Fabolous - From Nothin' To Somethin' Review
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Artist:
Score - *7 Out Of 10 Stars*
*The Good* - No DJ Clue appearances anywhere on the album. "Gangsta Don't Play" with Junior Reid is excellent, and theres a hellified posse cut to close out the album. *The Bad* - Guest appearances on almost every track. This may be acceptable for producer/rappers, but for someone considered one of the better emcees in hip hop...kind of disappointing.*The Ugly* - The song with Akon... Why?
Fabolous is in a weird position in the hip hop galaxy. In a culture that screams "LOOK AT ME, I'M THE BEST", Fabolous is that one guy who just sits there quietly. You never hear him on the radio in a war of words with someone, theres never any Fabolous conteversy, this is a guy who never makes his way into the gossip column. Fabolous even managed to get himself shot in the leg around christmastime last year, and it barely registered on anyones radar. He's the hip hop workman, he comes in, does his little raps and goes home, and you won't hear from him again. This is a perfect example of how odd hip hop music is sometimes, that his behavior is looked at with puzzled expressions.
Fab started off white hot early this decade, and managed to keep up production and interest in this fickle business pretty effectively. His ability (or disadvantage) of not having much of an identity has allowed him to toy with a few different styles of music without much of a fuss from the general public. If DMX made some of the songs Fabolous has, there might be some issues. His last album (and third of his career) didn't do very well critically or commercially,which prompted his move from Atlantic to Def Jam Records.
The three videos that were released before this album came out didn't exactly blow me away. *"Make Me Better feat.Ne-Yo":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1JOEAm7GSA* was just ok. I know it's tradition to make a video for the female fans, but this one is pretty bland. Ne-Yo is heading into that R. Kelly territory of remix overkill. Then there was *"Diamonds feat.Young Jeezy":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y86uFbxb5sQ* which offered nothing you haven't heard before, it's a shoulder shrugging affair. Even the chorus was stolen from other rappers (Ludacris and Jay-Z). However, "Return of the hustle" (feat.Swizz Beats) is blazing hot, the Just Blaze production is excellent. The lyrics once again aren't delivering any mind blowing content, but Fab's delivery over the instrumental comes off really fresh. After all the trouble *"Make It Rain":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKkNJ_L9wz4* causesd for hip hop, I didn't think anyone would have a chorus instructing people to throw money in the air again. Not even six months later Fab gives us this..... when will we ever learn.
From Nothin' To Somethin' starts off a little shaky, in addition to the previously mentioned lackluster Ne-Yo single, there are two pretty bad tracks with Akon and T-Pain. The album doesn't really gain footing until "Return of the Hustle" and "Gangsta Don't Play" featuring Junion Reid. This is easily the standout effort of the album, I expected the worst before I actually heard the song, but these kiddies manage to play well together. On the likelyhood scale, I would have placed Fabolous and Junior Reid actually having chemistry somewhere behind Paris Hilton converting to islam. The misses aren't quite over yet though, the obvious "radio play" songs with Rihanna and Lloyd are okay at best. Fab will offer you gems such as..
"You need to leave them burgers alone and get a steak upgradeI'm fillet mignon with a tape up fade"
yeah Fab... sure buddy.
The Good news is Fabolous wraps up the album quite well, the last leg of this LP is actually pretty damned good. Theres a Jay-Z collaboration on "Brooklyn" which features an infectuous Biggie Smalls sample, and a hellified posse cut called "This Is Family" featuring five emcees. It's the throwback N.Y sound, no bells and whistles, no chorus, just six rappers telling you why they're hotter than the next man over a hot beat.
Ultimately in true Fab fashion, he didn't rustle any feathers and gave you exactly what you expected of him. From Nothin' To Somethin' definitely had some dark spots, but at the end of the day it's a solid effort. It falls into the usual template for most releases these days, four or five hot songs, four or five okay cuts, and four or five crappy tracks. The fact that fans have come to expect this could be interpreted as sad, but it is what it is. While Fab didn't "bring New York back", he at least made up for MIMS, that has to count for something right?
