Rick Ross “Teflon Don” Review
Ultimately Teflon Don is about two things: Rick Ross flossin’ his wealth and Rick Ross flaunting his friendships. For those of you with no interest in listening to someone take the better part of an hour to reaffirm their self-worth by showcasing how hard they’re shining: Teflon Don is going to be lost on you. But if you have no qualms with returning to an era of rap that celebrated ridiculous levels of decadence: you’ve come to the right place.
“Blast my record out the windows of your Honda Accord,” Ross recently suggested in an interview with Billboard. “And if anyone gives you grief, you look them right in the eye and tell them Rick Ross told you wealth begins in the heart.” That’s fine advice, but once you’ve reached such a level of wealth as Ross has, he’d likely suggest you ditch the heartfelt sentiment, get some iced out jewelery, and start ridin’ deep. Opening with the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League-produced “I’m Not A Star,” Ross wastes little time in showcasing his egocentric view on the world, casually revealing his self-perceived place in the the industry, “If I died today remember me like John Lennon.” Despite its title, “I’m Not A Star” is essentially just three minutes of Ross explaining why, in fact, he is a star. Then there’s “Maybach Music III,” the third in a series of songs copping its name from the absurdly elite German car (though to say they’re just “cars” would be doing a Maybach a disservice), “B.M.F.” (which stands for “Blowin’ Money Fast”), “Aston Martin Music,”and “MC Hammer,” where Ross reveals in detail how much money he spends, “Bitch I’m MC Hammer, I’m about cream.” But don’t get Rick Ross wrong, he’s grateful for his lifestyle. “Becoming a young millionaire you can lose sight of the things that’s important to you” he explains in the introduction to “All The Money In The World.” Then again, the references to gratitude are definitely in the minority here.
Serving to complement the album’s lyrical focus on money is the rich roster of talent that joins Ross on Teflon Don, including Raphael Saadiq on “All The Money In The World.” “I’m fortunate enough to socialize with some of the greatest musicians around” he reflected in the same interview with Billboard. Damn right he is. T.I., Jadakiss and Erykah Badu join the MC on the aforementioned “Maybach Music,” Trey Songz & Diddy accompany Ross on “No. 1,” Gucci Mane sits in on “MC Hammer,” Styles P on “B.M.F.,” Drake and Chrisette Michele on “Aston Martin Music,” and even Cee-Lo Green makes an appearance with “Tears of Joy.” Two collaborations rise above the rest however, together standing as the album’s strongest tracks: “Live Fast, Die Young” with Kanye West and “Free Mason” with Jay-Z and John Legend.
Ross isn’t a lyrical slouch on “Live Fast, Die Young,” but the song is primarily held steady due to Kanye’s verse which, while maybe not warranting a “Kanye’s Back!” chant, suggests that his upcoming Good Ass Job release will have some serious flow to it. “My outfit’s so disrespectful/You can go ahead and sneeze ’cause my presence bless you.” On “Free Mason” Ross once again leads the way, this time branding the song as being “For the soldiers that see the sun at midnight.” By no means does the Inkredibles’ production take a back seat to the two superstars however, as an inspirational feeling is added to the track with the tightly knit beat. It’s not until Jay-Z’s verse that the track really peaks though. Lashing out at the reaction which was aimed at his “On To The Next One” video—its abstract symbolism was greeted with accusations of satanism and Freemasonry—Jay immediately digs in, “Niggas couldn’t do nothing with me, they put the devil on me… Fuck all these fairy tales/Go to hell, this is God engineering… Bitch, I said I was amazing/Not that I’m a Mason… He without sin shall cast the first stone, so y’all look in the mirror double check y’all appearance…Bitch, I’m red hot/I’m on my third six, but a devil I’m not.”
While not on the same level as “Free Mason,” the most telling track on Teflon Don might very well be “Tears of Joy.” The song’s introduction casts an unusual tone early on as we hear a recording of a speech originally delivered by Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panthers, “Power is the ability to define phenomena and make it act in a desired manner.” This is followed by a series of statements that act as a call to violence to spark change. The words offer little but lost sentiment though as Ross fails to honestly address the recording in the song. Rather, working alongside Cee-Lo’s ever-stunning vocals, he continues with the same flow that is felt throughout various other parts of Teflon Don, appearing to show appreciation for what he has, yet still sneaking in the occasional conceited reference: “Biggie Smalls in the flesh.” By all means he’s a good rapper, but Notorious B.I.G. he is not.
