If you've heard the Billboard Hot 100 number one single "Low," a
DJ Montay-produced track featuring
T-Pain, you know the deal:
Flo Rida is not a new female member of
the Ruff Ryders, but a male rapper with a husky but not imposing voice who has obvious pride for the state he calls home. On
Mail on Sunday, he shows flashes of virtually every point in the history of Florida hip-hop, from Miami bass,
2 Live Crew, and
Poison Clan to
Trick Daddy and
Rick Ross. Though
Flo Rida has his own identity -- for all the tough talk and the automotives fixation, he does come off as big-hearted, and he could just as easily make an R&B album -- and covers more bases than what is typical from other mainstream-yet-street rap albums of 2007 and 2008, he's not nearly as distinctive as any of his predecessors. Here, he doesn't offer much more than a couple worthy singles and a handful of decent album cuts, and those highlights, such as the
Timbaland-produced (and hogged) "Elevator," tend to be memorable more for the beats and the hooks than the rhymes. [A clean version of the album was also released.] ~ Andy Kellman