Product Reviews
We the Best Forever may be DJ Khaled s first release for the Cash Money label, but little else has changed. The good news is that the ringleader s formula of rounding up superstar talent for an album jammed with potential singles still works, unless you think everything on 2011 radio is trash and that big money ruined hip-hop. This is unrelenting gloss where all the participants win and declare themselves the best, and from the tres cool opener I m on One (where Drake drops the brilliant Degrassi ref I ain t worked this hard since I was 18 ) to the closing remix of Welcome to My Hood (an air horn-fueled Miami anthem with Khaled taking a rare producer s credit), it s hard to argue. I m Thuggin goes dumb in the rowdiest way possible with Waka Flocka and Ace Hood concocting a new genre you might call Neanderthal crunk, while It Ain t Over Til It s Over is soul-warming old-school butter featuring an ancient Schoolly D beat and Mary J. Blige in fine form. With the Game, Busta Rhymes, and Cee Lo all on the cut, Sleep When I m Gone is the highlight it should be, while the fourth-quarter winner A Million Lights is prime pop-rap with production from Khaled s Florida brothers, the Runners. Newcomers should be aware that Khaled interrupts all this grand entertainment with his usual grand posturing -- shouting We the best! and whatnot -- so be prepared for an experience somewhere between a star-studded soundtrack and a DJ-helmed mixtape. ~ David Jeffries, Rovi