1) I'm Not A Star
First and foremost, shout out to everybody that was a "rockstar" in 2007, but will now say they're "not a star" because they like this song. I know y'all out there.
Anyway, what a marvelous way to start the album. J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League kills the beat (as expected) and the lyrics were perfect for it. No negatives, only positives, the momentum has been set.
2) Free Mason (feat. Jay-Z & John Legend)
In a perfect world that Jay-Z verse would put the kibosh to all the retarded "Jay-Z worships the devil" rumors. Unfortunately it won't, but that verse was so masterful in its composition that it doesn't even matter. Forget a 2 bar quotable, the entire verse was a quotable in itself. Applause for Hov.
Don't sleep on Ross' verse though, it went quite hard as well. Obviously it wasn't on Jay's level, but it didn't have to be, it was still one of his best.
The hook was fine, and the beat was too, but the verses were what took this from being a good song to being a great song. John Legend getting back to his soulfulness was a nice touch as well.
(Side note: Rick Ross is claiming to not write now too?? When will this end??)
3) Tears Of Joy (feat. Cee-Lo)
The Black Panther intro (not sure if it was Bobby Seale or Huey P. Newton, I've heard it was both and I'm not gonna claim to know) was fine the first listen or 2, but after that it's annoying having to fast forward 60 seconds to get to the actual song. He did the same thing with Mafia Music 2 (I'm wondering how/why that didn't make the album), and it's like damn, this couldn't just be an interlude before the song?? And that's not to mention it has nothing to do with the song it delays. Rick Ross, stop attaching long ass intros to good ass songs, please.
(Side note: I know I'm not the only person who laughed at Rick Ross, of all people, putting this anti-law enforcement speech at the beginning of one of his songs. Maybe he really has forgotten he was on the opposite end of the crime spectrum once upon a time.)
On the other side of that obnoxiously long intro is the incredible Tears Of Joy. An A+ track from No I.D. sets the mood and Ross and Cee-Lo Green take turns making sweet, sweet love to it. What else can I say besides thank you to everyone involved because this song is a pleasure to listen to. Yes, it is that good, though I'm sure it won't be the background music to any VladTV interviews.
4) Maybach Music III (feat. T.I., Jadakiss, & Erykah Badu)
"Beautiful" is the best word to describe the production by J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League on Maybach Music III. I'm sure making music is easy when your production is this outstanding. And that's no knock against Ricky, credit to him for putting them to work on such classicness.
Anyway, I could attempt to find something wrong with Maybach Music III, but what's the use? I could listen to this song 100 times in a row and find no fault with it. All positives, from Ross to T.I. to Jadakiss to Erica Badu in providing lyrics. They all did great jobs, not only not messing up this blessing of an instrumental, but also enhancing it. The sound and feel of this record is simply incredible.
5) Live Fast, Die Young (feat. Kanye West)
If Rick Ross' goal on Live Fast, Die Young was to let Kanye outshine him, then this was a great beat selection. If his goal was to keep the classic momentum going, then it was a terrible choice because this track was literally tailor-made by Kanye West (and No I.D.) for Kanye West. Rick doesn't even rap on these type of beats, so he might as well had not shown up at all.
Now, I'm not saying Live Fast, Die Young is a poor song overall, but it was a rare poor beat decision by Ross because this track highlights none of his strength and leave him sounding like Charlie Brown's teacher. I can hardly remember what he was talking about in either verse, but I could give you a few quotables from Kanye's. Bottom line, Ye knocked it out of the park and Ross popped up to the catcher.
It's all good though, straight A's and a B+ so far isn't too shabby.
6) Super High (feat. Ne-Yo)
Ricky gets things back on track with the smooth sounds of Super High. This song has been out for months and it's no military secret that is dope so we can just move on to track 7.
(Side note: Thank goodness this is a music review and not a video review, because the Super High video is stupid as shit. Stacy Dash is in it, so that was good, but am I to believe that Winnebago of a bike Ross was on actually hawked down a Lamborghini?? Negro please.)
7) No. 1 (feat. Trey Songz & Diddy)
Do you realize we're 7 songs in and there has been 10 different featured artists, 6 of whom have rapped or sung a verse?? Though this album has been magnificent thus far, that figure is a tad high.
Anyhow, the beat to No. 1 sounds an awful lot like the one of Hello, Good Morning (also produced by Danja), but it's still a heater. Personally, I wouldn't have paid for it, but it's not my album. Either way, the finish product is so hot it doesn't even really matter.
Ross commands the track as he did the Hello, Good Morning Remix. Trey Songz brings out the goods on his verse and the hook as well. Diddy offers a very Diddy verse, most likely via Rick Ross' pen...oh wait, he "doesn't write anymore," I meant via Rick Ross' mind. I'm not mad at Diddy for having ghostwriters, I really just wanted to make that Rick Ross joke.
No. 1 is a jammin' ass song that should probably be a single, but never will because of the existence of the aforementioned Hello, Good Morning.
