Rap Atticts Review: Ace Hood- Blood, Sweat, & Tears

I've always felt like Ace Hood was a talented MC, but he's just has never had anything that really set himself apart from the rest of the pack. That still doesn't take away from the possibility of him reaching his potential. Three years ago, DJ Khaled saw Ace Hood as the guy to carry his "We The Best" imprint, and after two albums that went nowhere, Ace finally struck gold with "Hustle Hard", That single killed shit in the first half of 2011, and  led to a memorable remix with Lil Wayne and Rick Ross, as well as a performance at this years BET Awards. Now he's bouncing off of that momentum with a new album, "Blood, Sweat, & Tears". Will this be the album that finally gives Ace the push he needs to be taken serious?

T-Pain helps to start it all off on "King Of The Streets". Both of them put in work on the song, and this album has already started off pretty strong in track one. The second single, "Go N Get It" follows. I must say that it's not really different song from "Hustle Hard", so it gets a bit of a thumbs down for me. Ironically, the next song (Errythang), sounds almost EXACTLY like the previous song, only Yo Gotti is featured on it. Same flow, similar beat, just different words and some assistance. Come on Ace...After three consecutive songs that sounded alike (Go N Get It, Errythang, and Hustle Hard), the album switches its tempo on the Chris Brown- chroused "Body 2 Body". It's pretty much what you'd expect from a rap song with Chris Brown on it, it's about love. There's nothing really different or diverse about it, but it will most likely do well commercially speaking

A track about  "dead homies" is up next on "Memory Lane". This is one of the better songs on the album, and it shows his storytelling ability. That ability is highlighted more on "Letter To My Ex's". Ace rambles on about his tattered heart by his past "loves", and it sounds like a more sincere side to him. Now the album is beginning to pick up momentum again. He's starting to play smart by playing off of the topic in the last song and speaks about a good relationship on the next song, "Beautiful". It's not too shabby, but not super memorable.

Ace goes deep and gives a prayer that's full of grief and distress on "Lord Knows". I like the song. Another personal song occurs on "Bitter World". This time, we're given a song about a fatherless child. Is is bad? Not really, but it's a bit boring to me. I knew that a song about mothers was going to follow this. "laughs". "Spoke To My Momma" isn't on the level of "Dear Mama" by Tupac, "Hey Mama" by Kanye West, or "Dance" by Nas, but it's still pretty nice. Ace ends the album with The "Hustle Hard Remix". Was there really a point of this song making the final tracklist? If you haven't heard it yet, you're a very late listener.

The Real Deal: I will say that this album tops his first two, but there's still nothing about it that stands out from its peers. To me, Ace Hood still hasn't defined himself as an artist, and that's his biggest problem. I doubt very seriously that I'll give the majority of these songs another listen in two months. It's honestly just another album about the hood that has a few songs for the ladies. Ace was obviously aiming for the charts and mainstream success with this, and nothing about it really struck me hard or different about it. It's still solid, and shows what is possible, but there's no way that I'd put it on any album of the year lists. Ace Hood still has potential to be on the same level of the top artists of this generation, but he hasn't proved it with this effort. Better luck next time.

Rating: 3/5

 -Raul A.