The reason that “Tears of Joy” might best represent Teflon Don, despite being cast among such a quality stream of tracks, is because it displays how truly one dimensional the album is. Even when blatantly trying to shift the song in a new direction, Ross’ lyrics come back to focus on personal wealth. If you were to measure Teflon Don‘s lyrical substance on a scale of 1 – 10, you’d end up with a negative number: there simply isn’t any. But if you measure the album on its ability to showcase a non-stop flow of tremendously tight beats, mixed in with some consistent contributions from some of today’s biggest names, and capped off by a memorable showing on the mic from The Boss, Teflon Don is scoring high.
Whyd o people keep taking jabs at the guy like that I love the sample of the album I heard and lyrically, did you ever listen to Biggie rap? I dont think you have personal wealth is one thing he spoke on, and also the hard times he came from, the streets, and workin the trap. Same stuff. In my opinion he has topped biggie smalls lyrically and is better. And before you say anything, Biggie smalls is not here to defend his crown so all hale The Boss. And off the topic Lil Wayne is the best rapper alive he is always fully loaded with 1000 songs somethin we saw in Pac, but again Pac is not here to defend his crown, so all hale Weezy.
You are ridiculous. In NO way is Ross as witty or complex with his rhymes as Notorious. “Kick in the Door” alone is better than Ross’ whole catalog of rhymes. And If you think Wayne is better than Black Thought, you don’t listen to enough music. All HAIL The Roots.
IF YOU DON’T WANT TO LISTEN TO HATERS THEN GET OFF THIS WEBSITE FAST!!!!!
I actually considered the album 5Star until the mood of the album changed up on me. After the great track NO.1 the album almost sounded like those hype songs that get the club hype.(besides Aston Martin Music). But other than that, this is one of those albums that you have to listen to all the way through. Great album, I’ll give it 4STARS****
pale horse you a fucking idiot lol first off tupac and biggie was murder and they should always be remember as the king of hiphop only because they were really the pioneer of rap .. lil wayne and all these pussy niggas aint about nothing but promoting drugs and degrading their own race ..2010 hiphop = no more real rappers .. this is why hip hop is dead
1st off I would like to say the features on this album is incredible.. To go back to what the writer spoke on, this album doesnt have that much depth in the lyrical content, meaning he is still rapping about money, cars, clothes, gangs, drugs, and more but the production is sick & professional that alone gives the album a aura of greatness. If you go back to tracks like Free Mason, Tears of Joy, Maybach music, Live Fast Die Young, all these tracks and maj of the tracks on this album are different they have a different swag and flwo to them than the norm Rozay. I respect what he said in alot of the lyrics, and it seems he was being honest and trying to capture a new tone that he has yet to achieve.. All in All Iout of 10 I give this a solid 9. If there was more lyrical content then this would be a definite 10..
Now if you dont agree with what I stated you should listen to the album start to finish, dont skip dont cut any of the tracks off give them all a chance and by the end im sure you can atest that this is by far better than Drakes & Eminems Albums that dropped this year.
The production and his bravado is just to much to be overlooked; this album is history to rap as hov said “Just Say You Love It” – Jermz
“Ultimately Teflon Don is about two things: Rick Ross flossin’ his wealth and Rick Ross flaunting his friendships. For those of you with no interest in listening to someone take the better part of an hour to reaffirm their self-worth by showcasing how hard they’re shining: Teflon Don is going to be lost on you. But if you have no qualms with returning to an era of rap that celebrated ridiculous levels of decadence: you’ve come to the right place.”
This album isn’t as good as, “deeper then rap” but it’s deffinitely growing on me… Rick Ross’s lyrics are complicated and take a little while to appericiate… But there is no denying he’s the boss.
I just got Eminem’s album & you can compare both Drake’s Thank Me Later & Rozay’s Teflon Don to Recovery & they cant compare.
Eminem has the best album of the year hands down.
Is it just me or did Ross swagga jack SOLID SNAKE for the cover of his album???
I completely agree with B’s comments. If you listen to biggie’s lyrics, these are exactly the things he talked about all the time. Please stop hating on this dude,because he is by far one of the best rappers in the game today. Why do you think so many top level cats fuck with Rick Ross, he is tight.
This has been an exceptional year for albums if you ask me! Em’s is crazy! Big Boi’s is crazy! Ross’ album was a big surprise for me! Very quality album. Just a few tracks that I could pass on. The only thing that sucked about it was it’s only 11 tracks. Drake’s cd was crazy! Now I’m waiting on Game! Maybe Dre’s but I’m not holding my breath.
