Review Summary: Put a statue of a nigga in the middle of the city
Rick Ross makes great songs, not albums. For example,
Deeper Than Rap had the glorious 'Maybach Music II' where he traded verses with Kanye and Lil Wayne over a plodding drum beat and twinkling pianos, interweaved with T-Pain's wailing hook and
Teflon Don the pulsating riot-starter 'I'm Not a Star', where Ross' rapping took to a whole new level over a stampeding beat appropriately prized from what appears to be a warning siren. Ross sounded so hungry that all the accusations of him being a former police officer were swept under the rug, for as long as he was on the mic his ludicrous tales of extraordinary wealth were as believable as they needed to be. The rich, vibrant production of these records meant that even the slower, soul influenced numbers set off like a firecracker when Ross begins spitting, finding a way to mesh with almost any beat thanks to his imposing, throaty growl. The issue with many of the songs on his last four albums is that his lyrics are becoming pretty tired-sounding (most obvious on 2012's
God Forgives, I Don't), his guests frequently put him to shame, most notably Meek Mill on 'So Sophisticated' from the same album and Jeezy on 'War Ready' from
Mastermind, and most importantly that sometimes the production is so grand that he gets lost in his own lucrative fantasies, rambling on as he does for a lot of the aforementioned albums.
But, if you take Ross' best songs out of the context of their albums, you can see he has what it takes to construct a masterpiece. With a voice as unique his, Ross can make even the most farfetched tale sound completely believable and utterly relatable. Unapologetic from day one, he evaded sentiment and made his boasts bigger and bolder to match the beats with every release.
Mastermind was a slip up because its ridiculously bloated length meant that its flimsy concept was barely held together, but here that very concept thrives. Ross being bigged up as the 'hood billionaire', a success story for others to envy and aspire to match, make perfect sense amongst his weight loss and overcoming the controversies of yesteryear. The coke-slinging kingpin he paints himself as is more believable than ever, and it's something that very quickly takes hold on
Hood Billionaire. On the title track, a bulging beat erupts as Ross bellows his usual braggadocio, churning out just as many excellent one-liners as
Teflon Don highlights 'MC Hammer' and 'BMF', with an equally colossal beat go match. It's easy to envision Ross matching around his studio, hollering at everyone in the vicinity by channeling a fury unseen since 2010. Ross requires a strong backdrop for his throaty exclamations to take hold, which is exactly why the comparatively tame
Mastermind had so few highlights, using watered-down
Late Registration beats as a desperate attempt to revitalise a failing career.
Really though, it's strange because both of Ross' 2014 projects are overly long, feature a mix of very good and very bad songs (mostly the former here) and essentially feel more like proclamations of relevance rather than gripping, epic instalments in his discography. Yet somehow the tried and tested formula sound that but better this time round. Brawlers like Elvis Presley Blvd. finally revive the 'I'm Not a Star' persona in time for the most lyrically absurd song on the whole album (quite the achievement). The song speaks of shootouts, drug deals and when Ross screams 'tell them pussy crackers they can get the dog' he sounds for the first time in ages like he really means what he's saying. Combine that exact motif over and over again with Ross' super-sized beats and you have his best (and most consistent) set of songs since the dawn of the new decade. There's some poor songs as there always are on a Rick Ross album, but these are few and far between and the only real weakness is the length and the general repetitiveness of Ross' lyrical themes. But, if you've stuck with Rick Ross this long, homogeny would be a ridiculous thing to accuse him of. He no longer goes through the motions a la 'Hold Me Back', but constantly betters himself with better verses on each and every song, the best hooks he's ever come up with and a minimal amount of guests that for the first time ever fail to outshine him.
