Whether you consider yourself an avid fan or not, chances are, if you’ve paid even the slightest attention to the hip-hop scene over the past fifteen years or so, you’ve heard the name Rick Ross tossed around on multiple occasions. The Carol City mogul has been an entrepreneur in the music industry for at least the past decade, founding his label Maybach Music in the final months of the 2000s. Since then, he has collaborated with everyone from Kanye West to Skrillex, and has recently performed guest verses on songs from rising stars and industry frontrunners alike (Denzel Curry and Drake, respectively). Needless to say, he’s a man of many connections.

While I hadn’t listened to his 2017 record Better You Than Me upon its initial release, I went back to see if I could summarize the album’s sound in a few thoughts. Overall, the project contained heavy influences from jazz music, featuring opulent brass instruments, loose percussion, and flashy piano riffs throughout the album’s runtime. Ross’s signature 3-to-8-count flow was prevalent throughout, and the album’s themes ranged from the luxuries of fame to Ross’s stature in Miami’s criminal underground. To describe it in one word, Better You Than Me was ostentatious, and I expected nothing less going into his most recent release.

Considering that Port of Miami 2 released a whole thirteen years after the original, I wondered whether the sequel would be a throwback to Ross’s beginnings in the mid-2000s or progress towards more modern hip-hop trends. In an odd twist of events, the album gave me neither.

Released under Epic Records and Maybach Music, the long-awaited sequel delivers 15 tracks and 66 minutes of what I would essentially consider to be more of the same from Ross’s previous releases. While this doesn’t necessarily hinder the record’s quality in itself—Ross’s past efforts have been more successful with critics than not—it stops the project from being anything more than “just another Rick Ross album.” As there are many things that work in the album’s favor, there are just as many things that work against it, all of which would be easier to explain upon analyzing the project’s flaws individually.

Luckily, the album kicks off on a high note with the rambunctious anthem “Act a Fool,” which features chopped-up synths, monstrous 808s, and a welcome feature from labelmate Wale. Ross’s confidence shines through on this track better than any other on the record, and while he reserves himself to using the same flow for a majority of the track, his assertive delivery ensures that his bars about general grandeur still pack a massive punch.

The following track “Turnpike Ike” is less admirable, as it features a handful of unbearably painful interludes where an unnamed woman is asked by Ross to remind the listeners of just how rich he is. The dialogue is stilted and completely distracted me from what would’ve otherwise been a mediocre song to begin with—not to mention that the entire concept of said interludes felt outdated and tacky.

In fact, coming off as outdated or tacky is one of the biggest struggles that Port of Miami 2 faces. Many of the sung hooks on the album fall completely flat, whether it’s due to awkward writing or melodies that feel cheap or uncalculated.

For example, the hook sung by Sam Harvey on “Bogus Charms” has a nice sentiment to it, but the lyrics are extremely generic, and the lone piano/falsetto combination sounds as if it was ripped directly from a rejected Charlie Puth demo. Drake’s verse on the closing track “Gold Roses” is phenomenal, featuring some of his most intricate wordplay since his 2018 single “Diplomatic Immunity;” however, his hook has very little structure in regards to flow, and the tune he sings is an utterly pathetic excuse for a melody. Immensely talented vocalists like Summer Walker, Teyana Taylor, and John Legend also make guest appearances, but the songwriting gives them very little to do.

The production across the record is also something I’m torn on. On one hand, the instrumentation is lush, monumental, and extravagant—such is the case on the flashy victory lap “BIG TYME,” which features cascading pianos and larger-than-life drum fills. On the other hand, it would’ve sounded better had this album dropped in the early 2010s. It may sound odd, but I feel that the production on most of these tracks would have fared better in another era of hip-hop music. This is especially reinforced by the fact that Ross hasn’t switched up his sound since his previous record; he doesn’t seem to be progressing forward in the same way that other rappers from his generation are.

I could go on about the record’s numerous issues, such as Ross’s famously repetitive flow (he always starts a line on the third beat of one measure and ends it on the fourth beat of the next) or the endless Maybach Music tags he forces into the production, but that would take away from the fact that this project contains some genuinely kickass moments.

The track “Nobody’s Favorite” is one of the most menacing bits on the tracklist, and Ross sounds colder than ever as his detached inflections drift over sparse church bells and bare-bones percussion. He describes the Grim Reaper wearing a pair of black Dickies and stacking bodies, but as he does so, it’s not too difficult to imagine Ross himself as the Angel of Death.

The track “Born To Kill” carries the album’s sound into spacier territory: sleek, layered synths build on top of one another as Ross paints a portrait of himself as a crime lord in Miami’s narcotics underground. He’s a cold-blooded figure fueled by adrenaline and notoriety, backed by bars such as “Kilo in the mornin’, skip the cappuccino / Bomb under my car like I was Al Pacino.” Ross also manages to get trap pioneer Jeezy on the cut, and the Carolina veteran delivers a verse full of cheeky quotables in his signature Southern style.

Ross switches up the pace on “I Still Pray,” an introspective cut that was inspired by the sudden heart attack he suffered in the spring of 2018. On the track, he laments about his own personal greed, the projects of Miami, and those he has lost over the years. It’s an intriguing contrast from the rest of the record’s subject matter, and it sheds a little more vulnerability on Ross than most would expect from him. Ball Greezy delivers one of the better hooks on the project (even if it contradicts the message presented in Ross’s verse), and YFN Lucci steps up with some interesting vocals in his verse.

All in all, Port of Miami 2 is a mixed bag. It certainly has some highlights and a few standout tracks, but your enjoyment of the project as a whole will likely be linked to how much you’ve enjoyed Ross’s work in the past. As someone who has found Ross’s past features entertaining—albeit a bit one-note—I have a similar opinion of this project, and I’m left mostly impartial to it. It’s not terrible by any means, but Ross’s lack of progression from his past records means that there isn’t much here that contributes to the future of luxury rap. Hopefully, Ross will recognize this and step up his game to leave a greater legacy for Miami hip-hop.

Favorite Tracks:

Nobody’s Favorite (feat. Gunplay)

Born To Kill (feat. Jeezy)

I Still Pray (feat. YFN Lucci & Ball Greezy)

Rating: 6

Listen to Port Of Miami 2 here:

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