Music
Hood Billionaire
The Miami boss does it once more, with not so much feeling
Rick Ross – a man of XL fantasies, XL luxury and XL bass – is, of course, the only rapper brazen enough to drop two full-length albums in a year when no one's going platinum unless they're named Taylor Swift. Sadly, though, the Miami MC's seventh LP explodes with none of the ambition or scope of March's Mastermind – playing it safe, like a knockoff version of Jay Z's back-to-basics speed bump American Gangster, from 2007. The beats recall hits Ross made nearly a decade ago, the lyrics trade in the simplistic flows he outgrew long ago, and he is rarely roused from his comfort zone, even with Timbaland playing 808 pinball on the standout "Movin' Bass."