REVIEW: Ace Hood's Trials & Tribulations (Deluxe Version)

I’ll always wonder what affect the exploding watch debacle had on the new Ace Hood album, Trials & Tribulations. Just as his street banger, “Bugatti” was taking him over the top, that damn watch lost its bezel on BET in front of millions. Did it affect the perception of Ace Hood, who has toiled through so many obstacles to get to this point?

The album starts off strong with “Trials and Tribulations” and “Another Statistic,” which pays homage to Trayvon Martin. Refreshing to hear the “pain, the hunger, the hustle shall never go unnoticed” in his mind. “Before The Rollie,” which features Meek Mill, bangs despite the irony of the current events.

Ace Hood has always been able to leverage his relationships on his album, seemingly based on his relationship with DJ Khaled. So, we see Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Anthony Hamilton, Rick Ross, Future, the legendary Betty Wright, but most of the album is Ace Hood holding court on Trials & Tribulations. He does a good hope and his hunger is evident on just about ever song. You can hear his concerns on songs like “Hope” and “Pray For Me.” He cares and he goes hard on every song.

If there are issues on Trials and Tribulations, its in the repetitive content, but its easy to overcome, particularly once fans curate the songs their way on iTunes. There are incessant bars about God, the struggle, the haters, the money and the pursuit of prosperity. Sonically, he’s got great beats with The Renegades, Cardiak, Sonny Digital, Ben Billions, Schife, StreetRunner, and Lee On The Beats. This is his fourth album so he’s no rookie anymore and it shows. Hopefully, the BET debacle doesn’t have the social media world too hard on the emerging talent known as Ace Hood as his wings begin to spread.

AHH’s Ratings:
Lyricism –9/10
Production –9/10
Album Cohesiveness –8/10
Replay value –8/10
Overall –8.5/10