Okay, so before I get into this drop I have to make you watch these two videos...

Deeper Than cRap Music

Happy Women's History Month

^ The second video was just a little gift for those of you here chilling with me on the shabbas.

Okay, so Rick Ro$$ latest album surprised me. It surprised me because I never listened to him before this joint. He seemed to be a bit of a clown to me. His whole persona seemed to be 10 years late into the rap game so I never gave my ear to his music. This time I got turned on to him by accident. The true story is that I work in this area of lower Manhattan (NYC, not Kansas NFSJIC) and I was on my way to my favorite hotel to leave a deuce. Outside of the hotel this Def Jam truck was parked along with an SUV with the Rick Ro$$ vinyl wrapping. I knew that there was about to be a party there so I just hung around and wouldn't you know it, I ended up in the Rick Ro$$ 'Deeper Than Rap' listening session.

*As a sidebar: There was tons of free Belvedere which was great, but there ws no free food. Nothing to nosh on even. Def Jam, please invite me to some shit where y'all have food as well. Fuck all that recession talk, Maxim just had an event with free Patron and catered food.*

**R.I.P. Shakir Stewart**

Rick Ro$$ album has a bunch of bangers on that shit. Plus, the order that they previewed the tracks to us gave you the feeling that this album is one of those joints perfect for taking out with you for a long drive. I felt relaxed and carefree. I can only imagine how this album makes Ro$$ feel. For those of you scoring at home Rick Ro$$ is now leading 50 Cent on points in their battle. While 50 Cent has been entertaining us with comedy Rick Ro$$ has been in the studio getting focused and releasing what has to be the best music of his life. Especially if I'm fuxing with it.

Forget about all that side shit 50 Cent did with Ro$$' babymoms. One was broke and she did the things that broke folks do which is to accept gifts and free shit. The other one sells her ass and she did things that people who sell their ass would do. Now if 50 had made a video with the first BM (Tia?) then maybe I would still have 50 Cent in the lead on my internets scorecard. But while 50's latest album is being placed into Aftermath limbo Ro$$ album is front and center for Def Jam.

Here's a few observations I want to note for you that I took from the 'Deeper Than Rap' listening session...

1) Rick Ro$$ will NEVER make my top rapper list, but he deserves credit for being a rapper that can at least select good beats to rhyme over. Almost everything I heard at this preview knocked, including the songs featuring R & B artists (which there are a few). Mediocre rapper + good music >>> good rapper + average ass beats.

2) Be the godamned corrections officer alerady. Anyone that knows anyone working behind bars knows how hardbody C.O.'s have to keep their shit. All the C.O.'s that I know are one step from wearing the orange jumpsuit they damn self. If you think that you can be in close quarters with the wolves and the scum and not be one yourself you are a damn fool. Why hasn't Ro$$ ever said that?

3) Learn a foreign language, preferably spanish. The idea that a drug lord kingpin from Miami who doesn't know any spanish seems so disconnected from reality it just smacks me in the face. Ro$$ is down with Fat Joe for crying out loud. Have Joe Crack teach you a few words and sentences that way you seem authentic to the boss lifestyle you espouse. Colombians don't trust NOBODY that don't speak that shit.

4) Give out some free turkeys or some shit when the album drops. Have a bar-b-cue block party in Carol City. Have some kind of press event where you portray that whole boss Daddy Warbucks character instead of just shopping for sunglasses at the high-end mall. Most bosses are so much about they business that they have someone buying shit for them or they have retailers come visit them, not the other way around.

Rick Ro$$ has the Def Jam machine clearly in his corner and that isn't a bad thing, but if you are gonna to go into debt with that monster then you need to get the biggest bang for your bucks. It's not time for Rick Ro$$ to hustle harder, it's time for that nigga to hustle smarter.

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