CD Reviews

Fabolous

From Nothin' to Somethin' | Def Jam

By DOMINIQUE HENDELMAN | July 17, 2007

2.0 Stars

Fab’s mixtape cuts are dope and always show off his lyrical prowess, but the full-lengths are never up to snuff. From Nothin’ to Somethin’ is more of the same. The cheesy cuts for the ladies are limited to three — some improvement on his previous albums — but the disc still embodies what’s wrong with hip-hop today. Fab’s an ill lyricist working in a world where witty wordplay doesn’t move units or translate into heavy radio rotation, so he relies here on formulaic collaborations with T-Pain, Lloyd, Rihanna, and Young Jeezy to boost sales. He’s got some bangers: “Change Up” featuring Akon, “Make Me Better” with Ne-Yo, and “Brooklyn” with Jay-Z and Uncle Murda are solid. The problem is that Fab set the bar high on the old DJ Clue mixtapes: hip-hop heads expect hard-hitting one-liners in every rhyme he spits, and he delivers only half of the time. Maybe he should spend less time spelling out his name and more time remembering why he got into the rap game in the first place.

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ARTICLES BY DOMINIQUE HENDELMAN

AUDIBLE TREATS | September 12, 2007
When the word “underground” gets attached to “hip-hop,” we’re apt to imagine white boys spouting SAT verbiage in a feeble imitation of the real thing.