Like
Akon, rapper
Maino came to fame with a hard convict story. He then went platinum with his hit "All the Above," so on this second album, the talented, primarily autobiographical writer has to face the cold, hard truth that bottle service is less inspirational source material than doing hard time. "Make That Money" is a fine example, as this time it's "'Cuz I just went from ashy to classy/Makin' two chicks do the nasty, yeah!" rather than meaningful lyrics dealing about the soul-crushing consequences of bad decisions. Bodies twist into all sorts of positions on the clubby "Let It Fly" with
Rosco Dash, and elsewhere there's plenty of
T-Pain-sized partying even though the "All the Above" collaborator isn't here. While these tracks are fun enough, the meat of the album comes from songs that rewind to pre-prison, pre-fame days, as "Need a Way Out" is
Maino discovering music as an outlet, while "That Could Be Us" dreams of showing off to girls after he becomes the next
Biggie. There are some musical moments that recall the organic landscape of the
Roots, and
Maino sounds surprisingly comfortable in this setting, but with two themes pulling at the album, this is a welcome return track by track, and a bit frustrating when taken as a whole. ~ David Jeffries