8) MC Hammer (feat. Gucci Mane)
I have seen a lot of people complaining that Styles P shouldn't have been on B.M.F. for some reason, but have yet to hear a peep about Gucci Mane just being thrown onto MC Hammer. On the original version of MC Hammer, as featured on The Albert Anastasia EP, there was no Gucci Mane. On that same EP there was also a song called Blowin' Money Fast that featured Styles P. Hey, wait a second, B.M.F. and Blowin' Money Fast are the same song...in the same format! I'm blown away. Seriously though, at least SP was a part of the orginal record and not a late throw-in.
Back to the music, MC Hammer takes things back down South and gives Ross' original fan base something to bump way up loud in the car. I like the Gucci Mane-less version better, but it's a good song regardless because Gucci doesn't start "rapping" until 3 minutes and 30 seconds in, so I can just hit "next" as if it were a skit at the end of a song on Sir Lucious Left Foot. Having Gucci come on well after Ross is done spitting almost makes up for him being on the song in the first place.
9) B.M.F. (feat. Styles P)
Wait a gotdamn minute, isn't this the same beat as MC Hammer?? Hmm, both were produced by the same person, Lex Luger. Did Lex and Ross figure nobody wouldn't recognize that?? I mean, the tracks are back to back on the album. Maybe they figured they'd just flow together like one long track and we wouldn't realize they were actually 2 separate songs? Who knows. And now that I mention it, I'm Not A Star sounds very similar too, but it was produced J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League though.
Oh well, B.M.F. is more of that good down South ish that maybe folks from other regions might not dig. But me?? I dig! Jammin' ass tracks, catchy hook, decent lyrics, oh yes, I dig! It really is a shame it sounds almost exactly like MC Hammer. Southerners won't mind, but I think others will.
10) Aston Martin Music (feat. Drake & Chrisette Michele)
Aston Martin Music is another J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League production, but unfortunately this one isn't as classic as the others. It's still very good, just not as good as the others. Actually that's how I feel about this song in general. It's good, but not as good as the others in the Rick Ross "Music" collection.
Now let's get to this Drake verse: what the hell happened to it?? Did Rick Ross or Def Jam not like it and removed it? Did it not make the album deadline? Was Drake an asshole and wanted to save the verse for himself? What happened??
Even before I heard the Drake verse on Paris Morton Music (or knew one existed), something just seemed to be missing from the song. Now it's clear. It also doesn't help that the Drake portion that was used sounds like some random sample from So Far Gone or Thank Me Later. Whatever, all I know is that Drake's verse went hard and it should've been on the song or the song shouldn't have been on the album. I mean, we already have 10 other featured verses so far, why not one more, especially one of this caliber?? Again, the song is good, but it could've been much better and you can't just go around putting out incomplete songs all willy nilly!
11) All The Money In The World (feat. Raphael Saadiq)
All The Money In The World is a nice note to close things out on (though I wish there were a few more songs in between it and I'm Not A Star). A lot of people think talking about money and drugs is "keeping it real" but personal songs like this is actually doing so.
Lyrically, Ross is at the top of his game on the final track of Teflon Don and makes up for a very average beat from The Olympicks. The hook was okay, but it was a poor use of Raphael Saadiq. Any run of the mill singer could've done this. If you're gonna break the glass on Saadiq, it might as well be to do something classic. This chorus is far that. Nevertheless, the strong lyrics from Ross take this from being a downer to a nice addition.
Favorite Song:
Tears Of Joy (feat. Cee-Lo) (Prod. By No I.D.)
Least Favorite Song:
Aston Martin Music (feat. Drake & Chrisette Michele) (Prod. J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League)
Overall:
Rick Ross said something powerful in the first verse of Tears Of Joy: "Biggie Smalls in the flesh, I'm living life after my death." That's exactly right, because 50 Cent killed him last year. That fact makes it even more remarkable that Ross has recovered to make it to this point. Good job by him musically, and I'm also glad he decided not to mention 50 at all on the album.
Now, before I heap the rest of the praise I have for Teflon Don, let's take a moment to go over some of its slip ups. The first problem is it's too damn short. Eleven tracks?? Come on Ricky, that's just not acceptable, especially when we know you have tracks such as Mafia Music 2 and Cigar Music laying around unused. Eleven tracks is fine for Common because of the depth and time it probably takes to create them, but it should be no problem for Ross to offer at least 13.
The other problem I had was the excessive use of features. There were 15 features spread over the course of 11 tracks (16 over 12 if you include the iTunes bonus track Audio Meth), with 9 of those artists performing a verse. It's fine to have features, but that's just too much (not to mention that one of the best featured verses isn't even included on the album!!!!). BUT I'm willing to partially overlook this flaw since the Triple C's weren't apart of that featured artists list.
The positives of Teflon Don are easily spotted. If you're musically blind (which may be the case), here are a few: phenomenal beat selection (for the most part), strong lyrics, well crafted songs, and great mood muzik.
Let's cut to the chase, Rick Ross' Teflon Don is now in pole position for Album Of The Year. At this point, the only person who can release his grips from that award is the man featured on track 5, Kanye West...or if Jay-Z wakes up tomorrow and decides he wants to drop an album before 2011 (let the records show I highly doubt the latter will happen). Kanye's Good Ass Job is tentatively set for a September 14th release, and all signs are pointing to classic status from that project, outside of an extremely odd Soulja Boy feature (let's just hope it's only a beat, or that if it's a verse, the song doesn't make the album). But for now the winner is Ross.
4.5/5
