Is this the
classic that Rick Ross, Khaled and the hype would have you believe? Is it the
classic that you’d think Rick Ross would produce at his peak? Is it the classic
that a line up of Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, Andre 3000, Drake, Usher, Drake &
Pharrell would produce? Read on to find out.
After two failed singles (“You TheBoss” & “I Love My Bitches”) and a seizure, God Forgives, I Don’t has finally been
unleashed. The album’s first track “Pray For Us” is the type of intro that lacks
any replay value. The following song “Pirates” feels like a failed attempt at
an intro and would not be missed had Ross not included it on the final track
listing. Yes it is good to see Dr. Dre, Rick Ross and Jay-Z on the same song (“3Kings”) and it’s even better that they did it over Jake One’s production. While
“3 Kings” is not a bad track one would expect more from a song featuring such
heavy weights.
“Niggas couldn’t fuck with my
daughter’s room” – Jay-Z on “3 Kings”.
Wilson Pickett’s “Shameless”
provides the perfect platform for the Cool & Dre produced
“Ashamed”. Unfortunately Rick Ross’s compassion for what he is
ashamed of is hard to feel, and it seems he is merely supplying words to fill
the gaps between the choruses rather than connecting with the Wilson Pickett
sample.
“Maybach Music IV” is the first Maybach Music track in the series without an all star line-up
of features. The song is a mess, Ne-Yo babbles and the beat changes along with LA
Ried’s appearance only add to the confusion. What a shame since the series
seemed to be improving with each instalment, until now.
Perhaps one of the
most anticipated collaborations on the album was “Sixteen” on which Rick Ross
is joined by OutKast’s Andree 3000. Again, it’s great to see Ross and Andre
3000 collaborate, they should produce something special right? Wrong. At 8
minutes the song is excessive and Ross is outshined by Andre rather than
complimenting his lyricism.
“A dolphin gone
shake his fin, regardless if he gets in
Or out of water,
most important thing for him is to swim
And Flipper didn’t
hold his nose, so why shall I hold my tongue?” – Andre 3000 on “Sixteen”.
In the second
verse on “Amsterdam” Rozay offers a lyrical gem, “I’m laughing at the
people that labelled me poor, now I piss on Europeans, you’d think it was
porn.” That is perhaps the best part and best thing about what is otherwise
a skippable song.
Tracks 8 to 10 on God Forgives, I Don’t are the trademark
Ross records, so it is unsurprising that these songs have featured prominently
in Ross’ online video promotions. Ross & Mill do a bad job of showing any
sophistication on the album’s second single “So Sophisticated”. It’s
a high energy beat with good production and awful lyrics – ideal for the club,
where people won’t be listening to the lyrics! “Hold Me Back” is probably the
best of these three songs, but it is by no means a good song.
Rick Ross’ opening prayer on “911” is one of the album’s rare moments in which Ross expresses some religious sentiment, even if it is absurd!
Rick Ross’ opening prayer on “911” is one of the album’s rare moments in which Ross expresses some religious sentiment, even if it is absurd!
“I bow my
head, I pray to God
The best
exploration of this theme is surprisingly offered by Maybach Music’s Stalley on
“Ten Jesus Pieces”. Considering the album name one would expect the subject of
faith to be explored or mentioned more often than it is.
“no Jesus
piece on mine, cause at times I feel ashamed
For the reason
that I rhyme
And they say,
because I’m Muslim I shouldn’t think about the shine
Or even put it in a
rhyme
It’s better things
I could talk about or put my money towards” – Stalley on “Ten Jesus Pieces”.
“Presidential”
marks the beginning of the female related section of the album. Robin Thicke
would have been ideal for this song but Elijah Blake does a good job adding some
Soul to Pharrell’s production. Infact this song does a better job at expressing
sophistication than “So Sophisticated”.
“her shoe
game remarkable
I feel solely
responsible” – Rick Ross on “Presidential”.
“Ice Cold” is
another of the highlights on God
Forgives, I Don’t and Reefa’s beat is infact one of the best on the album. “Ice
Cold” is Omarion’s first major appearance for Maybach Music & although it’s
a remake of “Ice Box” on his part – it’s a good one.
Unfortunately Rick
Ross’ collaboration with Usher, “Touch ‘N You”, is just a bog standard Rap track for the ladies
with an RnB singer on hook. The album version sounds crude, compared to the
single version where Usher sang “Touching you” rather than
“Fucking You”.
Drake seems to
bring out the best in Rick Ross, whether it’s “I’m On One”, “Aston Martin Music” or “Lord Knows” the pair know how to make good music together. It is a
shame that their joint album is on hold, as that would have been a joy to
behold. It then comes as no surprise that “Diced Pineapples” is one of the
album’s highlights and is perhaps the only song on the album on which all of the
featured artists deliver. Wale shines on this track dropping many gems and the
following is an example:
“Let me
redefine foreplay so you need five and
Tell me shorty you
got it baby” – Wale on “Diced Pineapples”.
Avoid | Stream | Recommend
HIGHS
“Ashamed”
“Presidential”
“Ice Cold”
LOWS
“Pirates”
“Maybach Music IV”
There are several occasions
on God Forgives, I Don’t where it
seems as if Rick Ross is struggling to fulfil the expectations that he set –
with claims such as this is best body of work so far. It is important to note
that Rick Ross is infact a character (his real name is William Roberts and the
real Rick Ross even took out a lawsuit against Roberts for using his name!) and
songs like “So Sophisticated” show that Roberts has more work to do to make the
character more rounded and believable. He does however deserve some credit for
assembling the kind of cast that he has for the album – Dr. Dre & Andre
3000 even both found time to make a rare appearance.
So it’s back to the
opening questions:
Is
this the classic that Ross, Khaled and the hype would have you believe?
The album does have some good production notably by Cool & Dre, Reefa, Jake
One and Pharrell. There are also some big names involved as featured guests,
but once you stop star gazing and get to the nitty gritty it’s evident GFID’s bark is bigger than it’s bite.
Is it the classic that you’d think Ross
would produce at his peak? No, perhaps the best example of this is “Maybach
Music IV”. The series of Maybach Music songs have until this album been
improving album by album. So on what is perhaps the most anticipated album of
Rick Ross’ career; one would think that this trend would continue. But that is
not true.
Is it the classic that a line up of Dr.
Dre, Jay-Z, Andre 3000, Drake, Usher, Drake & Pharrell would produce? As
mentioned in my first answer no it is not.
Rating:
Please refer to
Best In New Music’s Album Rating Guide for a clear explanation of our rating
system.
Rick Ross’ God Forgives, I Don’t is available now on iTunes UK and is released on 31st July on iTunes US. You can also stream God Forgives, I Don’t in its entirety now on Spotify.
Rick Ross’ God Forgives, I Don’t is available now on iTunes UK and is released on 31st July on iTunes US. You can also stream God Forgives, I Don’t in its entirety now on Spotify.
