The term “long awaited” is so overused its become almost meaningless - unless you’re talking about Rick Ross’ long-awaited album Trilla. The follow up to his explosively dope debut, Port of Miami, Trilla has been delayed more times than a flight out of Chicago during a snowstorm. Well the wait is finally over. Tomorrow the man with one of rap’s best voices will finally bless us with an album that shows what he’s truly capable of. The answer? An album that’s damn good, but not quite good enough.
When we talk about Rick Ross, we’re really talking about Hustlin. The massively swaggering track that introduced Ross and his impeccably groomed beard to the masses, Hustlin is inarguably the greatest Miami hip-hop track of all time (with all due respect to 2 Live Crew’s Me So Horny). But Hustlin’s legendary status has become a mixed blessing for Ross; what if the first song he ever dropped also becomes the best song he ever does? The world keeps waiting for another Hustlin, and while Trilla provides some close calls, it’s become evident that even Ross is struggling to live up to his initial promise.
The nominees to replace Hustlin’ starts with Maybach Music, a J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League produced track with a beat so epically smooth it could have made the American Gangster tracklist. Speaking of which, Jay shows up to drop a predictably mind blowing verse that completely outshines Ricky’s “boss” heavy flow. Hearing the two side by side actually proves a great point; Ricky is a much better lyricist than he gets credit for, but he’s nowhere near elite status. The same goes for Luxury Tax, a song that gets completely owned by Lil Wayne, despite verses by Young Jeezy and Trick Daddy. Now, having your song taken over by Weezy F. is nothing to be ashamed of, he does it to nearly everyone, but by the time Luxury Tax ends you’ve almost forgotten Ricky was even on the track at all. The moral of the story? Appreciate Hustlin’s greatness, it may never happen again.
Trilla finds Ross in an awkward position. In order to keep stacking paper in larger amounts he has to widen his fan base by crafting tracks with mass appeal, but if he loses his “hustler ready to die” image in the process he’s done for (a phenomenon I detailed in the Curtis review). Take The Boss for example; a track that find Ricky carefully balancing his dope-boy demeanor against the production of teen-favorite J.R. Rotem and the reigning king of radio, T-Pain. Luckily J.R.’s production perfectly walks the line between the street and the suburbs with a beat full of muted keyboard and subtle percussion work, exactly the kind of grown man production a heavyweight like Ross can rhyme over without compromising his cocaine-based flow. And for the record, we’ve officially hit the point when you can just assume T-Pain killed the track unless I say otherwise. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for Speedin’. The lead single off Trilla was such a disappointment it no doubt contributed to the album-release delay, and its failure to connect is almost incomprehensible. You’d think a track with R. Kelly on the hook and The Runners production would be a guaranteed ticket to Hitsville, but somehow Speedin’ took a wrong turn and ended up in Averagetown (I’m sorry, even I can admit those were terrible puns). It’s not that the track’s bad, it’s just…um…well…so average I can’t really think of anything interesting to write about it.
The point is, when I listen to Mr. Ross I don’t want slick production and number one hits, I want blunted beats and unapologetically coke-laced rhymes. And that, ladies in gentlemen, is why Money Make Me Cum is one of Trilla’s best tracks. Sure it’s got enough “b**tces” to give Bill O’Reilly a heart attack, which would be a step in the right direction, but this kind of adult-only content is where Ross is at his best. You can’t water down The Boss, and if only Trilla had more concentrated cuts in the spirit of Money Make Me You Know What it could have been the definitive Miami-hustler album. Instead it looks like that title is still up for grabs. Listen, if you think I’m being hard on the big man it’s only because I can’t help but feel like Ross has an epic album in him, and I’m not gonna be satisfied until I get it. Sorry, that’s just the kind of demanding motherf**er I am.
man this sh!t is hot, this will be album of the year unless weezy pulls through and actually kills an album, port of miami was a classic, trilla's gon be jus a bit better but i know rickys got more potential and his next album will be a masterpiece, hes like a fine wine, he only gets better with time
great album ... there are no clear cut number one hits on here ... maybach music/luxury tax are good ... i thought speedin was an awesome track ... it sure bumped in the ride ... billionaire is also a very good track IMO , rick ross just needed to put one more Mega hit song on the album (Hustlin caliber) ... None of these songs are going to be remembered in 5 - 7 years therfore i will not give it a 5/5 instead a 4 ... Lupe Fiasco still album of the year ... although record sales wont tell u that ...
sh!t lupe's was in 2007 ... my bad ... weezy should be able to top this album ... he has to put a classic, epic album out, otherwise it will just be considered a dissapointment ... bty weezy kills luxury tax , for those who havnt heard it
This album is dope how can you not give it a 5/5. Here let me give you a song that was suppose to be on the album but was cut for some stupid reason. Dat Boy ft. Brisco and Birdman, holly shit that track is smokin, bangin whatever you wanna call it. So listen to it.
