So Dope that Def Jam put it in stores. If his album is anywhere near as good as this it's going to put Fab on the map in a major way!
Fabolous returns after just over a year to bring his 7th mainstream solo album/mixtape since his debut (which dropped on 9/11/01 he also has one sort of `group' album that I own). This one I'd say is a low 4 star album, and that's about all I expect from his albums now-a-days. Here's my breakdown of his other albums:
"Ghetto Fabolous" (9/01) --- 4 stars
"Street Dreams" (3/03) --- 3.5/3 stars
"More Street Dreams Pt. 2" (11/03) --- 3.5 stars
"Real Talk" (11/04) --- 4 stars
"From Nothin to Somethin" (6/07) --- low 4 stars
"Loso's Way" (7/09) --- 4 stars
Fabolous & Street Fam present "Loso's Way: Rise to Power" (6/06) --- 4 stars
Like I said in a lot of his previous album reviews, I'm not expecting anything great like myself (and many others I'm sure) were when he first starting being heard & caught everyone's attention around 1999. No doubt he has very high potential and is a very good lyricist, but he also throws in (in my opinion) way too many radio friendly and songs for the ladies on his albums, that serve nothing more than filler material in my opinion. This one is short, with 8 songs. 4 are goo, 4 are ok. Guests are on only 2 songs, so though it is a short album, at least you get a fair share of F-A-B-O. Production is nothing special really. I.N.F.O. and Sonaro each do 2 songs, Ryan Leslie, Amadeus, Jahil Beats, Lex Luger each do 1. If you're a huge fan or can find it a nice cheaper price (it's only 8 songs and under 30 mins.) I'd pick it up, but he has done better on other material.
#2 - 7.5 (nice lyrics, very simple beat)
#3 - 9 (good beat)
#4 - 8.5
#5 - 9 (nice beat)
#6 - 6.5 (f/ Cam'ron & Vado)
#7 - 8
#8 - 8.5 (f/ Red Café & Lorel)
#9 - 7
John David Jackson -- b. 11/18/~77 -- Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NY
Check all my reviews
Really, I think There Is No Competition 1 should have had it's own cd, but I digress. The beats on this mixtape aren't that great, but fab's punchlines are on point. Only 8 real songs though, which is a letdown. Fortunately, the $8 pricepoint makes it ok.
