I may be one of 13 people in the whole world that never caught up in all the hype surrounding Fabolous. Sure, his punchlines are amazing and he has some lyrical talent too, but his monotone flow always kept me away from digging Fab. So I made my point about fab clear, onto the album:
The Intro really shocked me in a good way, since Fab manages to flow the entire thing nicely, but he slowly descends into monotomy again (he picks up in some tracks to, most notably Return of the Hustler); Nevertheless, he manages to remind us why is his punchline game er, fabulous (I rather not spoil the sickest punches, you'd definitely notice them, especially in This Is Family), however most of his lyrics are disposable.
How do you feel about 17 (18 counting Red Cafe's double appearance) featured artists on a 15-track album? if you like variety, then you'd like to know that Fab's latest effort features diversity ranging from Akon (surprised? me neither) to Jay-Z (surprised? I was)
, however, it ain't a good thing when most of them outshine Fab on his own album. Some guest spots fit perfectly (like Jeezy's verse in the hate it or love it single, Diamonds, Jay's verse on the original-titled Brooklyn, and the album's gem: This Is Family) but some are terribly wasted (Ne-Yo repeating you make me better over and over on the equally titled track is just plain annoying), ultimately the album reaches its lowest points in the girl songs where Fab is uninspired and predictable, and it just so happens to be a lot of girl songs here.
Beat-wise, you won't be dissapointed. Every track feels diferent from each other and overall the production is definitely high quality stuff (too bad most of the lyrics aren't on par), the highest point arguably being swizzy's Return of The Hustler. The album definitely bangs, and if you came for beats you came to the right place.
if all of this sounds kind of familiar, then it shouldn't surprise you: this is pretty much the same recipe fab follows for his albums(which may be a good think if you hail his previous works as classics)....unfortunately for him, it's starting to get old.
Rating: 6.5/10
Def look out for: Intro, Return of the Hustler, Diamonds, Brooklyn, Joke's on You, This is Family, What Should I Do
