Rick Ross – Teflon Don [2010]

Written by Big D


Before former corrections officer William Leonard Roberts II decided to name himself after the infamous drug traffiking kingpin Ricky Ross (Freeway also took his name from the same druglord), his original choice as a rap name was Tephlon Da Don – MUUUUUCH more befitting of an ex-cop. Thanks D, for that useless piece of information.

After three albums, Rick Ross was knee-deep in success despite the musical landscape vastly detetiorating in terms of sales as his career progressed. It’s no secret that 2010 was going to be an incredibly competitive year in hip hop with albums from Eminem, The Roots, Chamillionaire, and many more huge stars all fighting for CD sales and iTunes downloads. With Deeper than Rap, Officer Ricky reincarnated himself as a more focused lyricist and overall performer, ushering in a style that was vastly different (and in my opinion, superior) to his first two albums. With 2010′s Teflon Don, Rick managed to continue the momentum from Deeper than Rap, but unfortunately, the monotonous Rick of old would rear his ugly, bearded head on more than one occassion.

I was happy when I first took a glance at Teflon Don – it’s only eleven songs and its no secret I would prefer shorter albums than 34 track No Limit garbled messes. But that isn’t really the most interesting thing about Teflon Don. The fact is – this album is half Deeper than Rap and half Trilla, and I’m not sure if that was the intent, but that’s how it came out. What about subject matter? Well, it’s really more of the same – a little bit of materialism, a little bit of consciousness, couple songs about the women, a little bit of storytelling, all bundled together with Ricky’s egotism.

In a nutshell, Ross is STILL a much better lyricist than he was pre-2009, but in many cases he just decides not to show it. The inspirational “Free Mason” amazes me because Ross poetry is ALMOST on par with Jay-Z, and Jigga certainly comes correct. “Tears of Joy” is another inspirational, deep song, all about fighting your demons and sinful thoughts until you reach a sense of accomplishment. Cee-Lo brings the wackyness, as he is prone to do. As much as I dislike his persona, Kanye brings the dopeness both lyrically and musically on “Live Fast, Die Young”, leaving no question to the fact that Ross isn’t the only one who stepped his rap game up. I think of this as the 2010 “Cashmere Thoughts”. “Super High” is the obligatory Ne-Yo collab (remember what I said last time?). DJ Clark Kent brings a vibrant, soulful composition that would make Motown proud.

But besides that, there’s a buncha crap on this album I could do without. If I went the rest of my life without listening to Sean “Puffy” Combs again it’d be too soon. But sadly, he’s back on “No 1″. *sigh* He’s his manager now. *sigh*. Ross (like with all of these bad songs) returns to his crappy pause-flow and simplistic rhymes. No folks, “MC Hammer” is not about some broke 90s rapper with big trousers, it’s actually a trap song with Gucci Mane. I know… I know… a TRAP SONG with GUCCI MANE? Never seen that before! Ross sucks, Gucci sucks, and well, LIFE sucks when you listen to this. I really wanted to like “B.M.F. (Blowin’ Money Fast)”, but I can’t. It’s supposed to be one of the singles from the record and yeah, I suppose it’s pretty much a safe southern song for the radios, but again: Ross’ flow is weaker than the French military. Then there is the album’s opener, “I’m Not A Star”, which I really don’t hate, but is just a case of a failed concept. It’s the same as the intro from the last album – one long bar – but sounds too much like a whitewashed No Limit song from 2002, complete with “ughhhhhhh”. No thanks.

Alright so, it isn’t as good as Deeper than Rap by no means, but what will make Teflon Don” memorable for Ross fans is that it contains the two best songs of Ricky’s career up until this point: “Maybach Music III” and “Aston Martin Music” – two cuts that even non-rap fans can grab onto. “Maybach Music III” is, without a doubt, the best of the “Maybach Music” series, as J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League (yes… the same Floridians who did all of Skully Black’s beats) sample Caldera’s “Ancient Source” (the same song DJ Premier chopped up for Pitch Black’s “It’s All Real”, one of my fav PB songs) and they turn it into this addicting piece of epicness. Everybody brings their A-Game. Then there’s “Aston Martin Music”, which I absolutely love because it sounds like light-hearted mid-90s R&B with quality rapping about a special woman. Yup, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League did it again. Hey if you’re reading this Kenny (and I’m pretty sure you are since you started with my Skully review in 05), hit me up so we can finish the frikkin album! Okay maybe not. 3H doesn’t exactly compare to Mary J. Blige on the scale of importance.

An album as inconsistent as Teflon Don normally does not stay in my CD collection for very long, but I can’t deny that the songs that are dope on here are VERY dope! In fact, with only 11 songs and the prices on albums dropping significantly, I can’t really say it wouldn’t be worth skipping through the garbage for stuff like “Maybach Music III”, “Aston Martin Music”, and “Live Fast, Die Young”. These are truly Ricky’s most shining moments. So yeah, give Teflon Don a chance, even if you don’t want to support law enforcement.




2.75 Stars