Fabolous - Real Talk
This album is pretty frustrating. After opening with an attention-grabbing spoken word intro (performed by Black Ice) it kicks off with a few pretty strong tracks and gives you the impression that the record on a whole will maintain a good momentum. But before you know it Fab's focus is lost and a sort of aimless meandering takes over for Real Talk's mid-section. There seems to be some kind of confusion over what kind of album Real Talk should even be. The title track seems worlds apart from songs like "Tit-4-Tat," "Baby" and "Girls" for instance. By the time you make it to the album's closing third you get hit with "Breathe," one of the defining single's of Fab's career. In fact the song is so good that it actually makes most of what has preceded sound even weaker. It's unfortunate, as Real Talk could have been a great album but instead is mostly a mixed bag of decent-to-great material.