Review Summary: BOSSSS
Rick Ross is one hell of a personality in hip hop. Whether his claims are true or not, he’s been a drug dealer in Flordia for many years, and he’s got many of people in many places. Supposedly, he even knows he the real Norega (and he owes him a hundred favors!). However, despite this entire drug trafficking story, this isn’t even the best part about Rick Ross. The one thing that makes Rick Ross a huge persona in hip hop is that he’s big. He’s HUGE. His voice is incredibly deep, and any fake nigga would be scared by this really big guy. I’m not saying he’s talented as a rapper, but his voice just makes everything so hood, gangsta, and cliché word I can use in the rap industry, it applies.
Trilla is a continuation of Rick Ross, after his highly regarded single “Hustlin” and highly anticipated
Port Of Miami,
Trilla is a rapper evolving somewhat, to a more grandiose sound.
With
Trilla, Rick Ross has put together a winning team, beat makers, guests, and all that. Bouncy synth beats on most of the ballads and sex songs, while horns dominate the average street banga. “This Me” sounds like the modern hip hop orchestra, with digital horns, violins and such, perfectly fit for Ross’s materialistic and ego happy rapping, while “Here I Am” is a keyboard-laden island anthem for the beautiful girl that Ricky loves (if she exists). Guests include a wide variety, everything from Nelly to Jay-Z all the way R. Kelly, making each track diverse and interesting, even it deals with similar topics. “Maybach Music” may just be another sleezy and sleepy drug anthem, but the average Jay-Z verse brings the track up to a level enough for listenability.
As mentioned earlier, Rick Ross’s deep voice helps the album become somewhat unique, this is true with this album, and with the heavy amount of guests, it allows Ross to stand out, even it isn’t with his lyrical performance. Production, as usual with the poppy hip hop of today, is done in an over-the –top way, but since this album is more oriented towards larger than life beats, it works really well on
Trilla.
Rick Ross has the right ear for the beat, and the right eyes for talent, but what he doesn’t have is the right hand for the pen. His lyrics are, if anything, below average for the mainstream rap genre, doing nothing to add to these lyrics to make them more than just generic, boring lyrics. You can pretty much guess from each song title what Rick Ross is going to rap about, and you’ll be right.
“I'm the biggest boss that you seen thus far (Ross!)
Got the biggest cars, Spanish broads, no bra
Call that other lame for the walks in the parks
I ain't come to play games, I just wanna play my part”
As a songwriter, Rick Ross does make most tracks enjoyable, but some songs just falter behind. “Money Make Me Come” is an odd song, using a sample from Trina saying “Money Make me cum” while Rick Ross uses a generic Jeezy beat to raps about bitches. As you’d suspect, the track fails, and just sounds unnatural. Anything after “Luxury Tax” pretty much falls flat on its face and reminds you that even the most fun albums have filler.
Trilla is a surprisingly diverse hip hop album, especially for the environment Rick Ross works in. However, it still has its short comings, mainly from rapper Rick Ross, and at times his songwriting. Still, this is an enjoyable hip hop album if you love grandiose, poppy beats, tons of guest rapping and singing, and a nice deep voice roaring “GET MONEY”. A fun hip hop album indeed.
The Good Songs:
“This Me”
See above.
“The Boss feat. T-Pain”
The single from the album, it gave me the image that
Trilla would be an excellent beat and production album. JR Rotem takes a sample from a 50s horror film, and manages to make it an exquisite and accessible beat. All of this and another work of T-Pain’s magic and we get an excellent hip hop song.
“Luxury Tax”
This one is the star studded track, featuring Trick Daddy, Young Jeezy, and *gasp* Lil’ Wayne. The beat on this track is similar to that of “This Me”, but more fitting for Young Jeezy and Wayne than it is for Ross, but it still works for Ross as well. Glorious Cash rap at its mainstream star studded height.
The Bad Songs:
“Money Make Me Cum”
Anything after “Luxury Tax”
Both the intro and interlude (provided by hip hops most annoying DJ Khaled (‘WE THE BEST’)
