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
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