Revolutions per Minute and The Son of Chico Dusty shit all on this album. Rick Ross is completely unremarkable as a rapper, making him the the blandest gangser rapper to ever make it this big. it actually doesnt make much sense to me, i mean gucci mane is more entertaining than this guy. hes a wet blanket.
hes a cube. straight on all sides but still utterly unremarkable.
Ever since Ricky was exposed as a ‘fraud’ by 50 cent, I been hatin on this guy. But after listening to this, I buried the hatchet and have to commend him on this. I put this album just behind Sir Luscious, Recovery and Thank Me Later (best album), but above Nas & Damian Marley effort, b.O.b’s album and over Reflection Eternal’s. Trust me, I wanted this guy to fail so badly, but there are times when you got to know when you’re beaten. IMO, the people who are hatin on this album are the people that hold a grudge against Ricky. Everybody who has said Biggie was the same are totally right; granted, he ain’t as good as Biggie, but he’s still up there, and I bet when Ready To Die came out everybody at culturebully was riding that albums dick, so you should give this album piece of mind when bumping in .Be fuckin consistent with criticism, cos if Ready To Die is great then this is something close to that.
“Rick Ross flossin’ his wealth”.
True.!
Rick Ross doesn’t even come close to Biggie, Biggie gave descriptions of stories and was great at it, Rick Ross just talks about money and drugs. You’re saying that’s all Biggie talks about but he actually gives a story with it. Lil Wayne is not good, so to B listen to real rap then and tell me if Lil Wayne is good then and by the way Rick Ross is not real rap. So stop with the disrespectful shit by saying that this no talent wanna be gangster is even close to as good as Biggie.
Yall act as if Biggie was a God, lets be serious he was nice, but come on. Answer this how many artist signed with Bad Boy were relevant after 5 years? Don’t worry I’ll wait! Exactly so what makes u think he would have been. Remind u that almost every artist signed to Bad Boy was supposed to be the next great thing, with no end in sight. Biggie was that dude, and will always be, but sorry to say if he had not passed we wouldn’t be calling him the “greatest rapper ever”. Please lets not forget 50 Cent, everybody was feeling his movement and now u see after 5 years he’s garbage. Rick Ross is making GREAT music. No one, including 1 of my favs Lil Wayne, is making albums with as much range,great production WITH LYRICS, plus stylin on the track like Ross. The closest to that right now would be T.I. So get over it, Rick Ross is in the top 3/4 rappers out rite now. Cause to be honest I like Kanye West, but his drama out weighs his work, if Eminem was black he would be like Common, Talib, and MOS DEF. Not particularly the message their spittin but great lyricist that get no love. Its like the fact that there’s millions of people who can dunk, but when their white we are amazed. Its Wayne, Jay Z, T.I., & Ross. Not in that particular order.
ThaT basic sum it up rite there. People who understand production can hear dat the music this man is makin is above average RosS Got SWAG and he has lyrics dat backs his swagg up. Da haters have 2 give in 2 ross. He is not goin 2 fall he got diddy on his side now he’s not gonna flop wit dude.. diddy makes movies with artist like ross who u think be puttn him on dat Biggie shit.. diddy. What people need 2 understamd is hes still growin he has progressd truely with this album. It makes u wonder whats his next one is gon be like..
ROss makes movies!!!
dat dude talking shit about lil weezy should shut the F….k up……..what do u know about rap…talking about hip hop is dead…..fuck dat old skool shit….y dont u liston to RUN DMC anymore….u and i still know u dont liston dats shit…u need to update ur self fam..
Teflon Don is real Tight but i think Rick should try talking about other things other than “Wealth” or “Being Boss”
i think ross is the rapper not just ordinary listeners. he knows his game so stop saying that he shouldnt talk about money and drugs.if he’s not giving u enough then stop listinig to his music mothafukers.
I gave some close observation on what people are saying about Ross! I myself didn’t think the dude could hold water! After this album though, I think he definitely has a CERTAIN credibility with his style. The album is a great listen! I was really feeling the quality of the tracks and have placed it on my playlist when ridin in the bMW. Hate on him if you wish, but dude is an artist. choose to support him or get movin. No time for the hating here! I fucks with the mans music and his flow to beat is top notch. I listen to everybody, and have for over 26 years!!! Dude gives 11o percent of himself to his music. Give credit where credit is due. He aint the best, but he delivers with every album. He may even develop to be the next biggie. Let’s see where diddy takes him!
