You can call him The Boss…but don’t because he calls himself that enough that we all get the point. Also, there has been a persistent obsession in Hip Hop with being a boss, but very few maintain the status, even in its small context. However, our most recent ‘Boss’, Rick Ross, has released his third studio album, Deeper Than Rap. It is?
If you’ve listened to Rick Ross’ previous albums Port of Miami and Trilla, you’ll know his style. For newcomers, most of its content is made up of materialism and mafia image. However, the rather exhausted mobster image is achieved with something of a refresher, as Ross tends to bring some maturity to the immature act of bragging, and does so with far more class, style, and intelligence than most. You can get the gist of this from the opening track without a chorus produced by Inkredibles, Mafia Music.
As a tribute to Maybach Music from their second album, this one features Maybach Music 2, replacing Jay-Z’s presence with Kanye West, Lil’ Wayne and T-Pain. Produced once again by JUSTICE League, it maintains most of the strength of the original both musically and lyrically, except for T-Pain’s oversaturated and overused autotuned vocals. Other than that, this smooth but punchy song comes off just fine, with Ross spouting “Any winter, Fendi like a slim black/Looking in the mirror I can see the real contender.”
Ross maintains a consistency throughout the album and brings many highlights to Usual Suspects, the organ and piano-driven Nas collaboration. Both MCs flow mercilessly, but Nas really pulls it off with his still-smart verse that rhymes “My momma stressin’ in college/But my crude sense of logic alluded to my empty wallet.”
Amid maintaining such a classy image throughout the album, there are also low points. Although tolerable to some degree, you can’t help but feel that All I Really Want (featuring The-Dream) and Face (featuring Trina) could have been replaced with something more suited to the feel of the album. This especially goes for the latter, which mediocre lyrics aside, carries a Drumma Boy-produced southern groove that’s been done a billion times before, even down to the tiniest effects. With the incessant repetition of “I’m gettin’ face”, this is a track that certainly should have been cut from the final product.
Fret not, though: after enduring (better yet skipping) this injustice with a great album, you’re blessed with Valley of Death, produced by DJ Toomp and sampling Barry White’s I’m So Blue And You Are Too, followed by In Cold Blood. which altogether concludes the album on a positive note.
Even if swagger isn’t your thing, Deeper Than Rap is pulled off so well that you can enjoy this with a modicum of guilt: get swept up in Rick Ross’ visuals and fluidity. Although he didn’t really give the album title too much credence (due to the somewhat limited diversity of content), he has nonetheless backed it up on this one and certainly dug deeper than before.