After the commercial success but awkward fusion of sound that was Flo Rida’s 2008 debut album, Mail On Sunday, Flo Rida looked introspectively and retrospectively back at what had built him up into an overnight sensation at the time. As a result of his success, this second album was quickly recorded and released in early 2009 to keep the fire burning. Interestingly enough, it features Flo Rida shirtless on the front cover of the album, which is a bit of a macho male thing, but not overly unusual given the namesake and weather of the Southern USA state where Tramar Lacel Dillard is originally from. This album received mostly positive critical reviews and sold fairly well for a Rap artist. It was produced by a ton of different people at hand: Travis Barker (blink-182); Benny Blanco; Mike Caren; DJ Montay; Dr. Luke; Dre & Vidal; Eric Hudson; Happy Perez; Jim Jonsin; JRock; Kool Kojak; Christopher “Spitfiya” Lanier; Ne-Yo; Oligee; Sounwave; Stargate and will.i.am. The album was released on March 24, 2009 on Atlantic Records. Let’s take a listen to this album and we shall hear if it is any good.

Finally Here begins with some ethereal sounds and banging noises, quickly launching into a Pop-based piece with beats and other sonic textures. Some guest vocals are present here in the chorus, yet this tune remains essentially a Flo Rida tune by nature. Flo Rida raps in a rather raspy-sounding way here, but this is okay enough for contemporary music. A good tune about trying to earn enough money to survive in this world, this does sound extremely pretty and dramatic throughout. A really good tune to begin with, although this is Pop Rap for a commercial audience. Also, this is not the greatest musical moment for Flo Rida. Even so, this is Flo Rida carving out his musical future, and doing well at that. A really cool listen, with some rather self-interested and selfish-sounding lyrics, although bear in mind that this is based on Rap Music. Listenable enough, however.

Jump (feat. Nelly Furtado) is fairly rubbish from the start. It has a static sounding groove, before launching into a heavily autotuned and rather minimal tune. Flo Rida hasn’t hit his real stride musically here, that was to come a bit later on. This is nonetheless, fairly enjoyable throughout. As expected for most Pop Rap Music, this has not aged terribly well, nor does it sound like the absolute best tune out there. To give him credit, Flo Rida does sound really great here, and Nelly Furtado’s chorus singing is catchy and a bit different. It showcases Flo Rida’s evolution of his craft as a musician. An energetic and okay tune to hear, all the same. The editing towards the end is fantastic, good job whoever mixed this tune.

Gotta Get It – Dancer begins with some robotic vocals that are heavily distorted, with a groovy EDM-styled Rap backing track to match it. Again, this is okay but certainly nothing out there phenomenal. This is about a lap dancer, oddly enough. Flo Rida’s vocals are really quite good here, and he sounds like his voice is in good shape here. An awesome listening experience, sounding like it was recorded in the year 3000, as opposed to 2009. The rapping throughout is really quite awesome to listen to, and our main man Flo Rida sounds articulate and expressive throughout. A really enjoyable piece of music from start to finish, and something designed for the strip club. Catchy for its average musical nature, but nonetheless proof that Flo Rida had some great musical moments within him from the start. Enjoyable and great enough to bop along to.

Shone (feat. Pleasure P) begins with some weird electronic sounds, before launching into a fairly bad tune with some electronic sounds and beats throughout. Goodness knows what the title of the track refers to. In any case, this is a fairly average and unimpressive tune. It seems that Flo Rida had not yet met his match musically with the producers at hand, and deserved far better, which he eventually got later on. Still, this is rather sad to hear in this respect. In any case, Flo Rida does sound articulate, different and passionate throughout. This disappointing tune is not the best from our main man, but this may not necessarily be his own fault. Flo Rida was carving out new musical territory for himself, and at least he was trying. Skip ahead if you wish, this isn’t the greatest of Flo Rida. It’s barely passable. The extended outro is also not really needed here and is a waste of time.

Right Round (feat. Ke$ha) is a track played in the Hangover film series, which is certainly worth watching if you haven’t done so already, as those films are legendary. Nonetheless, this is a fantastic and spirited listening experience from the beginning. Both Flo Rida and Ke$ha are a good combination on this track, and they do exceptionally well here. This is a cool tune about drinking and partying hard, with some neat and gorgeous digital editing throughout. This has a very 2009 flavour to it. It is a real shame Flo Rida has not recorded much as of late, he really needs to make more awesome Pop Rap anthems such as this one. This is where things began to become interesting for our main man, and Ke$ha would soon become a Popstar as well. A decent listen.

R.O.O.T.S. begins with some ghostly harmony-styled vocals, chiming sounds and other electronic instrumentation to match it all. Soon enough, this breaks into a punchy and interesting musical piece that importantly reflects Flo Rida’s early life. A wonderful and layered listen, especially given that working hard on making one a success in the music world is an understandable concept overall. Flo Rida sounds understandable and articulate here, and he does a really great job at establishing his own style and vibe throughout. Even for album filler, this is fairly good to listen to. Flo Rida really should be more proud of his musical achievements, and this is a good example of that. A nice listen that reflects back to Flo Rida’s early life. A joy to hear throughout.

