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15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good album that could have been great, July 20, 2010
This review is from: Teflon Don (Audio CD)
The album opens up with the track 'I'm Not A Star' which to me, isn't anything special. It has the typical kind of beat you would find on a Young Jeezy or T.I. album. Very southern sounding arrangement with bragadocious lyrics and technical crack talk (I guess to prove to people that he's "real") Not the best I've heard from Rick Ross, but better then the "Face" song on his last album, meaning it's at least tolerable.
Things sort of vier off the drugs, and self praise on the controversial track, 'Free Mason'. For a couple of years now, people have been calling Jay-Z a Freemason, devil worshiper, Illuminati, etc and Jay used this song to finally let people know where he stands in terms of all that. Jay defiantly raps, "I'm on my third six, but a devil I'm not". This is a good track with simple, yet enjoyable production. Rick's hook will keep you interested and the lyrics are good all around.
'Tears of Joy' begins with a clip which seems to come from former Civil rights activist, Bobby Seale. This was a little surprising to hear on a Rick Ross album but given the contexts of the clip, it sort of makes sense for a gangster rapper to use it. No ID produces the beat, which I didn't really like at first, but it grows on you after a few listens. The lyrics are all over the place and I don't get what they have to do with having "Tears of Joy", but it's still a pretty good song, just nothing really mind blowing.
The album starts to pick up with the long awaited 'Maybach Music III' This is the successor to the last two amazing songs Rick Ross has under his belt of hits. The series is known for it's features, and this one continues that format with verses by Jadakiss, T.I. and a very good, but unexpected chorus by Erykah Badu. Jadakiss' bars are as good as ever, and T.I. actually surprised me on this one. What's great about this song is that the beat sounds like something from a movie score. The production switches up when Rick's verse starts and I thought it had a very epic feel to it. It felt as if a king had returned from exile or something. If I had to say anything bad about this song it would be that the "J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League" [Producers] tags are annoying and that Rick Ross could have taken one of those features off and had an extra verse. But then again, having two verses probably would have lessoned the significance and importance of Rick's verse on that song. Overall though, this is probably the best track 'Teflon Don' has to offer.
Kanye produced this next one, and it's clear that this isn't the same producer we met in 2004. When I first listened to this I thought it was a jumbled mess that had way too many things going on at once (saxophone, claps, sample of someone saying "hey", drums, etc) But the song kind of grows on you after a while. Undoubtedly, not Kanye's best work, but I liked it. (After 9, 10 listens) Kanye is also featured on the track, and it's nice to hear his signature word stretching and egotistical lyrics again. What confuses me about this song, however is the upbeat nature of it. The song is called 'Live Fast, Die Young' so I thought it would be deeper and darker, but it's very happy and celebratory, like they're saying dying young is the greatest thing in the world. But this seems to be the kind of thing you just listen to and play in your car, without really thinking about the lyrics so I'll give that a pass.
The next track on the album is 'Super High' with Neyo, which is great, but it clearly doesn't belong on this album due to it's age. I first heard this song months ago and Rick Ross also included it on the "Albert Anastasia EP" which was given out for free. For me, this was just a skip track. Moving on...
'Number 1' is an okay song, with even more features by Diddy and Trey Songz. The drums on the beat are a little too heavy for me to enjoy the track fully though. When a beat has drums that are so loud they drown out other instruments and melody of the song, you should know there's a problem. This is a simple thing that could have been fixed if the song was mixed properly. The singing by Trey is decent, but I don't think Diddy's verse was a necessity...
Finally we get to the album's biggest faults, 'BMF' and 'MC Hammer'. What I noticed immediately, when I heard them on the Albert Anitasha EP is how EXTREMELY similar they sound. This is a huge problem considering how short this album is. The first track, 'I'm Not A Star' also sounds like these tracks. How do you end up with 3 songs on an 11 track album that sound the same? It seems like Rick Ross had the BMF song and took two producers to sample it and make their own variations of it. I suspect all 3 of these, along with the bones old 'Super High' where included because they spent all the album money on the features (Who weren't always needed.) instead of saving for new beats and sample clearances. While I'm on the topic of features; Styles P has a short, 12 bar verse on the BMF song, which I think was an unnecessary waste and I don't even want to address the "other" guest...
This next track, 'Ashton Martin Music' is probably the second best song after Maybach Music III and it's also produced by the "J.U.T.I.C.E League" group. Future musical great, Chrisette Michele and new comer Drake are featured, and it's a formula that works itself out quite nicely. Drake isn't that great a singer, but his part of the chorus is really well done, and reminiscent of the hooks on his own album. Rick's verses are great and he does a good job of painting vivid imagery in his lyrics. "When I'm alone in my room, sometimes I stare at the wall, automatic weapons on the floor, but who can you call?"
The final song is called 'All the Money in the World'. The beat used on this is very southern sounding, but it works for me. When looking at the title one might think this is some huge, greedy, money track, but it's much more then that when you listen to some of the things he's saying. Is this the best song to close out an album? I don't think so... But it's a pretty good track all the same.
This is an album plagued with reused songs, and a ridiculous amount of features, but it's not the worst album of the year. This actually could have been really good with minor changes. If you're checking out Rick Ross for the first time, I would go with his last LP though. Iumak gives this one a 6.5/10
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is Rick Ross' 4th studio release. Browse Rick Ross' Discography 
