I Think I Finally Figured Out Why Everyone Loves The Rick Ross Album [Rant]

I would like to preface this rant by saying I DO like the Rick Ross album.  It's not a terrible album.  It's well put together, has some great beat selection, and Ross is a decent enough rapper.  If you read my other write up you'll even see I gave it a pretty glowing review despite my disdain for those two songs that sound exactly fucking alike.  "Teflon Don" is solid but a far cry from the "album of the year" praise people felt inclined to heap upon it.  And I think I figured out why.

Remember when people used to shun mainstream music in favor of underground?  Those days are long gone.  These days, we look for the underground mixtape rappers but we judge them on how they perform in the mainstream. We WANT our underground artists to be mainstream.  But we have to be real with ourselves; mainstream music has sorta hit the ceiling.  No one is able (or willing) to make any new kind of music.  And since most mainstream artists tend to work with the same mainstream producers/song writers, songs (and even albums) are beginning to sound alike.

So here comes Rozay, with a concise, well put together collection of awesome production and eye-catching cameos.  From a quality stand point, it's easily a step above of most releases we've seen recently.  But it's all relative.  Is this better than Recovery?  No.  Is it better than How I Got Over?  No.  Is it going to be better than Kanye's yet-to-be-titled album?  Hell no!  I get that music is subjective but please don't let the current landscape of the industry lower your standards so much. Ross may have dropped the best album of his career, but it's far from the year's best release, and it's even further from a classic.  Just a solid album that'll gain a few spins until Kanye drops.