Be On You (feat. Ne-Yo) is awful from the start. It has some chiming melodies, and electronic beats and sounds like absolute trash. Ne-Yo’s voice is reassuring and pleasant throughout, but this is clearly throwaway, although it is enjoyably throwaway material. Semi-catchy, but nothing that has dated terribly well. Ne-Yo is also a legend in his own right, and both men although are arguably both being sell-outs on this track, they do very well here. It is a real shame that this album does not sound like the absolute best that could have been crafted by Flo Rida and crew, there is potential in Flo Rida’s rapping to have a broad appeal at this point. Still, his breakthrough would come later. Nonetheless, a good listen but nothing absolutely mindblowing here. It sounds a bit like Justin Bieber’s music throughout but is okay all the same. Okay but not perfect by any means.

Mind On My Money is more of the same but is specifically about making a ton of money. Flo Rida is in ego overdrive throughout this tune, but that’s acceptable for a Rapper of his nature. He raps about living the good life, which he would eventually achieve in his own way. Flo Rida does come across as a fairly cool dude with great potential on these rather average songs. Sure, he could have done better but he was doing his absolute best throughout this track. His real musical successes throughout would come in the following decade. A really interesting listen, there is no doubt that Flo Rida’s music makes perfect sense if you live in Florida (USA) or Queensland (Australia), both of which are the official Sunshine States. Good, even if this has dated poorly.

Available (feat. Akon) is a very poorly executed and dated tune. It sounds straight-up bad from the start and has zero musical appeal and potential throughout. Flo Rida’s talent is thoroughly let down by the awful and cheesy music on this track. The music sounds unusually poor, even for this album and even Akon’s appearance does not help propel this song any further. Which is rather sad, really. At this point, one can probably skip ahead and go and listen to the 2012 Wild Ones album by Flo Rida instead, if you want a good listen by the main dude in charge. All the same, this is polished garbage. Fortunately, this poor attempt at music has been forgotten over time. The lyrics are overly sexual but are not matched by good music. Better luck next time Flo Rida, this is neither special nor impressive to listen to. Akon sings about single ladies, which comes across as desperate throughout. It ends after four rather ordinary minutes of listening.

Touch Me (feat. Ke$ha) begins with an Apple robotic vocal sample, before entering into another fairly average tune. This is better than what came previously, but one cannot help but hear how badly dated this music is. Ke$ha’s appearance is a bit weird here, and her voice is so badly autotuned that it sounds artificial. One cannot help but feel a little sorry for Flo Rida at this point. He definitely had potential, but was being trashed musically on this album, likely by the record company. Sadly, even a good rapper like Flo Rida was treated poorly by the music business early on. Nothing great here, as a result. Neither clever nor listenable music throughout. The beats at the end are good, however.

Never is a much more moody-sounding piece of musical rubbish. Nothing good here at all. If you need to skip ahead, please do so by this point. A genuine disappointment musically, with some backing vocals, likely from Ke$ha. In any case, Flo Rida vents his musical spleen on this track and he sounds like he was being overly forced to pretend to be something musically he was not at this stage. Which is a shame, the guy deserved (and eventually got) better. A poor listening experience, one can only sense that in musical terms Flo Rida could have been better treated over time. The music present is very disappointing. Also, this is a rather long listen as it is highly repetitive and goes for over four minutes in length. Not worth hearing, skip ahead if you need to. The good thing is that it has a moral message from Flo Rida here, which is to never give up or give in.

Sugar (feat. Wynter Gordon) is a rip-off of the old Blue song by Eiffel 65, at least at the start. It quickly launches into a really pathetic and yawn-inducing song that has no listening appeal throughout. Flo Rida was clearly being ignored by nasty record executives and producers by this point. The dude was forced to make such lame and ordinary music on this album. Please do not listen to this song, you will be disappointed. The only good thing about this tune, and this comes as a hard appreciation, is the beats. If you own a copy of this album, go to the nearest window and chuck it outside. Done and dusted if you do so. This is proof that this album was simply not good enough at this point. The amount of autotune, automation and digital editing is also uncomfortable to listen to on this track. Bad, just avoid this track totally.

Rewind (feat. Wyclef Jean) is the final track on this album. It begins with strings, and vocals that do not match it and sounds really lame and ordinary. Again, you can probably hit stop and go and play basketball or something else instead of hearing this trash. Sadly, this album is the sound of Flo Rida fumbling around in the musical dark, not doing a really good job musically. Very sad, from the hit song Low to this? It just does not make any sense, the dude deserved better at this point. Absolute trash, nothing at all special nor long-term lasting to listen to here. The guest appearance is definitely good to hear, but this is polishing something that never should be kept in the first place. Sorry Flo Rida, this is simply not good enough musically. Even so, one has been warned, this is definitely not a good album and everything about it has not dated well, from the album artwork to the music present. You’ll be glad when this is over after four painful musical minutes. Not a good conclusion to a very ordinary album.

This album is definitely a miss. It is the sound of Flo Rida being screwed around by record executives who neither cared nor wanted him to be a musical success. Fortunately, Flo Rida had some better music in him, but that was to come later in the following decade. This album is overall disappointing, and not even the guests on it save it from mediocrity. Should you listen to this album? No way, it is simply not good enough.

A pathetic attempt at artistry.

4/10