Rick Ross provides his perspective on the struggle of the black community, wealth, injustice, and the street life on his latest mixtape Black Dollar. On this project Ross stays true to his refreshing, grandiose sound and audacious flaunting of wealth.
Ross wastes no time to get down to business on this project as he chooses to come out of the gate addressing the struggles of his come up and financial issues all too palpable within society on his track, “Foreclosure”. On this track he raps:
Death Row, fast life/foreclosed on my past life/ The white man call us stupid n#####/ We spend it all nothing for our children/ Had it all, now its repossessed/ Can’t fed the clique cutting bad checks.
This track is a great tone setter for the rest of the album and has great production as well thanks to J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League. Following this is “Money Dance”, which transitions from the financial issues faced within the first track to Ross lounging enjoying his success. The Dream is a great feature on this track as well as he croons on the hook over a beautiful piano loop.
On “Bill Gates”, Ross is doing his typical audacious bragging and flaunting of wealth as he draws parallels between himself and the highly influential billionaire. While on the track “Money & Powder”, Rozay transitions from a corporate viewpoint back to his street origins, as he lays out the notion that sometimes crime does pay over quality production. This is trailed by a very welcome appearance of vocalist Anthony Hamilton on his track” Icon”, which is Rozay reflecting on his rise in the game and proclaiming his status and influence in the industry. “Turn Ya Back”, is one of Rozay’s quintessential street tracks in which he admonishes his peers for their lack of loyalty with the help of fellow street MCs Meek Mill and Gucci Mane.
“Beautiful Lie”, the featured love song on the album is one of the standouts with Wale making a notable feature over great production courtesy of Nonstop Da Hitman. A favorite on the project is Bel Air with its beautiful sample of SWV’s Rain accompanying Ross’s exuberant, luxurious rhymes. This track just sounds like success. The closing act “Dead Rappers” pays homage to many of the fallen legends in the industry as he spits:
“Bandanas and rags, wave them for Soulja Slim
Homie did thirty and his family, no one came to see him
Headphones on, songs about a dead rapper
Lil Snupe’s in my prayers, I still can hear him laughing
Lost Boyz, Freaky Tah … we were four deep
Mac Dre, Slim Dunkin, and peace to Doe B
Overall this mixtape is a go to for money motivation and has Rick Ross’s typical great production throughout. Ross has always had a great ear for beats and delivers his interesting content in which he weaves in and out between consciousness and materialism, humility and excess effortlessly. There’s something for everybody on this project as he has his quintessential trap style beats to go along with his luxurious, elegant sophisticated sound courtesy of standout production collective JUSTICE League among others. All in all, this mixtape is a nice addition to The Bawses catalogue and is a hearty meal to hold his fans over until his next release. Maybe people need to respect the power of the Black Dollar.
Lyrics: 8/10
Production: 9/10
Cohesiveness: 8/10
Replay Value: 9/10
Overall: 8/10
Standout Tracks: “Foreclosures”, “We Gon Make It”, “Money Dance”, “ Beautiful Lie”, “Bel Air”