Avg Rating: 
3.9 ( 13 total votes )
Rich Boy’s career is at the crossroads. Ten years from now he’ll either be the first rapper from Alabama to truly make it big, or just another guy picking up girls by dropping the old “you know I used to famous” line. Frankly it could really go either way. Let’s review: Throw Some D’s was a monumental smash, but recently we’ve seen a parade of rappers rewrite the definition of “one-hit wonder.’ If the public is skeptical about Rich Boy’s future in the game they’re not hating, they’re realistic: Mims, Huey, Plies, Hurricane Chris, none … ...Read the full album review
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DJBooth Album Review
Rich Boy’s career is at the crossroads. Ten years from now he’ll either be the first rapper from Alabama to truly make it big, or just another guy picking up girls by dropping the old “you know I used to famous” line. Frankly it could really go either way. Let’s review: Throw Some D’s was a monumental smash, but recently we’ve seen a parade of rappers rewrite the definition of “one-hit wonder.’ If the public is skeptical about Rich Boy’s future in the game they’re not hating, they’re realistic: Mims, Huey, Plies, Hurricane Chris, none of them have shown any true lasting power. So now, despite all the success, questions are swirling around Rich Boy’s supremely slim frame. Can he do it again? How much of his success is due to Polow da Don? Can’t he afford to eat more? Sometime I wonder whether a hit single is more of a curse than a blessing.
Make no mistake, Rich Boy is not taking these questions lightly. He’s obviously dead set on proving to the world that not only has he arrived, he intends to stay. The release of his new mixtape Bigger Than The Mayor is good enough to be an album for some rappers – though that says more about the low-grade of recent albums than how stellar this mixtape is. Regardless, Bigger Than The Mayor is a production-heavy Southern goliath worthy of blasting out the speakers of the most candy-painted Chevy. Or in my case, a VW Jetta.
If recent hip-hop history has taught us anything, it’s the power of a hot beat and a catchy chorus – just look at Throw Some D’s. Making production lightning strike twice however, isn’t nearly so easy, especially without Polow Da Don behind you. Rich Boy uses Bigger Than The Mayor to flex his own production muscle (along with a little help from friends Super Villain and Beethoven), starting with the addicitve production on Wrist Out The Window. Wrist is built over a series of knife-sharp notes which cascade around an obscenely deep bass line that booms so loud it’s almost enough to mute another terrible Shawty Lo verse – almost. For his part, Rich Boy does just enough lyrical posturing to get by, but not much else. Where Wrist shows rappers apparently still aren’t tired of making the same iced-out track, at least Chevy Is A Monsta puts a new spin on the old wood-grained genre. Monsta’s crushing percussion and horror flick synths are a force to be reckoned with, especially paired with an appropriately anthem-inducing chorus. Personally I prefer my Chevy-lovin production more laid back, like the superbly constructed Haters Wish, but if you like you music deafeningly dope Monsta is here to help.
So that settles it. Rich Boy doesn’t need Polow to drop scorching hot beats, but production isn’t really the issue here, it’s lyricism. The masses largely see Rich Boy as a stereotypical Southern rapper, long on style but short on writing skills – until he dropped Let’s Get This Paper, a lyrically gripping track that touched on everything from the Iraq war to the racist incarceration system. Could Rich Boy have an inner-Nas inside him? If he does he’s keeping it hidden. Rich Boy promised this album would be nothing but pill-poppin’ good times and sure enough he delivered. Bigger Than The Mayor is overflowing with strippers and syrup, and even the occasional threat to rape your mother; what else could songs titled B**ch I Know and Take It Off be about? The brightest ray or verbal light comes on Buried Alive, a track that shares its name with the tentative title of his next album. On Buried Alive Rich Boy’s deeply Southern drawl becomes a testament to the harsh lows and ecstatic highs of ghetto life. Unfortunately Buried Alive isn’t just an exception to the often repetitive “motherf**er” chant, it’s the lone exception. To use his own words, he’s got to be able to show us both how the world is, and how it could be. Ultimately, that kind of versatility is the mark of a true MC.
