Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

To analyze Rick Ross we must first understand that his past is riddled with tales of narcotics, guns, money, and the old fashioned Scarface-esque bravado that we so commonly see throughout the industry. So it’s easy to see why Ross would name his album Rise To Power. His ascent to the top of the game starts off pretty nicely with the jumpoff track It’s On. It’s not necessarily an intro, but it gets your head nodding within the first five seconds, and with Ross’s ability to flip any beat with his swagger alone, not to mention the solid sixteens from Noah and producer Jiggolo, it sets the tone for the rest of the album. The next couple of tracks, Hold Me Down and Get That Bread respectively, aren’t the greatest songs you’ll ever hear, but they’re definitely worth a listen if you’re into gangster rap. And if you like Boyz N The Hood (Jeezy’s ex-group), I’m pretty sure you’ll be bobbin’ your head to the Jiggolo-produced heater Get That Bread which actually features Big Duke from Boyz N The Hood on a verse that can go either way depending on if you like his style or not.

Street Love features a crooning Next on the chorus, and although it’s not all bad, it’s certainly not going to win any prizes for originality. The same can be said about Strapped and Bird Bath, except that these are actually street bangers with mediocre beats and above-par hooks and verses that again have Noah displaying why Ross’s Suave House label has a good look for the near future. Also, if you’re looking for the best line of the entire album, I’d have to give it to Ross on Strapped with: “we keep birds on us like pirates do”. It’s not the greatest line ever, but then again, Ricky isn’t the best rapper ever either.

Being that I’m from the west-coast and still listen to “Fuck You” from Dre’s “2001” album, one thing that I was particularly looking forward to was Devin the Dude’s contribution on the song Prove Me Wrong. But alas, he proved me wrong by sleep walking through the track and showing no emotion in a verse that would’ve probably been left on the shelf if anyone else had spit it.

After listening to the song B.L.O.W. I want to make a Public Service Announcement to the industry as a whole: come on now rappers, please STOP with the fake accents and lame ass drug dialogue on skits, leave that to Hollywood… please. Because we're it not for the horrible intro to the song, this would arguably be the highlight of the album; Ross comes through nicely, again, and the Clipse, unlike Devin the Dude, are very much worth every dollar they were paid to get on the song. Instead, the track-of-the-album has to go to Realest Niggas. It’s not that Ricky does anything special on the track, but the beat is hands-down the livest on the entire disc and the chorus is one of the more memorable as well. So if you’re going to download one song from this album, make sure it’s either this one or the intro… but you didn’t hear that from me, right?

Unfortunately, just as the album is finally rising to its full power potential it starts dropping off with the stale Simple and Plain and Dear Lord that features a verse from Scarface that is far from being his best work – very far. Even worse though, the last three songs seem to be more of an EP for the upcoming Jiggolo release than actual Rick Ross tracks, and even though they are cool songs, they should’ve probably been left for a mixtape or something rather than put on Ricky’s album. I mean, I understand that Suave House is trying to bust a Dynasty: Roc La Familia and introduce the world to their other artists, but it just doesn’t work for me.

Overall the album definitely meshes well together and doesn’t stray too far from what you would expect from Rick Ross. But if you’re looking for something to blow you away and rekindle your love for Hip-Hop, this is probably not what you’re looking for. Regardless though, Rick Ross gets his shine on throughout and he’s definitely on his way to the top… I just still don’t know to the top of what.