Flo Rida: R.O.O.T.S.
Flo Rida: R.O.O.T.S.
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Wednesday, 25, Mar 2009 12:38
Poe Boy/Atlantic, put now.
In a nutshell...
Bouncing ringtone-sounding beats with infectious hooks.
What's it all about?
For the past decade there have been rappers who recognized the commercial appeal of mixing a street-thug image with a smooth party persona. Ja Rule stormed to the top of the charts with this formula, whilst in Flo Rida's native South first Nelly and more recently Lil Wayne have pitched their records with enough grit to keep the streets on their side, without scaring off the MTV generation who have embraced hip-hop as a US pop staple.
R.O.O.T.S breaks no stylistic new ground; the cover art is so typical of the genre with a tattoed, bare-chested Flo Rida in sombre pose, yet the music is anything but. Booming basslines and repetitive, nagging synth-hooks pulsate throughout the album: the majority of tracks appear to have been written for booty-shaking regardless of the album's supposedly serious theme (R.O.O.T.S stands for "Route of Overcoming the Struggle")
Who's it by?
29-year old Flo Rida (real name Tramar Dillard) knows the struggle of the music business all too well. As a teenager touring with local rap 2 Live Crew it's clear where his numerous strip-club anthems and lascivious songs find their origin. Despite this early promise he was rejected by major labels for years who ignored the commercial potential of the fun-loving Southern style. Flo Rida subsequently became a veteran of the Dirty South mixtape scene, with the highlight being appearances on the popular We The Best in 2006.
The mixtape caught the attention of independent Florida label Poe Boy Entertainment, who signed him in 2007. After affiliating himself with local stars Rick Ross and Trick Daddy, it was his first official single Low (which benefitted from inclusion on the soundtrack to the movie Step Up 2: The Streets) which made him an overnight sensation with its poppy hook and dance tempo.
R.O.O.T.S claims to be a stylistic change by the rapper after a trip to Africa where he witnessed poverty first hand, reminding him of his own early struggles. Despite this, high-energy smut around the tired themes of sex, money and stripping forms the core of an unremarkable album, with the standout track the Dead or Alive-sampling club banger Right Round.
As an example...
Lyrically Flo Rida is as simplistic as they come; a freestyle battle with any major rapper from the last decade would see him come off a poor second. Cash, clothes and "hos" are the thematic focus - rarely does Flo Rida use a metaphor or rhyming trickery, opting for simple drawled sleaze instead. "From the top of the pole I watch her go down/She got me throwing my money around" is the hook from hit single "Right Round" - the no-frills approach barely changes throughout the album.
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Previous hit single Low was nominated for a number of awards last year but failed to win at both MTV and BET's ceremonies. Online fans think otherwise however, with his second number one hit Right Round breaking the record for the most digital one week sales (630,000, beating the previous record he had set himself with Low). The album is guaranteed to follow suit with fans thirsty for more of the same: current king of the Southern scene Lil Wayne now has new competition for popularity beside the incarcerated T.I.
Ordinary music fans will find the incessant synth-thud of the hooks tiresome and the lyrics facile or worst, offensive. Hip-hop fans and teenagers? They'll be setting their ringtones and cranking up the bass...
What the others say
Feelings are mixed and in the main ambivalent, whilst praising the commercial sheen. Indie London claims the album "isn't really doing anything new, but it's not doing anything really, really bad either". The Guardian called his fusion of thug rap and pop "ruthlessly effective, though difficult to love". However Digital Spy is scathing in dismissing the album with the line "there's nothing on R.O.O.T.S which hasn't been heard countless times before."
So is it any good?
Having visited Africa and made pretentious allusions between the poverty of a entire continent, Southern rapper Flo Rida entitled his album R.O.O.T.S, an acronym for "Routes Of Overcoming The Struggle". With such a portentous title, you would expect this second effort from the Southern rapper Flo Rida to contain introspection compared to his previous party-themed debut.
Yet two minutes into the album "the lifestyle" is once again exhorted by a player who seems to know no other way to play the game. "New shoes, new clothes, new whip, new chain" boasts Flo Rida, riffing on the now-tired themes of material achievement which is a pre-requisite in modern hip-hop, especially the Southern variety. Rarely does he address "the struggle" of the album title without mentioning his new-found wealth, and even this takes a backseat to his obsession with woman, and their bottoms in particular.
The muscly rapper (who appears topless on the album cover) seems anxious to remind the ladies of his single status. Four tracks in and the rapper is straight into more comfortable territory, demanding "penis satisfaction" on Shone in a typically testosterone-fuelled track. Touch Me features orgasmic sounds as its hook, with superproducer Timbaland sounding like he's been stretched too thin of late with a rare insipid beat.
It's surprising therefore that Nelly Furtado pops up on party anthem Jump; clearly her recent R 'n' B excursions continue apace, on what is a decent enough club tune. However it is current smash hit Right Round which divides opinion: the sample from Dead or Alive is clumsy, and the lyrics bear little inspection, but the tune is nagging enough to have scored the Florida native yet another worldwide hit.
Only on the title track does Flo Rida speak of his former life in "the slums" but by then this is almost incidental; all boxes have been ticked on a formulaic album which is neither offensive enough to shock, nor insipid enough to fail in the hip-hop market. No new crimes against music have occurred here which haven't been committed countless times before, and for this Flo Rida should be exonerated. If you like your hip-hop to be party styled and your rhymes just the right side of street, then this is your man. Anyone looking for intelligent danceable hip-hop should keep their eye on Kanye and Jay-Z as usual.
5/10
Marcus Dubois