Rick Ross, DJ Khaled And More Share First Reactions On Ace Hood’s ‘Trials & Tribulations’

Ace Hood has been steadily putting out mixtape after mixtape since hitting the scene in 2007. For the Florida rapper, his tireless work ethic shows in the number of street hits such as “The Realist Living” and “B.L.A.B. (Ballin’ Like A Bitch).” More recently, Ace has reap the benefits of his most successful single of his career, the inescapable “Bugatti,” which is certified Gold and well on its way to Platinum status.

At the plush Gansevoort Park Hotel in New York City yesterday (June 18), the We The Best MC held a private listening for his fourth studio album, Trials & Tribulations, due out July 16. Taking the microphone and explaining in detail about putting his heart and passion into this album, he queued up nine tracks to preview for the gathering of friends (DJ Khaled, Rick Ross, Vado) and industry insiders. Trials ran the gamut of emotions, from hood tales to personal records such as “Mama,” which features R&B/soul singer Betty Wright. There are also songs speaking on recent life events that translate into motivational anthems. Take, for instance, “For The Rollie” (featuring Meek Mill), which finds Ace reflecting on difficult times before he copped a nice watch.

Since Future dominated the radio with his hook on “Bugatti,” Ace rounded up R&B staples Chris Brown and Anthony Hamilton in hopes of smashing the airwaves once again. They appear on street-oriented tracks “Rider” (on which Brown sings a hook loosely based off Tupac’s “Ambitionz Az A Ridah”) and “The Come Up.” Ace ended the listening with “My Bible," where this particular line stood out: “Lord knows it’s a cold world, but I ain’t apologetic.”

Though the crowd was receptive to his new songs, the biggest reactions came when he played both of his singles, “Bugatti” and the Lil Wayne-assisted “We Outchea.” It’s a sign that Ace has evolved into fully-fledged artist after years of hard work. As Ace was wrapping things up, XXL caught up with his closest collaborators to get their first reactions of Trials & Tribulations, and also heard from the man of the hour himself.—Eric Diep (@E_Diep) & Emmanuel C.M. (@ECM_LP)

Chinx

"My first reaction was, 'Wow!' From the first track my attention was stolen. Beats were on point and the lyrics of Ace have matured with the trials and tribulations that he's faced these past few years. Definitely something I would slap in the whip and ride out to."

DJ Bobby Trends

"Oh man, Trials & Tribulations is his fourth album. I mean you in here, you heard it. You hear the progression from album one to album four. I mean, he was here telling a story, he explained everything and how he felt. It’s basically his story, his trials and tribulations, man. You know, you definitely see the progression in his flow.

"He's a Florida artist and he didn’t really particularly go for that, everything wasn’t that South bounce, you know what I’m saying? He made some hip-hop records. I heard most of the album a couple of times, like on and off, but today I got to hear the whole thing and I’m just pleasantly surprised. Not surprised as I felt like it was gonna be anything other than what it is, but it was better than better. [Laughs]

"So you know, that 'Bible' joint at the end, it touched me. I want to let him vibe and do his thing here but as soon as it was done I had to put my hand on his shoulder and just tell him how I felt. I’m proud of him. You know, I been in this game for a little second, from the bottom to where I’m at now. I’ve seen all of this already. And what I’m seeing now is just excellence."

Vado

"Fire—you know what I’m saying? Me being a lyricist is more fire because he’s a lyricist. So I’m listening to the lyrics, I’m really listening to the beats. So I’ma go off the lyrics, fire and the beats. He already knows, [he's] over ten-plus [in the game]. You already know, Trials & Tribulations be out July 16, We The Best, I don’t see the rest."

DJ Khaled

"My first reaction, I got to hear it in the studio so it was real personal. Working with Ace, it was amazing because it’s real life. Every record is real life. It made me real passionately say, ‘Yeah. Yeah, Ace. Yeah.’ Cause he’s talking real life. I love music that people can relate to and it’s an album that everyone is going to relate to.

"I’ve seen the growth. [Ace] has found himself. Some artists, sometimes it takes them time to find out what they are here for. Ace represents a struggle and the suffering out there. At the same time, he gives people hope. That’s what I love about his music. That’s timeless shit. It ain’t like this is some topic and it goes away tomorrow. This real life shit. I respect that and I love it—you know what I am saying? You can hear it in his flows, his lyrics and his beats. It’s crazy.

"For the rest of the album, expect more—every record got some type of substance in it. You are gonna hear some more soul samples. Of course, there’s a record that we didn’t play called 'Pray For Me.' That’s real hard. Like a 'Hustle Hard'-type thing, but with substance. 'Hustle Hard' had substance. We didn’t want to play you everything, but we wanted to play you stuff [so] that you can hear different shit—you know what I am saying?"

Rick Ross

"Me just watching Ace's growth. Like I said, Ace is a reflection of the movement. Soon as we got our foot in the door, we said we wanted to make sure we kept it open so we created that hashtag, #TheMovement. And Ace is a result of that. As you watching the MC going on his third, his fourth album; that’s a career, you know what I’m saying? It was going on . . . his first single was Gold, closing in on Platinum. At times like this you just let your music speak for itself. You know what I’m saying? For everybody that love that real street music, go and you support Ace Hood, you know what I’m saying? That’s how it goes. He gonna be around a long time."

Ace Hood

"It was a good reaction. You know, all the people that were here seems to be excited about the project as I am. I am just happy that they are loving the product. It just feels good that you can have a story and people—not only you go through it—but people are able to relate to the things you’ve been through in life. All I ever wanted was people to accept my project and accept my music. Just understand where I am coming from. The feedback has been incredible. I am happy about that.

"The rest of the album is pure passion. It’s a lot more good music, a lot more potency. Just a lot of substance. That’s what I like to have in my music. Once you sit down and listen to the album—the full body—you’ll understand from top to bottom there’s a story. It’s an actual body of work, not just an artist that’s putting singles or records on a CD. It’s an actual me taking my time and putting these right records together. Just really getting the message out that it means something to me. I feel like this is what I am here to do. God put me here to do this."