I am not a Rick Ross fan by any means. His tracks to me are just average and I feel like his voice sounds like an old man on a respirator. He does rep his shit though, so I gotta give him props for that. However, I've heard this album and it really just doesn't do it for me. The Boss, Luxury Tax, and Maybach Music are the only 3 tracks that i would listen to once in a while. Sorry!
I was not a big fan of Rick Ross early on, but I'm on the bandwagon now. However, he's still just an average rapper to me. Sure his voice sounds good, even better now then in Hustlin, but his raps are still not really good.
You comment on Speedin bein an average track. Well, Kellz sounded just like he did in Go Getta. Listen to em, they are very similar. So perhaps the formula didn't work, even though I really like that song.
Money Make Me Cum... this is an example to me of bad Ross. This song has perhaps the hottest beat on the album, but Ross sounds like he doesn't know what to rhyme about. Yeah, he uses b!tch so much it's like filler. Then there's Reppin My City. Hottt beat, but I'm not sure what he says on his verse. I only remember the guests.
To sum up, I think Ross is alot like 50 Cent: gets hella good beatz, but isn't that good of a rapper
I kept bouncing back on this album. First I thought it was a 3.5. Next go around I thought 4.5 then 4. Then I decided to wait until Nathan broke it down. I too believe Ross has a near-classic in him somewhere. I think Trilla was just a step up that road. Tracks like "Shot to the Heart" (not on this album) and "I'm Only Human" are where Ross is at his best, in my opinion. He had a lot of good tracks, but when I stepped back to think, I wondered if on some of them if it was Ross or the feature? Like Nelly on "Here I Am" or the mentioned "Luxury Tax" with Lil Wayne. "Sure it’s got enough “b**tces” to give Bill O’Reilly a heart attack, which would be a step in the right direction.."
When this album arrived at my doorstep, I was EXCITED BEYOND WORDS. Four months of press releases and DJBooth members solidified my confidence in Mr. Ross, as it has been some time now since the man's debut offering two years ago.
I must say, I am deeply disappointed in this album. Out of the MANY songs that DJBooth features leading up to this release, there were at least FOUR that didn't make the final cut, which were BETTER than some of the songs to make it.
I agree whole-heartedly with Nathan when he said Ross has a dynamite banger of an album in him, but folks, this was not it. With that said, in the first 3 months of '08, THIS THE BEST (in the words of Khaled).
DAMN Z! I seriously cant stop banging this album. To me...this album is better than the Lupe album, the Kanye album, and the 50 album!!! I was bumping this so hard in the Bimmer and I even tried to make my stereo go louder than MAX!!! This album is a certified CLASSIC in my opinion. I only skipped a total of about 3-4 tracks on the entire album. This is the Album of the Year in my opinion! Best in 2008 so far! Good review Nate...keep bangin them out! Represent Da BOOTH!!!!
Sorry everyone...I had another copy of the album that included those 5-6 tracks that Z was talking about...With these 5 tracks added, it would be a classic...but the real album doesn't have them, so It's not a Classic...Sorry everyone once again...Now I have to give it a 2-star rating to make my rating a 4-star Banger...I recant my statements that this album is better than Lupe's, Kanye's, and 50's...I apologize to those artists as well.
Let’s call them by names instead of numbers, shall we Z? Let’s see: Shot To The Heart, Career Criminal, Trilla, Get Love… are these the 4 tracks you are talking about? At least for me those should be on the album instead of some other 4 that made the final cut. Aside this fact, the album is solid and has other great tracks (my favs being I’m only human, Luxury Tax and Maybach Music) in it, only it could’ve been better, thus a classic like everyone was expecting.
BANGER, but felt like for some reason he picked too powerful of beats on his softer songs that made it lose its emotional feel. Like he had the BANGING bass you have in huge club and street hits in his emotional songs, I'd preferred it was toned down a lil, but overall a great album. Rick Ross has quickly attained Boss status in the game.
The album had some cool track don't get me wrong I am just not feel Ross no more. He a hard dude but his voice aint nothin speacial. Pleanty of other cool albums around right now
I am so disappointed. My girlfriend gave me a copy of this and there were some songs the we all danced to but I had to press the skip button alot. I am so sorry guys but for this review only 1 star. I am sure other people may like it, but not me. Hope you enjoy. STILL KIND OF GLAD i DIDN'T BUY IT
Sorry guys have been abit hard on a few people today but have heard most of this cd and have to agree. The cd has some hard hitting beats but just missing something.
I agree there were a lot of better songs left off. That kinda pissed me off. I REALLY wanted to see some of the already mentioned songs on the album. I heard the snippet of "Criminal Mind" that little snip ALONE was amazing, even with Khaled yelling over it every second.
Definitely a banger! My favorite tracks are Here I Am, The Boss, Speedin, and Maybach Music. Luxury Tax is pretty good, too. I agree that he can do better than this, but this will hold me over for now.
This Album is gonna be FIREEE!!, his first album was sold good, this one is gonna sell 10 times better! lol, i didn't really like his loww voice at first but it kinda grew on me. This guy has got major talent.
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