Flo Rida

Flo-Rida's Mail On Sunday arrives just in time for spring, when the weather across the country is breaking and windows in low riders are being rolled down, begging for music to blare from them! Mail On Sunday is littered with more guest appearances than the couch on any given week at The David Letterman Show, and the album is on course to become the year’s quintessential cruising, warm weather crunk record. Both the infectious jam "Low," featuring T-Pain, and the high-energy pop rap anthem "Ack Like You Know" weave exceedingly rhythmic, thudding beats with easy-to-remember, singable choruses that are destined to be cranked to maximum decibels at clubs from Miami to NYC to the hood. This Southern rapper, whose name is pun on his native state, also drops smooth lyrical science, best evidenced on the pop radio friendly number, "Ms. Hangover." Lil Wayne shows up on "American Superstar," while Timbaland sinks his fangs into "Elevator," Will.I.Am rears his head on "In The Ayer," and Rick Ross does the same on "Money Right." Obviously, a lot of lootcakes were dropped on the making of this record, thanks to the guest appearances which reads like a "Who's Who In Hip Hop!" We're sure the powers-that-be will make their coin back tenfold, since Mail On Sunday is undeniably destined to become a summer 2008 classic. Now go ahead and roll that top down.

—Amy Sciarretto
03.18.08

If you've heard the Billboard Hot 100 number one single "Low," a DJ Montay-produced track featuring T-Pain, you know the deal: Flo Rida is not a new female member of the Ruff Ryders, but a male rapper with a husky but not imposing voice who has obvious pride for the state he calls home. On Mail on Sunday, he shows flashes of virtually every point in the history of Florida hip-hop, from Miami bass, 2 Live Crew, and Poison Clan to Trick Daddy and Rick Ross. Though Flo Rida has his own identity -- for all the tough talk and the automotives fixation, he does come off as big-hearted, and he could just as easily make an R&B album -- and covers more bases than what is typical from other mainstream-yet-street rap albums of 2007 and 2008, he's not nearly as distinctive as any of his predecessors. Here, he doesn't offer much more than a couple worthy singles and a handful of decent album cuts, and those highlights, such as the Timbaland-produced (and hogged) "Elevator," tend to be memorable more for the beats and the hooks than the rhymes. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide