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Street Dreams
03/03/2003 10:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Dan Leroy
The golden age of Big Apple bling-bling may have died with Biggie, but its spirit lives on in Fabolous. On his second album, the Brooklyn rapper surrounds himself with glitz, spitting clever odes to cash and flash over sizzling, organ-drenched beats from labelmate Missy Elliot, Rick Rock and Kayne West. But just as impressive is a guy who can maintain some innocence, even while threatening to make a girl his slave and bragging about setting the "world record for menage a tois"; the 23-year-old Fabolous still seems, on several tunes, to be the simple street dreamer of the title, overwhelmed at his good luck. Had he left it at that, this would have been an aural piece of cubic zirconium impressive enough to pass as real. Yet Street Dreams reveals itself as a hollow gem when Fabolous tries to have it all, unveiling a gangsta sneer so unconvincing it makes Nelly seem dangerous. Someone forgot to tell Fab the only "Respect" you get for this hip-pop posing comes at the cash register, as he whines, "I don't wanna kill no one/but I ain't no motherf---in' chump." Guess again.
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