“One bullet. One target. One choice.”- Rick Ross on “Foreclosure”
Black Dollar has Ross sounding like a trap Farrakhan while struggling to avoid spots of creative complacency common for a rapper with over ten years under his belt. Ross’ last great free album, 2012’s Rich Forever was powered by a 2011 that saw Maybach Music Group enjoy its most commercial success, still to this date. However, Black Dollar has rage pumping through its veins from three years ofpushed back albums, internallabel fighting andnear death shootouts.
Ross still has aspirations to be Rich Forever, he’s just decided to do it with the Black Dollar.
Black Dollar plays like the narration of Martin Scorsese’s classic mobster flick Goodfellas with Ross as Henry Hill, disgraced gangster running away from the mob lifestyle actively trying to murder him while telling his side of the story before he’s rubbed out of history by those same forces. Ross does not snitch on Black Dollar, but it does contain the most detailed lyrics of his inner-workings to date. Take the mixtape intro, “Foreclosure” for instance. A blistering mixture of profound metaphors (“reap what you sew and they talking RE(reap)possession”) and business talk (“the paper gets funny when publishing involved”) with the latter seemingly addressing claims that Ted Lucas, Slip-N-Slide CEO and founder, retained75% of Ross’ publishing even after Ross left the label.
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But, it’s the final five bars where all of Ross’ frustrations congeal in a torrential storm of ferocity:
“I never met an artist who fully recouped / These the deals the deal dealers wanna deal to you / Young niggas, time to act your wage / Buying belts you seen on other niggas’ waists / Hoes fucking for photos they wanna post online / Whole time, shorty knowing I’m the goldmine / Put her on all he needed was a co sign / Black minks and gloves, nigga, the whole nine / See me on the road, shit, I had to hold mine / You’ll foreclose or fold just for soul (sold) signs”
On “Take Advantage,” a Future-featured song that sounds ripe for the club, he calls Atlantic Records “fake” after mentioning how he had to put up his$2 million bail over his kidnapping charge from this summer. He’s “throwing bricks at the man (demand), we gon make it” because “genocide not in the plans, we gon make it” on the “We Gon Make It.” Then he follows that song with “Bill Gates” where he boasts he put a “100 bricks on the stock exchange” before ending the song with “fuck 100 bricks, flip 100 restaurants.”
If there is one thing that has never depreciated over the last three years ofcommercial failures for Ross is his golden ear for beats and Black Dollar reminds us of this immutable fact. J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League laced Ross with an orchestral myriad of hard drums, soft strings and piano keys on “Foreclosure” that sounds like it’d be perfect for thepushed backMaybach Music V. After serving Ross a heatrock on his Mastermindalbum with “Rich Is Gangsta,” Black Metaphor returns with a simple boom-bap beat mixed to perfection on “We Gon Make It” With Jake One on “Geechi Liberace” and “Money Dance,” Nonstop Da Hitman on “Beautiful Lie” and Key Wayne on “Money & Powder.” Ross assembled a collection of producers known for fleshing out the dirtiest of rap songs.
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While Ross is in redemptive mode on this mixtape, he’s not a completely changed man. Titling your mixtape Black Dollar and speaking on Black people coming together, owning their own land and becoming a superpower on “Knights of the Templar” enobles Ross message. But, constantly comparing yourself to white symbols of dominance (Bill Gates, Bob Dylan) and confusingly referring to yourself as an “ex slave, proud field nigga” on “Geechi Liberace” dilutes that same message. Also, while rapping over the same Ohio Players sample used for Jay Z and Notorious B.I.G.’s best collaboration, “Brooklyn’s Finest,” Ross and Meek delivered flat performances on “World’s Finest,” disrespectful to such a classic sample. There are moments of what I call “Autopilot Ross” where he sounds as if he’s simply making enough words rhyme to get to the chorus, but those are few and far between on Black Dollar.
He’s not “re-selling my soul,” seemingly referring to either his solo artist deal with Def Jam, the Atlantic Records label deal for Maybach Music or why even Slip-N-Slid Records, which curiously still appear on all of his album credits. With Black Dollar, Ross has extended his time as a top tier rap talent, But, how long before the Black Dollars run out?
