By Odeisel

Rick Ross had a great year. His output was strong enough to overcome all charges of fraudulence, a challenge from 50 and every ounce of hate form the peanut gallery. He closes his banner year in style with a Christmas gift for the fans. Ashes to Ashes is a gift from Rozay full of that hard shit you want to hear.

A portion of the album is just like Wing Stop: the same chicken with different sauces. Lex Luger’s production is the same shit all over again. It’s up to Rauce to make it sound different and to a certain extent he does. Lemon pepper, bbq and buffalo wings come in the form of “9 Piece” which features T.I. trying to get his Southern D-Boy swagger back, “John Doe” with Ross flying solo in them streets and Bugatti Boyz feature “Another One.” While they are all the same song musically, they have different spirit thanks to Ross’ decidedly different flow on “John Doe,” Diddy’s charmingly awkard swagger on “Another One,” and   Rick’s wordplay  and ad libs on “9 Piece” with props given to south legends 8 Ball & MJG, Master P, Suave House.

Once you get out of that lane, Ross flexes his range of songwriting talent all over the balance of the tape. The spirit of Aaliyah is resurrected on the slow thump of “She Crazy,” a hood sweet Bonnie and Clyde love song featuring  Ne-Yo singing on the hook. Second verse regards a partner in crime that got locked up on a body from 98 and how he misses them. Tight, distinct narrative over dope production.

Ross flaunts his lyrical skill on the Luda-backed “Black Man’s Dream,” declaring himself “Terminator X, I’m a public enemy, born in the ghetto, Ferrari born in Italy.” The subject matter is that same hustler shit but Ross goes so hard on it that it doesn’t matter. He pulls Luda to the gutter with him with ugly good results. Luda raps, “you can catch me up in new editions like Michael Bivens, girl face up in my lap now that’s a head on collision.”

“Even Deeper” takes the classic Barry White track down the road to perdition with added synths and pianos (maybe taken from a live performance). White’s vocals run the breaks and Ross is in full floss. Similar in rhythm and theme is the Wiz Khalifa aided “Retrosuperfuture” which revisits that “Super High” feel. Brian Bennet’s “Solstice” is chopped up nicely here and Ross has a distinct rhyme pattern that adds flavor.

70’s brass and strings are the order of the day on the title track. “Ashes to Ashes”  feels like a scene from a Blaxploitation flick and crooner KC attempts to mimic Rick James with his vocals. Ross delivers a crisp narrative with a line or two from Jay-Z sprinkled on the track. The final piece of the puzzle comes with “Play Your Part,” with Meek Mill Wale and DA from Chester French on deck. Ross and the crew talk about the chicks on the come up that think they have the upper hand because the gifts are rolling in, but they are wide awake on the flake.

Ashes to Ashes is an album quality mixtape that could have almost been exchanged with his album. It’s slickly produced and designed to bang in the whip, the club or your headphones with equal facility. It isn’t bloated by any means. While there is repetition on the street songs, the tape flat out bumps.

Rick Ross Feat. Aaliyah & Ne- “Yo- She Crazy”

09 SHE CRAZY FT AALIYAH & NE-YO 

Rick Ross- “John Doe”

03 JOHN DOE

DOWNLOAD: http://limelinx.com/files/8d83e13f0c7d84f3c196be9dbb3387e4

  Out of 5

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