Fabolous

FA-BO-LOUS. I recall hearing that for the first time at the beginning of his song "If They Want It" on DJ Clue's "The Professional." After hearing that song, I knew we would hear more from him, and lo and behold, I was right. I've always been a fan of Fabolous. Smooth on the mic, witty with the punchlines, he's had a very solid career, one that I still support.

We begin things with his 2001 debut, "Ghetto Fabolous." I honestly don't recall this being released on 9/11/2001, for the simple fact that had I saw it that day, I would've copped it along with Jay-Z's "The Blueprint" and Redman's "Malpractice." If my memory serves me correctly, I bought the week after. For the most part, this was a decent, but not spectacular, debut from Fabolous. This album would also essentially define Fab's subsequent albums, as you got the song for the radio, the song(s) for the ladies, the hardcore track for the streets including the witty punchlines, dope production (some of it was commercial too), etc. His growth as an artist would come much later.

Rating- About 3.5 stars.

5 favorite songs-  Keepin It Gangsta, Can't Deny It, If They Want It, Young'n (Holla Back), & Click & Spark

Moreso than any of his other albums, this one had a few more songs for the ladies. That's not a bad thing, as long as it doesn't consume your album. It *almost* happened with this one, but not quite. Still very good, not better than the debut.

Rating- 3.5 stars

5 favorite songs- Keepin It Gangsta (Remix), Damn, My Life, Throwback, & Not Give A F***

Now this is what I'm talking about. Fabolous stepped his game up with this album one year after "Street Dreams," mostly thanks to the Just Blaze produced banger in "Breathe," which is arguably his best song ever. The rest of this album is dope as hell, and I like it slightly more than "Ghetto Fabolous" and it's all better than "Street Dreams."

Rating- 4 stars

5 favorite songs- Breathe, Round and Round, Po Po, Gangsta, & Baby (this song grew on me as I listened to it more, because at first I didn't care for it at all)

After a 2-3 year hiatus, Fab returned in 2007 with his fourth album, and it's very good, not quite better than "Real Talk" though. It also boasted more features than any of his other albums, with Jay-Z, Joe Budden, Young Jeezy, Akon, Ne-Yo, among others. It may be his most underrated album. Key words, "may be".

Rating- Around 3.5-4 stars

5 favorite songs- This Is Family (a HELL of a posse cut/album closer), Make Me Better (much like "Baby" from the previous album, I didn't care for it as much upon the first few times I heard it, but it grew on me later), Return of the Hustle, Yep, I'm Back, & Brooklyn

In my opinion, here's the crown jewel of Fabolous' discography, his best album to this point. This album shows his growth as an artist moreso than his previous albums. "The Way (Intro)" starts this off SO well, with Fab getting more aggressive in tone, and I don't think I've heard him come so hard on the mic. Lyrically he was still in top form and he matched the production well, plus he incorporated a little storytelling ("Pachanga" and introspection ("Stay"). Even someone I'm not a fan of (Lil Wayne) didn't bring "Salute" down, and that's largely because of Fabolous and Rico Law's tight beat. Undoubtedly his best.

Rating- 4.5 stars

5 favorite songs- The Way (Intro), My Time, Feel Like I'm Back, There He Go, & Money Goes, Honey Stay (When The Money Goes Remix)

After a few mixtapes, at this point Fabolous still has yet to issue any additional details and a release date for his next album "Loso's Way 2: Rise To Power," and I predicted that title too! I don't think he's begun work on it yet either. I'm anticipating it. It also looks like a planned collabo album with Red Cafe has been shelved, as it was only mentioned once. His career has been solid thus far and I don't consider him as someone who has "fell off." He still has a lot more left in him.