Ace Hood Ruthless CD

On his sophomore album, RUTHLESS, Florida-based rapper Ace Hood waxes lyrical about the trials and tribulations of the rap game, comparing the cutthroat industry to a sporting event. Backed by such heavyweights as Rick Ross, Akon, and T-Pain, Hood certainly seems poised to knock this one out of the park.

After gaining a sizable audience with his debut album GUTTA, Ace Hood returned just seven months later with a more polished follow-up, the mis-titled RUTHLESS. For those desiring the more radio friendly side of the gruff rapper, the album offers plenty of bedroom numbers and club tracks along with a big list of superstar guests including Akon, Lloyd, Rick Ross, and T-Pain. For everyone else, this is too much too soon and awfully inconsistent with some swagger numbers succeeding splendidly (the highly infectious "Loco with the Cake" or maybe "Born an OG" with Ludacris in full party mode) while others just fail (the bland "Champion"). To his credit, Hood dominates "Overtime" even with Akon and T-Pain as guests and on the closing "Make a Toast" he brings the guts, sounding like the unforgiving victor he was on Gutta. If the sound quality was rougher and the attitude was looser, this would come off as one of those mixtapes where collabos and lesser tracks pacify the faithful in-between official albums. The casual listener should just check the hits.XXL (Magazine Publisher) (p.90) - "Check the inspiring Jazmine Sullivan and Rick Ross collaboration 'Champion' -- with its wistful imagery and pummeling drums -- finding Hood finally pairing substance with vigor."