That guy that said this place is full of haters was right.Lil Wayne rap is appealing but only if your a teenage trying to figure out what’s happening to your body…T.I,Game,Eminem rule the modern rap game.No one will accept Em as the best coz he hijacked black music an ran with it….
I think this is the best rick ross effort so far and he IS one of the best in the RAP (not hip-hop) game in terms of flow and voice…
it seems like everybody forgot about how important a rapper’s voice is… that’s one of the thing that made Biggie great (and 50 cent too i’m sorry and that’s the thing I can’t stand with eminem (I’ll make enemies here)
By the way Reflection’s eternal’s album and Distant Relatives are better than this in my opinion…
OKAY UNDERSTAND THIS……… IF A MAN CONSTANTLY MAKES THE SAME MISTAKES OBVIOUSLY HE’S NOT LEARNING FROM THEM RIGHT…. SINCE PORT OF MIAMI IVE LISTEN TO RICK ROSS PROGRESS AS AN ARTIST AND I MUST SAY DIS MAN IS LEARNING FROM THE THINGS HE HAS DONE WRONG MUSIC WISE…… U MUST LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM FULLY, “ITS KINDA LIKE READING COMPREHENSION BUT MUSICALLY FOR U SLOW FOLK!!!!!!!!” ITS NOT ALL ABOUT GANGBANGIN, FLAUNTING HIS WEALTH, OR CONSTANTLY CALLING HIMSELF “BOSS” LIKE ON HIS LAST EFFORTS, THIS IS MUSIC PEOPLE, IT HAS FEELING, THE BASS TALK TO U, AND THE INSTRUMENTS SEDUCE U AND THEN LYRICS CAPTURE U…… THE MAIN ARGUEMENT ABOUT “TEFLON DON” IS HOW SHORT THE TRACKLIST IS, BUT TO ME THAT’S GENIUS……. RICK ROSS AND DIDDY HAVE DONE JUST THEY SET OUT TO DO, U AS PEOPLE WANT, HATE IT OR LOVE IT U WANT MORE………
REMEMBER THIS NOT ABOUT EMINEM, DRAKE, OR BIGGIE………… U ALL ARE STRAYING AWAY FROM THE TOPIC AT HAND BECAUSE U CANT ADMIT THE TRUTH…………..
“THIS A GREAT F**KIN ALBUM FROM START TO FINISH(SO STOP HATIN)!!!!!!!!!!!!
hip hop is dead
I agree with pale horse most definitely but I also feel you 100 percent FREETUNECHI… 2pac & biggie were talking about more relative & positive things but right now this (current Hip Hop & Rap) are all we (majority of people) are accustomed to. Rick Ross album is good & Lil Wayne is great but I know that they have talent & I vowed not to spend my hard earned money to promote them. 2pac & Biggie talked about inappropriate things & they found themselves/discovered the truth before they died & tried to warn us/teach us, therefore their mission in life was accomplished. If 2pac or Biggie were alive we wouldn’t be having this discussion. As much as I dislike defending this kind of negative music I can’t help but defend the talent these artist have because they are indeed talented. I don’t think that it is good for us(especially the younger generation that don’t realize what good from bad) but I wish they would use their lyrics to send a positive message majority if not all the time. To be honest I don’t blame the lyricist/artistes for their music that they promote because I am not perfect. I feel that it is not them who says these negative things, it is a evil spirit. I feel this way because when I think negative or under anger, after I had time to calm down & think clearly I don’t mean the harmful things I said when I was mad.
Hey listen here this is Rick Ross the big boss. He is da shit doent matter what u guys say. Keep doin it rick you are the shit and south africa is behind you.
rick ross a tight album indeed go easy on the flossing though not gud for ones career for such a huge artist like you. south africa JozI
Rozay forget da haters dey dont kno good music wen dey hear it u da BO$$ top album too rick ross no doubt one of da best rapper in da game rite now hands down keep doin ur ting BOSS!
I once drove Rick Ross in a limousine. He was the biggest loser I ever met in my life. He lit up a marijuana joint in the car without asking. He was politely asked to put it out and refused to do so, even when it was explained that we use the car for other customers who are more conservative and might not appreciate the marijuana smell.
We had to call the police and only then did Ross leave the vehicle. He could barely speak English and called the car an as*hole. (I didn’t realize cars could actually be as*holes).
I have met tens of thousands of people in my work, including hundreds of extremely famous rock stars and actors, and without a doubt Rick Ross was the most disrespectful loser of all time.