Fabolous: From Nothin' to Somethin' B+

Even when Fabolous is rapping about getting it on and selling coke, there's an underlying wholesomeness to his rhymes. On his new album, the Brooklyn-born MC compares selling ounces of cocaine to eating donut O's, assures the ladies he can "keep it hot like a thermos cup" and, in a track about the sadder sides of street life, shows us "what it sounds like when thugs cry."\nYes, Fab is back from a three-year hiatus, and not too much has changed. On From Nothin' to Somethin', his repertoire of motifs is the same -- dimes, drugs and diamonds -- but he's still finding new takes on them, even if some of his rhymes border on cutesy. In "Diamonds," for example, Fabolous boasts that he's got so many rocks we should call him "Carat Jeter," then drops references to Bugs Bunny and SpongeBob.\nFabolous formally announces his return on the snail-paced, boom-clapper "Yep, I'm Back." The track sets the tone for the rest of the album as Fab moseys over a laid-back beat that fits his casual delivery like a crisp new Yankees hat. Throughout the disc, he gets help from a host of other MCs, who provide lyrical gems like "I'm the best hands down like 6:30," and R&B crooners like Akon and Ne-Yo, who mix with Fabolous's smoothness like rum and coke.\nThunderous and gritty, "Brooklyn," which features fellow New Yorker Jay-Z, is the album's highlight, with Fab boasting, "Your boy sittin' on top like a hair wig." Just Blaze's violins-and-timbales frenzy "Return of the Hustle" is a close second, despite a lame chorus from the laughably uncharismatic producer-turned-hype man Swizz Beatz.\n"I don't judge myself / but I'd say my style is a 10," Fabolous raps on the first track of From Nothin' to Somethin'. Fourteen songs later, it's hard to disagree.