God Forgives, I Don't

There are many ways to handle features on hip-hop albums.

Rick Ross’ “God Forgives, I Don’t” is the wrong way to do features. This album has 11 features, most of which steal the show from Ross. The best songs on the album — “3 Kings,” “Sixteen” and “Diced Pineapples” — are brilliant because of contributions from Jay-Z, Andre 3000 and Wale. In each of these songs, the featured artist is given more mic time than Ross. The album is listenable, but Ross’ previous effort, 2010’s “Teflon Don,” was a more complete, artistic effort.

The reason Ross feels like a sideshow on his own album has a lot to do with how he views himself. He declared himself a “don,” and this is truly how he lives. A recent GQ biography details that Ross takes great pride in promoting the efforts of the artists under his Maybach Empire. This summer, his promotional efforts seemed more focused on his label’s compilation album than on his own album.

Rap music has undoubtedly benefited tremendously from Ross’ donship, but his own efforts have suffered because of it.

By Luke Morgan