From Nothin' to Somethin'

It's hard to catch a break when you're Fabolous. Though his skills as a manufacturer of blazing-hot street bangers and pop-crossover hits have not gone unnoticed by the hip-hop hype machine, the Brooklyn rapper hasn't come close to matching 50-Cent and similarly gifted superstars in the sales department. Which accounts for his decision, with album No. 4, to do somethin' about it. From Nothin' to Somethin' rounds up a massive herd of talent--Akon is here, and so are Swiss Beatz, Rihanna, Young Jeezy, Jay-Z, Lloyd, Junior Reid, Ne-Yo, and T-Pain. It's a little hard to locate Fabo on "Change Up," the Akon track, but otherwise he goes about spreading his Fabolousness throughout: "Diamonds," a bling-centric track with Jeezy, benefits from a borrowed take-it-easy Southern drawl, "Brooklyn" brings it home for New York with a spirit seldom seen since the East Coast/West Coast war was at its nastiest, and "Return of the Hustle" solidifies a career built on street cred with an asphalt-hot beat. Start to finish, but especially on the Timbaland-helmed "Make Me Better," production is top-notch. If there's a disc that can restore the fabulousness to being Fabolous, Somethin' is it. --Tammy La Gorce

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