Album Review - DJ Khaled- Kiss the Ring

What would a summer be without a release from DJ Khaled who took the genre started by DJ Clue, and has run it to new heights. He has once again put together a mix tape of the South's hottest artists and attempted to draw some singles out of the deal and make the legit money instead of releasing mix tapes like fellow counterpart DJ Drama. As usual, there isn't an overall theme but let's dive right into my review of DJ Khaled's Kiss the Ring. The album starts off with "Shout out to The Streets" with the new heavywweight in the game, Meek Mill, Khaled's own Ace Hood, and from nowhere, there is a return of Plies. The beat isn't bad and Mill drops a quick but energetic verse. Plies is wha you would expect as is Ace Hood. "Bitches and Bottles" features Wayne and TI, and unfortunately Future. TI has the best verse, Wayne does the normal and Future....let's just move on. Rick Ross and Kanye West hold down "I Wish You Would" where someone must have left the auto tune feature on when Kanye hit the booth. His verse is weird since he starts off with some street type of stuff that doesn't really fit his persona. Then there is the lead single, "Take it to the Head" with Chris Brown, Nicki Minaj, Ross and Lil Wayne.







In a track featuring the 'young stars' which could be one of the better ones on the album, even though it features J. Cole, is "They Ready" which also features Big K.r.i.t. and Kendrick Lamar. This is followed immediately by one of the worst, "I'm So Blessed" with T-pain handling hook duties and being teamed up with Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa, and Ace Hood. The hook is annoying and Big Sean and Wiz aren't ever worth listening to. Khaled tries to appeal to the underground more lyrical hip-hop fan with the DJ Premier produced "Hip-Hop" with Scarface and Nas and the tired concept of Hip-hop as a woman, though Nas' verse has some interesting wordplay. It's the idea i'm bored with. "I did it for my Dawgz" features Ross yet again, as well as Meek Mill, French Montana, and Jadakiss who is still struggling to hold on to relevance. 2 Chainz only shows up on "I Don't See Em" with Ace Hood and Birdman, which only serves to make Ace looks better. "Don't Pay 4 It" is about not paying for sex and features Wale, Tyga, Mack Maine and Kirko Bangz. Good for Wale I have to say. Then there is "Suicidal Thoughts" with Mavado before the album ends with an "outro" where Khaled spits and I wonder who wrote this verse for him. Ace Hood also gets another chance to shine and also has a solo bonus track as does Mavado.

I must say Khaled supports his artists since he makes sure that both Ace and Mavado get some starring roles, especially Ace who is on more songs than anyone else. However, these Khaled albums are getting worse every year. They are just a bunch of songs and when you put that together with the fact most of these other artists are dropping mix tapes and albums constantly, the novelty of these songs have all worn off. There isn't anything that stands out and the sounds are all the generic ones of today and end up running together. If you must buy everything that comes out, you might as well get this for some mind numbing music ont he way to the club, but you have better options. Rating: 2/5