Reaper's RANTS & Rea-Views

This was highly anticipated 4th album release of hip hop recording artist Rick Ross. Amongst a lawsuit from the REAL “Freeway” Ricky Ross, the recording artist was almost forced to change his name. Temporarily calling himself “Ricky Rozay” while promoting the album. The album was highly anticipated by fans & critics alike. It was already being billed as a “Certified Classic” & “Album of the Summer” in the hip hop community by people that heard the album before its release. Those are two huge statements to live up to. I heard the 1st single entitled “Super High.” I thought it was going to be a song literally getting “Super High.” Nonetheless, I was intrigued by the title. I heard the song and it was a very sub par song. One thing that threw me off was the fact that it features R&B platinum selling artist Ne-Yo. By him being featured on the song, it automatically gives the song an entire different vibe altogether that I did not like at all. Next I heard a song entitled “Live Fast, Die Young” featuring Kanye West. Needless to say, I was very excited to hear the song because of the featured verse & production from Kanye West. I had already heard the beat was amazing from my friends that had already heard the song. I finally heard the song and the beat was just OK to me. It has a nice sample and overall feel to it, but I was expecting a lot more. The verse from Kanye West nice of course, actually it is the best part of the song. After hearing several of the songs on the album before its release, I was not very excited to hear the entire album anymore. Also, during the course of hearing all these songs I saw the final tracklist for the album. There is only 11 songs! Now, this a major problem. I will always give any music a chance, but the the only “Classic” hip hop album I have ever heard is 1994’s “Illmatic” by Nas.  The fact they are so little tracks on the album means every song must be the best of the best. For example, you have an 18 track album (15/16 actual songs accounting for an Intro/Outro, Skits, & Interludes.) A decent album will probably leave you liking around half the album, which is 8 or 9 songs. For a person to release 8 or 9 solid songs is great nowadays because of the state of hip hop and how it has evolved over the years. However, half of an 11 track album is only around 5 songs, which is not very good at all. Creating longer album leaves room for error. Unless an album is undeniably Amazing, consumers will not usually like every song on an album. When there are more songs on the album, it gives more songs for consumers to like and dislike. That fact is, there are only about 5 songs that are worth listening to on this album. The majority of the album is what I like to call “Trunk Music.” This is music that sounds good when you are riding around because it gives your car speakers a workout. Rick Ross is often praised for his lyricism since rappers from the South aren’t always the best lyricists. However, when he makes songs like “MC Hammer” featuring Gucci Mane, a song that has no substance to it whatsoever and is nothing more than “Trunk Music”, people give often give him a free pass because he is from the South and he “doesn’t have to be lyrical because he is from the South.” The way I see it is either you are going to be lyrical all the time or make “Trunk Music” all the time. Don’t  continue to use your “I don’t have to be lyrical because I’m from the South” Free Pass. It is very possible to make lyrical “Trunk Music.” Either take the heat when you make garbage, catchy, no substance “Trunk Music”, incorporate some lyricism, or stop making them. The bottom line is Rick Ross “Teflon Don” did not live up the hype at all. This album is not the album of the summer by no stretch of the imagination. Even after giving the album time to grow on me and not writing this review immediately has not worked. After writing this review about “Teflon Don” I will no longer talk about this album, because quite frankly there’s a hundred other things I can be listening to and this is not worth my time to discuss.

P.S. One of the best songs on the album is not even on the album. It is called “Audio Meth” and it features Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon. It was released as a bonus track is available only through iTunes.

Best Song on the Album – “Live Fast, Die Young” Featuring Kanye West

Worst Song on the Album – “MC Hammer” Featuring Gucci Mane

Reaper Overall Rating – 2.5/5 Stars