The hip-hop journalist who exposed rapper Rick Ross as a former corrections officer in 2008 was shot and killed in Miami, Florida on Friday.

Don Diva Magazine writer Sam Ferguson's car was showered with bullets as he headed north on the Florida Turnpike freeway on Friday afternoon.

According to local reports, he crashed the vehicle into the highway median and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police have launched a major investigation to seek out his killer.

Ferguson, aka P-Man Sam, hit the headlines a year ago when he wrote a piece for Hip-Hop Weekly about old friend Ross, revealing the rapper once worked at a prison.

Ross initially denied the story, but he opened up to Ferguson, a former convict, for Don Diva's October 2008 issue, and came clean.

Afterwards, Ross was said to be unhappy with the article and began a nasty feud with the writer.

Ross recently stated, "Ferguson is a liar, he's an informant, he's a rat, he's a b***h... This s**t (is) about to get deeper than rap."

Don Diva's Editor-in-Chief, Tiffany Chiles, admits she is "deeply saddened by this tragic and senseless incident."