Search - Rick Ross :: Port of Miami (Clean)

(5 out of 10) Borderline Wack Lyrics and Decent Beats

Chandler | Atlanta (College Park), Georgia | 08/31/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Def Jam is the hot spot now. Jay-Z has found new acts to sign up to his label such as The Roots, Young Jeezy, and more. One new act would be a Miami rapper named Rick Ross. I don't know too much about this guy, although I heard a few songs with on a few Trick Daddy albums and what not. So he makes his mainstream debut called "Port Of Miami".



Now lyrically, Rick Ross is borderline horrible. When I heard his first single "Hustlin", he didn't make a good first impression to me, with vulgar lyrics and bad rhymes like "I caught a charge/ (You caught a charge?)/ I caught a charge/ whip it real hard/ whip it, whip it real hard..." It seems like he rhymes about the same few things over and over, selling drugs and making money, his hustlin tales. I don't mind that, but that flows through about 90% of the album. He also has some flat falling songs on here such as the fast paced song "I'm Bad". Dre comes on the song "Boss". I'm feeling the beat to that song, but lyrically it's wack. Also some of the beats are repetative. Doesn't "Where My Money (I Need That)" sounds almost identical to "Hustlin"? And speaking of "Hustlin" the remix that features Jay-Z and Young Jeezy is a little better than the origonal (although they outshine Rick Ross), but it's not as good to me as everyone hyped. And if you listen closely, you'll notice that he doesn't ride the beat half the time.



There are some good points on here though. Akon hooks up with him on the song "Cross That Line" that I actually was feeling for. Mario Winans comes up for the song "Get Away", as Rick Ross was able to ride the beat smoothly (for the first time on this album), but they're aren't anything special. Rick Ross lyrics finally shine on "Pots and Pans" as he rhymes about how he comming up and overcomming his obsticales although J Rock's singing sounds like something from a Field Mob album or so. Lil Wayne pulls the best verse on the song "I'm A G".



Overall Rick Ross needs to step his rhyme skills up. It seems like he does a decent job whenever he hooks up with guest appearances on verses and hooks, but he fails when he carries a song by himself. If you like up beat mainstream music, you will like this. To me, it doesn't standout enough for me. Feel free to disagree.



Lyrics: D

Production: C+

Guest Appearances: C+

Musical Vibes: C-



Favorite Tracks: Cross That Line, Get Away, I'm A G



Honorable Mention Track: Pots and Pans"

Terrible

L. C. Froyze | Boston,MA | 03/21/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"His style is very suspect his lyrics are terrible he talks about the same stuff as young jeezy which he's a miami version. A good thing about him is that he has a pretty good flow but he still has alot of work to do, he has to get back in the lab and stay there for a while."