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Tuesday, Oct. 1
The Indiana Daily Student

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Flo Rida: Mail on Sunday

Would-be mailman Flo Rida fails to deliver a satisfactory CD with his debut album Mail on Sunday. With a rap style similar to Twista and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony with a pinch of Southern flavor, Flo Rida doesn’t match the lyrical prowess of those who came before him and even fails to have the obligatory production to leave listeners grooving throughout the album.

The success of the catchy club banger “Low (feat. T-Pain)” is not enough to make this CD a special delivery. In fact, it was his attempt to fill his album with songs similar to this track – along with his lacking ability to rap – that made it a complete dud. For example, on “Roll,” a rhythmic yet repetitive track reminiscent of “Low,” Flo Rida spits, “I’ll be your supplier / Spin it like a dryer / Roll for me baby / Be my NASCAR tire.”

Special guest appearances couldn’t even save this Florida-born MC’s first album. Nine of the 14 tracks have a guest appearance. Flo Rida dares to be different with the techno track “In the Ayer” featuring will.I.am, but in the end, it sounds like a low-budget remake of “Planet Rock” by Afrika Bambaataa.

On the few tracks where Flo Rida dares to stand alone, such as “Ms. Hangover,” a song where he awkwardly compares alcoholic beverages to women, the production is weak and the lyrics fail to impress. With rhymes like “She looked at me so fatigued, / I must be her soldier” or “she has Hennessey hips and cognac thighs,” Rida only goes to show that his album is not nearly as hot as its first single.

Overall, Flo Rida delivers rhymes galore about things that have always been talked about: money, parties, cars, and women. He does everything he can to make it a success, but for some reason, repetitive-yet-catchy choruses can’t save it. On top of that, he doesn’t do it in a creative or original way. The production is mediocre at best; the rapping is amateurish. Sure, the guest appearances are good, but an album must be more than guests.

Flo Rida goes to show why we don’t have mail on Sunday. We don’t need it.

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