Flo Rida
Wild Ones
Release Date: Jul 3, 2012
Genre(s): Rap
Record label: Atlantic
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Album Review: Wild Ones by Flo Rida
Very Good, Based on 7 Critics
Based on rating 5/5
Flo Rida is less an MC than a delivery system for dance beats – some ingenious, many insipid, all supersize. Here he largely defers to producers (including Dr. Luke) and guest stars (Sia, J. Lo), and watches the cash roll in. Which is good, considering the alternative: "Up in this spot, spot/Pull ….
Based on rating 5/5
Like his fellow Sunshine Stater Pitbull, Flo Rida is less a rapper than a delivery system for dance beats – some of them ingenious, many of them insipid, all of them inhumanly supersized. But where Pitbull fancies himself an impresario, a hype man, Flo Rida mostly stays out of the way; on Wild Ones he's content to surrender center-stage on his producers (Dr. Luke, soFLY & Nius, Rico Love) and guests stars (Sia, J-Lo), and watch the money roll in.
Based on rating 7/10
In the newest edition of Pop-Rap Monopoly, Jay-Z is Boardwalk and Kanye is Park Place—royal blue, printing money, crushing all opposition while flaunting their luxury tax. Lil’ Wayne, Luda, and Nicki Minaj are right behind them in the green zone. Drake is Marvin Gardens. Wiz Khalifa is something purple, obviously.
Based on rating 7/10
There's no doubt that by Wild Ones' 2012 release, pop-rapper Flo Rida had become a "singles artist," one who soars high in the three- to four-minute format. Give him thin but clever ideas -- that acoustic guitar riffs might sound fun with hip-hop beats or that whistling also looks like oral sex -- and you get hot, infectious fluff, the hottest of which here is "Whistle," a DJ Frank E production that might have been handed to Kesha, Katy Perry, or even Maroon 5, although Flo Rida does it much justice, reviving a come-on that goes back to Lauren Bacall and putting a couple energy drinks' worth of power behind it. The title cut with Sia is close to Katy Perry's "Fireworks" but crafted to support a sports highlight reel instead of teenage dreams, and then there's the Etta James-sampling "Good Feeling" with producers Dr.
Based on rating C-
Flo Rida might be the most successful rapper who’s famous for not being famous. He’s not lacking multiplatinum hits: You couldn’t escape 2007’s ”Low,” the South Beach club favorite that introduced Apple Bottoms Jeans to shawties across America, or 2009’s ”Right Round,” which added an ”Ayyyy!” or two to Dead or Alive’s 1984 glam-pop classic ”You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” and called it a brand-new song. But his music feels totally anonymous.
Based on rating 2.0/5
The Bombfunk MCs were a pioneering Hip Hop group that ruled the airwaves of Finland during the not-very-golden-era of the early 2000s, thanks to releasing a batch insufferably cheesy, cringe-inducing raps allied to corny Dance beats. Flo Rida is a Southern rapper who used to hang around with Rick Ross and Trick Daddy and scored a hit with the T-Pain assisted “Low” in 2007. Now for his latest album he’s paid tribute to his hitherto unknown love of Finnish dance-rap by crafting an album that pushes the boundaries of shit-sandwich hip-hop to new and exhilaratingly bad levels.Wild Ones is nine tracks born to boom from out of the speakers of a Jersey Shore club that smells like a combination of Coppertone and Snooki’s new perfume.
Opinion: Very Good
For Flo Rida, making music is boiled down to one simple strategy: have hook, will travel. The pop star/MC drops a half-hour set of familiar grooves attesting more to his hit-making prowess than his lyrical skills. No one is going to mistake this for hip-hop, as it’s obvious the Florida native is more interested in creating smash singles than crafting multi-dimensional songs.
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