In the end Bigger Than The Mayor can’t really be used to predict anything about Rich Boy’s future. Is he a king in the making, or just another cautionary tale of achieving too much fame too quickly? I can tell you that if his next album sounds exactly like this mixtape, he won’t find mainstream success. But how likely is that? I don’t know Rich Boy, you tell me. You tell me.
Listen to More: Rich Boy Written by Nathan S.
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Member Reviews and Ratings
Average Member Rating: Total Ratings: 13
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DJ Booth Member  Total Ratings: 3 |
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Rich Boy + Polow Da Don = The Illest rapper + Producer Duo in the business right now
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| Posted on Apr 17, 2008 |
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DJ Booth Member  Total Ratings: 44 |
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A lot of bangers on this one. Can't be sleepin on Rich Boy
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| Posted on Apr 17, 2008 |
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DJ Booth Member |
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why is ricky gervais in the background on the album cover, lol rich boy is going all office on us. Got this album today, gonna give it a listen.
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| Posted on Apr 17, 2008 |
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DJ Booth Member |
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mixtape even ._.
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| Posted on Apr 17, 2008 |
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Tastemaker  Total Ratings: 502 |
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Ok ive read this whole thing and im gonna have to agree with the lasting power on the artist that you have mentioned but your totally wrong on Plies.. This is a bad article just because you said that he has no power to last.. Plies is a definite compared to Rich Boy.. i really can't stand him.. throw some d's really killed him as a rapper in my opinion to. One Hit Wonder just as Mims.. and Rich boy and Polow Da Don are not the illest team out there..
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| Posted on Apr 17, 2008 |
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DJ Booth Crew  Total Ratings: 2476 |
Kayleb,
Fair enough. Though I would point out that I didn't say that Plies is a guaranteed "one album and gone" guy, just that he hasn't proven he's not yet. Bust It Baby Part 2, the lead single off his soon to be released new album, is currently sitting at #58 on the charts, not exactly a promising start. As soon the his next album sells close to 500,000 units (like Real Testament did) I'll remove him from the "one and done" list, until then... 
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| Posted on Apr 17, 2008 |
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DJ Booth Crew  Total Ratings: 11866 |
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BLAOW. Nathan laid it down. On a completely different note... this mixtape is HOT. Why? Because it isn't RB stealing beats from all the hottest radio joints out right now. He actually release NEW music, not off an album. What a concept...
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| Posted on Apr 17, 2008 |
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DJ Booth Member |
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Anyone know where the production was mainly from? Did RB do a lot of it himself?
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| Posted on Apr 17, 2008 |
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DJ Booth Member |
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I dig this. Bangers all around.
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| Posted on Apr 17, 2008 |
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Tastemaker |
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This mixtape is bangin. RB is denfinately not a one hit wonder. After Throw Some D's which is an amazing song, he had other great songs on his album like ghetto rich, good things don't last forever, and get this paper.
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| Posted on Apr 19, 2008 |
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amazing. This rises above RB's severe lack of subject matter and vocab. I've never heard "@*#$!" used soooo much, but still this is bangin! some of these beats, i woulda been happy if they were on a regular album. and RB's rhymes aren't toooo bad either
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| Posted on Apr 22, 2008 |
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DJ Booth Member |
Rating:
hot mixtape rich boy get that paper on real
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| Posted on Apr 24, 2008 |
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DJ Booth Member  Total Ratings: 40 |
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RICH BOY FOR PREZZZ! he is so bigger than the mayor. haha
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| Posted on May 11, 2008 |
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DJ Booth Member  Total Ratings: 143 |
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I put ma wrist out the window good mix tape from Rich Boy
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| Posted on Jun 11, 2008 |
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DJ Booth Member |
Rating:
pretty alright.
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| Posted on Nov 17, 2008 |
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DJ Booth Member |
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Rich Boy Doing Good For A Rookie About 5 Years He'll Be on Top
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| Posted on Jan 02, 2009 |
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DJ Booth Member |
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Pretty gd mixtape hope hiz album haz mo lets get this paper type trax
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| Posted on Nov 21, 2009 |
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