The latest in the Rick Ross drama surrounding his past employment as a prison guard comes, again, from Smoking Gun, as well as the Boss himself, who claims all of this drama is nothing more than a smear campaign.

Through a Freedom of Information request, the Smoking Gun Web site obtained Florida Department of Corrections (DoC) records that show the 32-year-old worked as a correctional officer for 18 months, until he resigned his $25,794.34 post in June 1997.

DoC officials granted the Web site’s request for Ross’s 86-page personnel file, excerpts of which are posted at Smoking Gun. The documents include Ross’s employment application, which notes that he was a 1994 graduate of Miami’s Carol City Senior High School and spent a year at Georgia’s Albany State College, where he studied Criminal Justice.

On a personal history form, he identifies Tommie Ann Roberts as his mother and Tawanda Roberts as his sister. Both women are prominently thanked in the liner notes from Ross’s 2008 album “Trilla.”

Other personnel records include a fingerprint card that was used during a criminal background check, and the resulting report showing that his record was clean. In a supplemental application, Ross agreed to perform a wide range of correctional officer duties, including “shoot an inmate attempting to escape.”

Despite the documentation found by TSG, Ross (real name: William Leonard Roberts) continues to dismiss the allegations as rumors started by haters who target rappers once they reach a certain level of fame.

“When you get to my level, you’re a great conversation piece,” Ross told Phoenix radio station Power 98.3 (KKFR-FM) during an interview Friday (July 25). “I’m big on the blogs, I’m big on the magazines, and I appreciate that as an artist. That’s why I’m in the game. I got in this game to introduce people and to make great music. And that’s what it’s about.

“Don’t believe the hype,” he told listeners. “In the game we in, it’s real competitive. Competitors have to do what they have to do to eat. We making the best music. Y’all seen the BET Awards, y’all saw the magazine. We the biggest in the game, we the best in the game. Just keeping it real. And anytime somebody can attack my character, like I said, you get nothing from the Boss. I don’t give haters the pleasure.”