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Review Summary: Fabolous isn't ready to wave the white flag just yet. Fabolous will always have a place as one of the more underrated artists in hip-hop, a rapper who rose to fame with his 2003 album "Street Dreams". That album, which was supplied with one of the best hits of the early 2000's in "Into You", was the catalyst that propelled the New York rapper to stardom. Ever since that dropped however, not much has happened - he left Elektra Records to join Atlantic in 2006, which was short-lived, then joined Def Jam the same year. His last few albums post-Street Dreams haven't been received well, expect his 2009 album "Loso's Way" which is getting a sequel very soon. With the delays occurring for his next album, he's been releasing a series of mixtapes entitled "The Soul Tapes" which easily contain some of the best material Fabolous has done to date. The second installment of the mixtape series is no exception to that rule.
In Fabolous' old, and even his new album material, 2014's "The Young OG Project", the NY-based rapper has been rapping over beats in which heavily samples '90s hits (i.e his latest release) or it's West Coast-influenced (i.e 2003's Street Dreams). In his 2012 "The Soul Tape 2", none of that is the case here. Instead, he ventures into more of a vintage R&B and soul setting, with a tad bit of J-Dilla influence, which has been essentially the premise of the whole mixtape series. To sum it up best, this new venture undoubtedly works for him with the production being nothing short of extravagant and flamboyant-tipped. It's evident in the orchestra-led "Guess Who's Bizzack", which feels like the grandeous 'comeback' track that fans have been waiting for what feels like an eternity. This is where Fabolous pulls off one of the better rap performances in his career, showcasing himself with suave and debonair that fits with the old-school atmosphere of the track. Another fantastic track is the piano-led slow jam "Diced Pineapples", a sexually-charged record that features Trey Songz and Cassie. The strong vocals of Trey and the sensuality that comes from Cassie's vocals suit Fabolous' tough, yet sexually-infused rhymes which exposes his darker side.
Fabolous' seventh mixtape isn't one without flaws however. Some of the rap performances that he dishes out don't do justice to the R&B, vintage soul sounds of the mixtape - with a prime example in "Life Is So Exciting". A vital amount of the rhymes he delivers are either barred by his disjointed delivery and flow, or that the lyrics in general just sound silly and terrible (i.e 'the life, the life/the life is so exciting'). These glaring problems look like signs of the NY-based rapper slowing down and being unable to really rap. Fortunately this isn't prominent in the tape, and that's a great thing to note.
At the end of the day, what you get in "The Soul Tape 2" is an old-school R&B journey that is worth taking. It is one where the heart and soul of New York is fully displayed for all the world to see in one 12-track mixtape. Songs like the laid-back "We Get High" reinforce that. This tape is infinitely better than the majority of the album material Fabolous has been dropping in the decade-plus career he's amassed. In fact, this is probably the best set of material that he's dropped in his career, no joke. The issues that show itself on the mixtape are worrisome, signs of him slowing down. The good thing to note about that is it is limited here, and that's promising because everything else here works. The vintage R&B premise suits King Loso, the guest features are solid, and most importantly - he can still spit with the best of them with his aggression and bravado. This may be the very territory in which he needs to venture more on after the end of the "Soul Tape" series, and let us hold our champagne-filled glasses to the very hope that he does.
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Album Rating: 3.5
Dropped another one for y'all this week, four in four days. Really psyched about that, and this mixtape is dope too. Check it out on Datpiff, worth the free download 
Criticism and feedback always appreciated everyone, fire away.
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this guy's a good rapper
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bite's a good track
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Great review man, you've grown a lot as a writer, pos'd. There's just a few little things I picked up on;
"haven't been received well"
I think well recieved is more natural
"expect his 2009"
*except*
"In his 2012 "The Soul Tape 2", none of that is the case here."
Not a proper sentence, and I'd consider re-writing the one before it too.
"which feels like the grandeous 'comeback"
*grandiose
Like I said thought these are really minor things, you've become a great reviewer.
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Nice review SPRFan, have a pos. Major props for writing so damn much lately lol.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
@Surco: Thanks man as always. Appreciate the feedback of course, trying to decrease the amount of mistakes I make as I continue dropping reviews. At least it is getting lesser and lesser, that's what matters.
@Judio!: Thanks man, haven't heard from ya in a while! Great to see you again of course, and yeah I've really psyched about writing so much lately. Great way to use vacation, I'm enjoying it down in LA and I mean I'm obviously going out and experiencing it and shit considering it has some prominent music history here. But, I'm also putting away a little bit of time during that to write and that's been dope. Won't get this chance til' probably Spring Break, so making the best of it.
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Sounds like a good time man, keep it up
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Nice review here man. I pos'd, and have a little feedback for you (though not much, you did great here).
"His last few albums post-Street Dreams haven't been received well, expect his 2009 album "Loso's Way" which is getting a sequel very soon."
*except
-I noticed a few times where you throw in additional info that may not really be pertinent to what you're reviewing. I would remove things like 'which is getting a sequel soon'. While that may be true, the place for info like this (if you put it in the review at all) is generally towards the end of a review in a conclusion setting if you can relate it to the record being reviewed in a natural way.
"The second installment of the mixtape series is no exception to that rule."
-In the sentence before, you talk about how successful this series of mixtapes are, so sentences like this can generally be removed. Whenever I start going over my review before posting, I generally trim the fat by looking for statements that kind of re-state the same things.
Other than that, this is a good read. It's informative without being overly long. Nice work.
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