peaking of repetitive, vanilla rappers (I know you were at least thinking it), here’s Fabolous, with his follow-up to 2001’s Ghetto Fabolous, cleverly titled Street Dreams. It is true that I hold a certain bias against Fabolous for his subpar debut album, of which I expected much more. He is a talented rapper, but has never quite put it together to release a song that does more than make me chuckle at his punch lines. And on Street Dreams, he still can’t put together anything approaching greatness, although some songs do make their way to the “bearable” category.


A DJ Clue monologue starts the album, where, unlike his other speeches, he rambles about stuff we don’t care about, and brags about things he hasn’t accomplished. I can’t blame Fab, though, if DJ Clue was producing my album, I’d give him time as well. At least he’s not yelling “CLUMANATTI!!!” on every single song.


After this less than inspiring opener, the rehash begins: “Don’t Give a Fuck”, the first real track, contains elements of every single hip-hop song ever released dealing with the idea of authority. Then comes “Can’t Let You Go”, featuring Fabo’s sometimes tag team partner Lil’ Mo (seriously, who told this guy he could sing?). We get lyrics like “You ain't never step out of line / Or get out a pocket / So I made sure canary sent out your locket / To protect you I'll get out and cock it / And you know the barrel of my gun is big enough to spit out a rocket.” It’s not that it’s horrible, it’s just a generic “gangsta-love” song that tries to add a bit of sympathy to Fabolous’ machismo. Thankfully, his maleness is intact, lest you were worried! Songs like “Bad Bitch” talk about all of the loose and easy women Fabolous spends his time with, and “Call Me”, shows the softer tender side, in which Fab begs a female to call him. Perhaps worst of all, though, is the remake of Lesley Gore’s hit “It’s My Party”. The lyrics have been altered a bit: “This is my party / So get fly if you want to / Get high if you want to cause I know you want to!” No crying for our gangsta hero, kids.


The main selling point of Ghetto Fabolous is the same for Street Dreams: the production. “Damn” features a reworking of “Rapper’s Delight”, and while it isn’t very good compared to the original, it is still an enjoyable beat. “Why Wouldn’t” is a cheesy song with Fabolous and his brother Paul Cane, but the beat sounds like a mix between Timbaland and Swizz Beats, with a semi-drum and bass influence, backed with a keyboard riff. “Up On Things” is a Dre influenced track, but the light keys and the soft bass in the background create a true head-nodder that Fab and Snoop Dogg have a good time over. Overall, nothing is spectacular, but Fab got what he probably paid for.


The biggest surprise on Street Dreams, overall, is the presence of actual decent songs. “Sickalicious”, featuring Missy Elliot, caters more towards Missy’s talent, eschewing lyrics for a slick flow. The production by Timbaland doesn’t hurt, either. “Up on Things” is a fun track featuring a rejuvenated Snoop Dogg, and Fabolous actually sounds like he’s trying on this one. Sadly, two of my favorite songs are bonus tracks and were released well over a year ago. The “Keepin’ it Gangsta” remix, featuring Paul Cain, the LOX and MOP is a fantastic song, specifically because of MOP and the LOX’s talents. “Trade It All Part 2” featuring Jagged Edge is a fun club song, and is included presumably because of its success as the lead single of the Barbershop soundtrack.


Honestly, there isn’t anything on this CD that totally turns me off, and the choruses here are a lot less annoying than those on Ghetto Fabolous. That said, it’s still not that great. Five decent tracks (only three new) does not make a good album, and that is why Street Dreams only improves on Fabolous’ debut marginally.