Album Review
The road to his fifth album, Loso’s Way, hasn’t been exactly the smoothest for one of Hip-Hop’s more recognizable names, Fabolous. First, his Terius Nash assisted first single, “Throw It In The Bag”, was leaked early…by his own label at that. Next, a significant amount of other tracks, including three Jermaine Dupri produced cuts, found themselves on the internet without Fab’s permission. This would ultimately lead to a July release instead of his intended June 30 date. Lastly, to add fuel to an already lit fire, the entire album found itself online some three weeks before it hit stores…early for even today’s fast paced standards. Yet and still, through a vicious marketing campaign (including his own grassroots movement via Twitter), the hype, anticipation and reaction around the album has remained at a exceptionally high.
Drawing inspiration from the legendary mafioso film, “Carlito’s Way”, the album starts off with a bang in the form of the intro track, “The Way.” Over a horn-heavy instrumental seemingly fit for a movie (which I’m assuming was exactly the point), punchline after punchline is tossed around giving flashbacks to vintage Fab of yesteryear. From this point, the hope for the “definitive” album all fans have been searching for from Fabolous for his entire career found itself at an extremely high level. With brutal bars like, “I hear ‘em cryin’ broke, they holler like a toddler/ Come holla at ya guala, don’t holla at savalas/ You end up down under tryin’ to holla at koalas/ I keep that nine on me…a la Igoudala,” it’s ridiculously easy to see why.
As with any Fabolous album, what he may seemingly lack in records to appease his hardcore fan base, he doubles up with radio singles. The aforementioned “Throw It In The Bag” has been dominating mainstream radio and TV stations for weeks (the remix happens to be the superior version, however). The choices for a follow up find themselves in abundance with Keri Hilson and Ryan Leslie featuring on “Everything, Everyday, Everywhere” (the next single), “Makin’ Love” with Ne-Yo, “Last Time” featuring Trey Songz and his collaboration with Marsha Ambrosius on “Stay.” While none of the songs particularly “suck”, the “great” records are few and far between. However, that is not the biggest fault with the album.
For an album touted as a “concept” album, the intended goal was not met. It is, in essence, a regular Fab album with expected results. Don’t get me wrong, tracks like “I’mma Do It”, “Lullaby” and “Salute” are more than exciting to listen to, but his attempts at showing his depth with conceptual tracks fail to earn a positive review. Not saying it isn’t appreciated when Fab attempts to step outside of his comfort zone of punchlines, balling and women, but it doesn’t materialize right for the man who many thought would assume the title of “King Of New York.”
In conclusion, I’m left still yearning for THAT album from Fabolous I know he is capable of making. Maybe I’m asking too much or coming off as the “average blogger”, but I know Fab is capable of crafting a classic. In the meantime, I will continue to patiently wait.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
