Rick Ross
In March, I wrote a review of Rick Ross’s sixth studio album, Mastermind. I enjoyed the album, and in my review I went in-depth about the new levels of maturity Rozay was reaching and how that was reflected in his music. Hood Billionaire, Ross’ follow-up to that solid performance, drops today. But on that topic, I have not nearly enough to say. To put it simply, Hood Billionaire is kind of boring.
It seemed like a fairly short wait period in between albums for Ross, the face of Maybach Music Group. And maybe it was, because a lot of the music on Hood Billionaire feels annoyingly simplistic, a thrown-together mishmash of signature Teflon Don machismo and drug talk.
Repetition is obviously a staple in the rap game, a nice hook being a dynamite formula for a hit. However, a lot of the tracks on this album never reach that level of catchiness. Even on a third or fourth listen, they just seem bland.
Like many of his recent ventures, the guest list on this album is impressive. Ross is at a position in the rap game where he can pick and choose who he wants to work with. On Hood Billionaire, he decided to go with a nice mix of young names and old icons. Jay Z joins Ross on “Movin’ Bass,” R. Kelly appears on “Keep Doin’ That” and Snoop Dogg is featured on “Quintessential.” But all of these tracks just feel like disappointments, as though neither artist is coming anywhere close to tapping into what made him famous.
All three songs really had the potential to turn this into an album to remember — on paper, all of them look like surefire hits. But instead, they just stand as representation of the half-efforts that make this album mediocre at best. The few songs on this album that do have some quality to them — most notably, the aggressive “Burn” and the silky, Southern Big K.R.I.T. collab “Brimstone” — just remind us that the rest of the tracks could be much better.
One would assume that Ross isn’t at a point in his career where he has to rush out album after album, staying on his grind in search of the next paycheck. That’s what makes this work a bit puzzling. Mastermind felt like a complete, polished work, one that Ross poured a lot of himself into. Hood Billionaire feels like a hurried surface album, something you can put on in the background while doing homework as a constant sound — half the time, you won’t even notice when the song changes.
I don’t think many of the tracks from Hood Billionaire will make it to the radio, so it’ll have to be an album for only Ross’ fans to enjoy. Although for this fan, it’ll be one to forget — hopefully just a brief money grab in between real works from Da Boss.
