First Impression x Rather You Than Me - Rick Ross
Rick Ross – Rather You Than Me
1.) Apple of My Eye feat. Raphael Saadiq
“I told Meek I wouldn’t trust Nicki. Instead of beefin with your dog, you give him some distance.”
Ross and Raphael are 2/2 so far. Ross is speakin on some real things instead of usin bars or having money. This intro is very chill and says a lot if the album continues to take this route. It’s on some grown man shit instead of the hustling shit he’s usually on. Of course Saadiq did his thing, still soundin like it Tony Toni Tone.
8/10
2.) Santorini Greece
“We in the last days, these racist agendas. Blatant double standards because I’m a nigga.”
This song is slow, sounds like something off of Teflon Don. It’s smooth though. Ross keeps the same motif of takin niggas to class explainin how the world works and showin how to move in it. There’s still the money talk, which is much of the 3rd verse, but it feels nice. I always appreciate a sample like this. I might use this beat if I can find it.
8/10
3.) Idols Become Rivals feat. Chris Rock
“And then I met you out on Live Nation dates. Came to the realization that your watch was fake. Damn, you nearly broke my heart. I really thought you niggas really owned them cars.”
Oh shit! It’s Chris Rock! Any song he touches is a classic. This song is a lot darker than what I was expectin though. It’s kind of like False Prophets x J. Cole but if a boss did it. It’s cool to see Ross call niggas out for bein fake. He’s been here for a minute and one of the few rappers that still rap. He came for Birdman in the last verse. That’s always dope. This is one of the realest songs Ross has put out.
8/10
4.) Trap Trap Trap feat. Young Thug x Wale
Alright here we go with the Ross anthems, like B.M.F., Hustlin, or Hold Me Back. I mean, that’s cool but I don’t really like Radio Ross. Either way, most fans of Ross will probably enjoy this. Young Thug wasn’t even whack. I was surprised. Even with a dope ass verse from Wale, this song is still only ok. I guess it would be better if the hook weren’t mostly made up of the word “trap” for most of it.
6.5/10
5.) Dead Presidents feat. Jeezy x Future x Yo Gotti
Oh yea it’s what you think. It’s over a B.M.F. beat though so there’s that. It’s hype and will probably be a single. A video for this would be crazy. This is one of the few songs that has Future not on the hook. That’s brave. Jeezy sounds like TM 101 which is cool for the culture but that wasn’t my favorite Jeezy project. The streets are gonna feel this one.
6.5/10
6.) She on My Dick feat. Gucci Mane
If you listen to Ross albums, you know there’s a point in almost all of them where he spams you with the same kind of sound over and over again. This is that point if you couldn’t tell by the features. You can switch the beats between these last 3 songs around with each other and still have the same song. It’s good when it’s a good sound but this one gets boring after hearin it once but here it is back to back to back. This one is the worst out of the three though.
5/10
7.) I Think She Like Me feat. Ty $
Ross heard my complaint and switched the tone of the album back to the grown man shit. The sample is dope and it kind of sounds like You x Lloyd in a good way. It sounds like Ty $ tried this time. He be bullshittin sometimes which is usually why I don’t like his features. This song is for the ladies. Ross usually has a few smooth joints like this on his albums and I enjoy them. He shows that you can make a song for females without having to sing to them.
7.5/10
8.) Powers That Be feat. Chris Rock x Nas
“You know how it is. New levels, new devils. The cheddar breeds jealousy at hellish speed but it’s whatever.” - Nas
Chris Rock is silly. There are plenty of MC’s better than Rick Ross out there in the world (me included) but he’s right about everything else. The Chris Rock Classic Theory still stands. Ross is back to spitin the same real from the 1st few tracks, shedding some light on how he was raised and the troubles of money. Nas is so nasty, dawg. I’m so ready for his new album. He shreds his verse and drops mad knowledge. Oh and there’s a girl singin on here too. She ain’t get no credit so she gets no love haha.
9/10
9.) Game Ain’t Based on Sympathy
“No more beefin with rappers. It’s just murder or nothing.”
Ross is back on that smooth shit with the Sexy Sax Man playin in the background. This is definitely something to sat back, chill and smoke to. To me, this is when Ross is at his best. There’s no real subject matter so he’s bound to say anything, which usually leads to a laugh or two. It was smart of his to just have the sax as the hook. It makes what he’s saying seem more important.
8.5/10
10.) Scientology
“See Confederate flags but I got a flag of mine. Yea, I got a flag of mine.”
This sounds a lot like the track before but with a couple of different instruments. That works for me though. He has a choir or something in the background. I’m always down for a choir. It’s mostly straight bars. You don’t see much of that from rappers. It’s still pretty conscious but still hood.
8.5/10
11.) Lamborghini Doors feat. Meek Mill x Anthony Hamilton
More of that smooth shit. I always thought that Ross didn’t really fuck with the niggas he signed that much. He tried to put that to rest with the intro of this song. I think that was dope. This is the 1st time I’ve heard from Meek since his rap beef and all that and he did his thing. That’s coming from someone who doesn’t like Meek. And then Anthony Hamilton came through fuckin shit up. Him and Ross are also 2/2 together.
8.5/10
12.) Triple Platinum feat. Scrilla
“Everybody mad at you when you livin fabulous. Self made means you never out here kissin asses.”
Ross slowed it down even more. Maybe too slow to be this far in the album. It still sounds good though. You’re gonna here “triple platinum” 100,000,000 times but if you can make it through all of it, in between you will find a lot of jewels about ownin your own, hard work and makin money. This Scrilla dude ain’t that bad. He pronounces the W in sword but it’s all good.
7.5/10
13.) Maybach Music V feat. Dej Loaf
Now I’m a big fan of the Maybach Music series and Ross has been fallin off with the last one. This is one of the weaker ones out of the series but it is better than IV. I don’t know if that’s Dej Loaf singin the whole time but it’s pretty good. I’ll admit that I judged this song before I heard it because of the feature, but if you give it a try, it’s pretty good.
8/10
14.) Summer Seventeen feat. Yo Gotti
“I want my niggas rich by summer ‘17 (x4)”
Outros aren’t really Ross’s strong suit. His albums kind of just end. This one is no different. It sounds like that Purple Lamborghini song he did for Suicide Squad (he even mentioned it in his verse”. Yo Gotti does what Yo Gotti does. It’s not the weakest song on here but it definitely shouldn’t have been the last song on the album.
6/10
Overall: 7.5/10
It was one of Ross’s smoothest joints. He had been fallin off with the last couple of albums but this takes some of Mastermind’s best qualities and mixes them with sounds from older projects. If you’re a Ross fan, you should enjoy this. The features were everywhere and most of them worked. I think he could of left off some of the street songs but that would have took away a lot of features and most of his singles. And are Biggie fans mad at this cover or nah? I mean if we lettin Ross slide, I’m cool with that but I’m not sure how I feel about it.
