Fabolous From Nothin' To Somethin' CD

Three years after his commercially successful 2004 release, REAL TALK, Brooklyn's own Fabolous returned with FROM NOTHIN' TO SOMETHIN' in 2007. On his fourth full-length, Fabolous continues with the same smooth player posturing, detailing the various ways he runs the streets in a breathy, effortless flow. At 16 tracks deep, FROM NOTHIN' TO SOMETHIN' shines on the production end thanks to a slew of air-tight beats from Timbaland, Jermaine Dupri, Just Blaze, Scott Storch, Swizz Beatz, and Reefa among others. Fabolous also benefits from a long list of guest R&B-hook-providers including Akon, T-Pain, Lloyd, Rihanna, and Ne-Yo as well as cameo verses from heavyweights Young Jeezy, Pusha T, Lil Mo, Swizz Beatz, Joe Budden, and Red Café. All that aside, though, the record's hottest cut might just be Fab's tribute to his borough, "Brooklyn," which features a verse from none other than the Jigga man himself, Jay-Z.

Fabolous' new label, Def Jam, rolls out a wide red carpet for From Nothin' to Somethin', enlisting a great deal of starpower to bolster its new artist's fourth album. Akon, Rihanna, Jay-Z, Lloyd, Junior Reid, and even Ne-Yo (on a track produced by Timbaland) make appearances, while there is room made for past collaborators like Just Blaze, Swizz Beatz, Young Jeezy, longtime cohort DJ Clue?, and the otherwise missing-in-action Lil' Mo. In another sense, it's the same old, same old, with Fabolous covering a bunch of niches: there's the booming, borderline sluggish Southern track (the Jeezy feature "Diamonds"), a couple raucous East Coast bangers ("Brooklyn," "Return of the Hustle"), several R&B crossovers, ...