The man with the midas touch who can seemingly do no wrong right about now has a new body of work waiting to be unleashed upon us mere mortals. R.O.O.T.S. is Flo Rida’s new baby and it shares its name with a 1970’s TV series based upon a book written by Alex Hayley concerning slavery. However, Flo ain’t no ‘Kunta Kinte’ and was always gonna rise to the top after being Low for so long…
The album boasts an array of producers, with Timbaland, J Roc and will.i.am being the star turns this time around. Some might say there’s too many involved (as many as there are tracks) to deliver one coherent statement or style, but Mr Rida has a flow and it’s his saving grace on most of the cuts that stitch together this patchwork creation provocatively subtitled Route of Overcoming The Struggle. That he prefers to wax lyrical about having a good time as opposed to being down and out terrorising the ghetto or trying to get one over on the ‘man’ has its own appeal too, but sometimes a smidgen of danger might liven things up a little.
Truth is, it’s all rather formulaic with too much attention shown to covering all bases. There’s plenty of jams designed to fit perfectly in to any number of radio playlists - you’ve got the ‘bangers’, ‘party joints’ and he even drops a lil’ knowledge on the title track R.O.O.T.S. However, taking a risk obviously wasn’t factored in on tracks like Right Round or Sugar. Don’t hold your breath waiting for anything new or liberating to challenge your ears is the message, but then, did you really expect that?
What we like: Finally Here has a cool beat and heartfelt lyrics, while Gotta Get It (Dancer) is all about the beat, baby, and he even nicks Tina Turner’s Private Dancer lyrics. Meanwhile, R.O.O.T.S. is a thoughtful track, Available is everything Kanye tried to do on 808s & Heartbreak but done better and Never is uplifting and inspirational. If you’re after an album with a happy-go-lucky vibe, this is it. Expect more hit records and get your party face on if you don’t wanna be left out of the loop.
R.O.O.T.S. is out now
(Andrew John)
