Rick Ross is from Miami and a force in the south but his strongest tracks on “Rather You Than Me” don’t reflect it as much you would think. 

Rather You Than Me reminds me of when Starbucks tried to sell movies and CDs, decided to scrap that idea, and went back to what they do best, which was just sell coffee and build around that. This where we find Rick Ross in his business cycle. 

 Rick Ross has had some real ups and downs. Whether it’s the beef with 50 Cent, the CO controversy, or the fact that his name belongs to a real gangster that is still alive and walking the streets. I can’t say that it was all parts of him taking a backseat as hottest rapper in the game to Drake, Future, and nem. Nonetheless it occurred to me, I completely missed out on Black Market and really haven’t been checking for anxious for new Ross since God Forgives I Don’t. I really had to go back and figure out how we got here because those just weren’t memorable points in time.

 The new album from Rick Ross takes off with “Apple of My Eye”, “Santorini Greece” and “Idols become” Rivals. All tracks are slow with tempo and not overproduced. The result? Rick Ross unleashes his full power like LeBron in the NBA Finals or Goku on Super sayian 3. The first two tracks let’s everyone he’s moved from rapping about bricks to brick buildings.  While “Idols become Rivals” has become the main talking point of the blogosphere because of the fact that he calls Cash Money Records a Catholic Church and Birdman a priest in the equation. And…. He’s not that far off. Not to get off subject but Birdman has a reputation going back to Juvenile and the Hot Boyz up to the recently Lil Wayne lawsuit who seems not take laying down (Pun somewhat intended).

After this stretch Ross isn’t out of comfort zone but his effectiveness is watered down like Russell Westbrook without Kevin Durant. It looks good on paper but if you look at the tape and see end results, the fans will be served steaming pile of disappointment.  

I’ll explain using Westbrook stat lines. Sorry if you don’t follow basketball.

“Trap Trap Trap” has a nice beat, but it’s neither catchy nor is there anything memorable about Young Thug or Wale. Rozay was trying hard to get in the Chevy trunk but to no avail.

Westbrook Line stats 18 pts, 10 asts, and 7 rebounds and a loss by 12.

“Dead Presidents” is trap star studded with Future, Jeezy, and Yo Gotti. This should be hands down be the best song on paper. The Jeezy and Yo Gotti hook is plain lazy and doesn’t even hold ringtone potential. The beat heat meter is on the low end because it sounds like your everyday SoundCloud producer  generic brand trap beat.  Nobody brings it and I think everyone felt like this wasn’t making the album.  

Westbrook line 28pts 11 asts and 10 rebounds on 7/26 shooting and a 2 point win.

“She On My Dick” features Gucci Mane, is misogynistic at its core, (a problem for another day) but in no way resembles a hot song.

Westbrook line. DNP Rest (skip)

And then when you feel like this album might be a glorified mixtape, Rick Ross goes back to what he does best with three straight bangers starting with “Powers That Be” featuring Nas. This my favorite song on the project but I do have an undying affection of super high quality “East Coast Rap”. After that comes Game Ain’t Based On Sympathy, Scientology which are dope but lead me to ask a question. Despite being a staple in down south rap, is Rick Ross an East Coast rapper?

It’s actually a perplexing question because within this album all the best songs have a polished east coast vibe with some nice 808s and on the other side you have most misses coming on trap beats with down south artist. It’s almost like he is the Miami version of Jay-Z.

In the last part of the album he continues with more laid back and slow paced beats and finds some great moments with the brightest being Maybach Music V with Dej Loaf. Dej comes on with a verse that sounds like it was penned by Ross himself because it’s probably the best thing to come out of her mouth. Ross comes in with some decent bars but the delivery made more impact than the actually lyrics. The Maybach Music series hasn’t disappointed yet and it could be the crowning accomplishment of his career. Make a song with the same name and every version is fire. Only artist that I know of that has done it so far is R. Kelly.

Despite the forced attempts at hitting the Atlanta club scene with trap beats and artists, Rather You Than Me shows some real replayability and some car trunk music that will help get through traffic. I actually really like this album over some of Rick Ross’ more recent projects. Even though Summer Seventeen ends the album with a lackluster closing, I still wanted more. It was refreshing like water to your kidneys After digesting Migos and two Future albums with minimal english, it was a nice change of pace to hear someone who was giving their lines some real thought.