*The Good* - No DJ Clue appearances anywhere on the album. "Gangsta Don't Play" with Junior Reid is excellent, and theres a hellified posse cut to close out the album. *The Bad* - Guest appearances on almost every track. This may be acceptable for producer/rappers, but for someone considered one of the better emcees in hip hop...kind of disappointing.*The Ugly* - The song with Akon... Why?
Fabolous is in a weird position in the hip hop galaxy. In a culture that screams "LOOK AT ME, I'M THE BEST", Fabolous is that one guy who just sits there quietly. You never hear him on the radio in a war of words with someone, theres never any Fabolous conteversy, this is a guy who never makes his way into the gossip column. Fabolous even managed to get himself shot in the leg around christmastime last year, and it barely registered on anyones radar. He's the hip hop workman, he comes in, does his little raps and goes home, and you won't hear from him again. This is a perfect example of how odd hip hop music is sometimes, that his behavior is looked at with puzzled expressions.
Fab started off white hot early this decade, and managed to keep up production and interest in this fickle business pretty effectively. His ability (or disadvantage) of not having much of an identity has allowed him to toy with a few different styles of music without much of a fuss from the general public. If DMX made some of the songs Fabolous has, there might be some issues. His last album (and third of his career) didn't do very well critically or commercially,which prompted his move from Atlantic to Def Jam Records.
The three videos that were released before this album came out didn't exactly blow me away. *"Make Me Better feat.Ne-Yo":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1JOEAm7GSA* was just ok. I know it's tradition to make a video for the female fans, but this one is pretty bland. Ne-Yo is heading into that R. Kelly territory of remix overkill. Then there was *"Diamonds feat.Young Jeezy":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y86uFbxb5sQ* which offered nothing you haven't heard before, it's a shoulder shrugging affair. Even the chorus was stolen from other rappers (Ludacris and Jay-Z). However, "Return of the hustle" (feat.Swizz Beats) is blazing hot, the Just Blaze production is excellent. The lyrics once again aren't delivering any mind blowing content, but Fab's delivery over the instrumental comes off really fresh. After all the trouble *"Make It Rain":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKkNJ_L9wz4* causesd for hip hop, I didn't think anyone would have a chorus instructing people to throw money in the air again. Not even six months later Fab gives us this..... when will we ever learn.
From Nothin' To Somethin' starts off a little shaky, in addition to the previously mentioned lackluster Ne-Yo single, there are two pretty bad tracks with Akon and T-Pain. The album doesn't really gain footing until "Return of the Hustle" and "Gangsta Don't Play" featuring Junion Reid. This is easily the standout effort of the album, I expected the worst before I actually heard the song, but these kiddies manage to play well together. On the likelyhood scale, I would have placed Fabolous and Junior Reid actually having chemistry somewhere behind Paris Hilton converting to islam. The misses aren't quite over yet though, the obvious "radio play" songs with Rihanna and Lloyd are okay at best. Fab will offer you gems such as..
"You need to leave them burgers alone and get a steak upgradeI'm fillet mignon with a tape up fade"
yeah Fab... sure buddy.
The Good news is Fabolous wraps up the album quite well, the last leg of this LP is actually pretty damned good. Theres a Jay-Z collaboration on "Brooklyn" which features an infectuous Biggie Smalls sample, and a hellified posse cut called "This Is Family" featuring five emcees. It's the throwback N.Y sound, no bells and whistles, no chorus, just six rappers telling you why they're hotter than the next man over a hot beat.
Ultimately in true Fab fashion, he didn't rustle any feathers and gave you exactly what you expected of him. From Nothin' To Somethin' definitely had some dark spots, but at the end of the day it's a solid effort. It falls into the usual template for most releases these days, four or five hot songs, four or five okay cuts, and four or five crappy tracks. The fact that fans have come to expect this could be interpreted as sad, but it is what it is. While Fab didn't "bring New York back", he at least made up for MIMS, that has to count for something right?
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