Casual hip-hop fans and those wanting a hot summer jam are advised to give this a look. Those more serious about the genre are less likely to be satisfied and should approach with caution.
They say you need to get shot/convicted to get a buzz going in rap nowadays. With no one in the mainstream listening to the lyrics, you need some sensationalistic saucy press releases to get people interested in the MC and not just the beat. John "Fabolous" Jackson doesn't need this, however. He's a vet, this is his fourth album…no wait, he got shot in the leg at the end of 2006 and all of a sudden he's got an album coming out and Def Jam are giving him a big push despite their marketing department sleeping straight through the releases of much bigger names like Method Man, Ghostface Killah and Redman.
Dej Jam has really gotten into this record, even pulling Lil' Wayne from the original version of single "Diamonds" and replacing him with Young Jeezy, because they wanted a DJ artist on there. Speaking of guests, out of 15 tracks, only the first two are Fabo alone, and one of those is an intro mini-song. It feels more like a Fabo hosted mixtape as a result, and the album is a cold, calculated attempt at making a commercial giant. I'm sorry Fab fans! But I think your man's sold out. He sounds entirely complicit.
Where's the Real Talk? The guy who started his 2004 album with the incredibly provocative and confrontational Exodus is now apparently doing whatever he's told to sell records. Any fan of the East Coast/New York style Fab claims to represent must've fainted when they first heard "Diamonds." A thorough Southern copycat song, it's as dumb as a box of bricks, as Fab and Young Jeezy rap purely about how chicks want to sleep with them because of their chains. To Fab's credit he is a skilled lyricist who manages to put some wit into it:
"This tiger stripe watch, make the bitch a Bengals fan
We all know Jacob, check the shit he did
We spent more time making the band than Diddy did"
but as he's using his skills on such asinine subjects it leaves a bad taste in the mouth over the course of the album. It's almost entirely "I get paper, I'm a gangster, I fuck hoes" which is par for the course for major label hip-hop but Fab always promised and hinted at more. Now he's just on that corporate dick.
The track, "Brooklyn" follows "Diamonds," possibly as an apology to NYC fans, an ode to his home neighborhood to show he's still down with them. It just adds salt to the wounds, being the weakest track on the album, a dreadful droning hook with an irritating Biggie sample woven in. Jay-Z drops in and Jay-Z + Fab teaming up to rep Brooklyn should be huge, but this flops. Uncle Murder, current poster child for "I shoot niggas" rap, also turns up to cement the disgrace.
Basically if you're a fan of Fab, this record is probably going to really piss you off. If you're a real hardcore hip-hop fan or lyrical fellow it's also a no-go zone. But stick around kids, because as a piece of hip-pop, this is pretty strong. For example, "I'm The Man" may be embarrassingly braindead on the lyrical front, but Reefa's huge boomin' production is really somethin' to strut to. Flows are smooth, production is catchy and strong, there's a wide variety of name guests and a lot of it sounds like they could be good singles. There's no real meat around all that radio ready sugar. But, if you like that radio ready sugar, dig in. T
he album kicks off with the title intro, Reefa's firey guitars giving an epic, triumphant vibe as Fab just goes nuts for a couple of minutes before the first real song, "Yep I'm Back" comes on. Yep I'm Back is the second and last time you'll see Fab on his own and it's pretty good, giving him ample space to exercise his rapid but nonchalant flow over another huge beat from Freebase. Then the stars start rolling by. First is Akon who produces and guests on "Change Up." It's a typical Akon joint, him singing a catchy/irritating (depends on your mood) hook while Fab fills in time between it. Then the super-powered single "Make Me Better" comes on. Ne-Yo's wonderful voice and Timbaland's mesmerising strings providing the frame for Fabolous to paint a picture of his idea of an ideal relationship in. Much mocked computer-assisted singer, T-Pain, turns up on the Jermaine Dupri helmed, "Baby Don't Go." It's Dupri, which means you'll hate yourself for liking it, and like it anyway. Dupri's the king of hip-hop guilty pleasures, peppering his snappy beats with little touches of melody and synth that really get into your skin.
"Baby Don't Go" and "Make Me Better" are just two of a sizable number of "tracks for the ladies"- is Fabolous breaking hip-hop's misogyny or is he just trying to widen his commercial appeal? I suspect it's the latter, but ladies might dig it anyway despite the cynicism as so many hip-hop albums either ignore them or abuse them. In this category we also find "First Time" featuring Rihanna, which is a bit rote as Fab tells the story of how he first got into her pants. The chilled out, lush "Real Playa" Like may be the most successful of these slow-jam-like tracks, Polow Da Don's strings are syrupy but are balanced out by Fab's ghetto vibe. Guest hook singer, Lloyd, has a good voice but he sounds like a woman which turns me off a bit.
After so many cuts of lyrical nonsense it's truly disorienting to find Fab suddenly dropping real science. The album ends with the realest hip-hop shit on here– a hardcore six MC gangsta smackdown. It's not really Fab's show as he just drops one verse like the others (who include his brother Paul Cain), but it turns out to be a winner. Despite being almost seven minutes with no chorus, Nova's snarling, tough as hell gunshot speckled beat keeps it going while the boys talk smack as in this excerpt from Freck The Billionaire's verse:
"I'm the best, hands down, like 6:30"
Casual hip-hop fans and those wanting a hot summer jam are advised to give this a look. Those more serious about the genre are less likely to be satisfied and should approach with caution.
Rating: 3/5
