iHipHop Admin
As a new artist, your second album is always a crucial part of your development, and that’s where you’ll find 21-year-old Antoine “Ace Hood” McColister—as he tries to avoid the “sophomore jinx” with his latest project, Ruthless.
Less than a year removed from his Gutta debut, the young MC with the strong co-signs coming from DJ Khaled and Rick Ross picks up right where he left on off.
This time around, high-profile guest appearances include names like Ludacris, Rick Ross himself, T-Pain, Akon, The-Dream, Lloyd, Jazmine Sullivan, Bryan “Birdman” Williams, and rookie crooner Jeremih.
Ace Hood wastes no time, and gets right to work with the currency-driven ‘Get Money’ (feat. Rick Ross).
‘Loco With The Cake’ is pretty much along the same lines, as the Floridian runs down a list of things he spends his money on.
Ludacris and Ace Hood meet up on ‘Born An O.G.,’ as they both try to one-up each other when it comes to figuring out who’s harder.
The first signee to the We The Best imprint switches gears on ‘Love Somebody’ featuring “Mr. Birthday Sex” himself, Jeremih.
The “get money” theme is still in full effect, but Ace Hood adds the female element into the equation, as he lets people know being wealthy is all for nothing, if you don’t have someone to share it with.
With the exception of ‘Champion’ (feat. Jazmine Sullivan and Rick Ross), the direction of the album remains the same. Fueled by songs like ‘Mine’ (feat. The-Dream), ‘Wifey Material’ (feat. Lloyd), ‘Overtime’ (feat. T-Pain and Akon), “Bout Me,’ and ‘This N*gga Here’ (feat. Birdman and Schife); Ruthless fails to make a distinction from its predecessor.
Filled with material that could’ve been on Gutta; Ruthless sounds more of a project that’s stagnant when it comes to creativity, as Ace Hood really doesn’t show that much growth to boot.
Hopefully by the time he gets to his third album, he would’ve shown a lot more improvement than he did on this one, if he really wants to set himself ahead of the pack…
Rating: 2.5
