tesoriero. He showed us a transmission on his Blackberry from earlier in the day with Jay-Z, in which he reported to his boss, In Miami with Ross, he picked me up from the airport in the white Phantom. Jay responded, Tell Ross he’s finger-fuckin this money. If he delivers me a smash, I’ll send him to the moon. He passed the message on to Ross, then sent Jay the response, which read, Ross says: “Tell Jay I’m puttin on my space suit now. How long’s the flight?”