Track Listing

1. Trilla Intro
2. All I have In This World featuring Mannie Fresh
3. The Boss featuring T-Pain
4. Speedin' featuring R. Kelly
5. We Shinin'
6. Money Make Me Come featuring EbonyLove
7. DJ Khaled Interlude
8. This Is The Life featuring Trey Songz
9. This Me
10. Here I Am featuring Nelly & Avery Storm
11. Maybach Music featuring JAY-Z
12. Billionaire
13. Luxury Tax featuring Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy & Trick Daddy
14. Reppin My City featuring Triple C & Brisco
15. I'm Only Human featuring Rodney

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19257 in Music
• Released on: 2008-03-11
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics

Album Description
Miami's six-foot, 300-pound rap figure known as Rick Ross embraced his city's reputation on his debut single, "Hustlin'," in 2006. While Atlanta and Houston artists were establishing their cities as Southern strongholds, Ross aimed at putting Miami back in rap's national spotlight. Ross grew up in Carol City, FL, an impoverished northern suburb of Miami. Influenced by artists like Luther Campbell and the Notorious B.I.G., Roberts formed local rap group the Carol City Cartel and began rapping in the mid-'90s. Ross ended up on Miami-based Slip-N-Side Records, the label home of Trick Daddy and Trina. During the early to mid-2000s, he became popular and well known locally through touring with Trick Daddy and guest-appearing on a few Slip-N-Slide releases, but didn't release any solo material until 2006. Once "Hustlin'" caught the ear of a few executives within the national industry, a bidding war ensued that included offers from Bad Boy CEO Sean "Diddy" Combs and The Inc. (formerly Murder Inc.) president Irv Gotti. Nonetheless, Def Jam president and veteran rapper Jay-Z signed Ross to a multi-million-dollar deal. The Miami anthem "Hustlin'" went on to receive gold status from RIAA in May 2006 and sold over a million ringtone units before the physical release of his debut album, Port of Miami. Released in August 2006, Ross' debut was Slip-N-Side's first project under the Def Jam partnership, and it went to number one on the Billboard album chart.

About the Artist
Slip N' Slide/Def Jam recording artist Rick Ross, who rose from ruling the underground rap scene in Miami, to becoming 2006's buzz-worthiest hip-hop artist with his #1 Pop/#1 R&B/#1 Rap major label debut album Port Of Miami - returns with TRILLA, the long-awaited follow-up and one of 2008's most hotly anticipated new releases, set to arrive in stores March 11th.

Busting open Urban and Rhythmic radio for TRILLA is Rick's new single release, "The Boss," featuring T-Pain. "The Boss" was produced by JR Rotem, L.A.-based hitmaker for Sean Kingston, The Game, Snoop Dogg, Jennifer Lopez, Chamillionare, and others. The new single moves up to #20-bullet on both the R&R/BDS and Mediabase Urban charts.The song's Hot 100 audience is also building, now at 17 million with 2,300 spins.

The streets couldnt wait for new music from TRILLA, as two bangers hit the blogs last week with a flurry of anticipation: "Maybach Music" featuring JAY-Z, and "Luxury Tax" featuring Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy and Trick Daddy, both produced by Justice League.

With "The Boss" video charting at #9 on BET's "106 & Park" countdown last week, Ross headed out on a whirlwind promotion, starting in Chicago, then making stops throughout the South in Memphis, Atlanta, Chattanooga, Birmingham, Columbus, Montgomery, Greensboro, Raleigh, Washington DC, Charlotte, and Columbia, South Carolina. He is scheduled to appear on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live next Thursday night, March 13th. Online, his personal "TrillaWorld" blog is in its third week of operation. His website shows more than 13.9 million profile views, and over 357,000 friends, with an amazing 22.4 million total plays.

Back in 2006, "Hustlin'" became the first mastertone ever certified platinum by the RIAA for sales of 1 million copies before the associated album had even been released. A remix was subsequently issued, featuring Jay-Z and Young Jeezy. The second single from Port Of Miami was "Push It," whose movie soundtrack excerpts (circa 1990) from Giorgio Moroder's "Scarface (Push It To The Limit)," evoked the gritty soul of a city that is always on the edge of exploding. Port Of Miami (released August 2006) entered the Soundscan chart at #1 with impressive first week sales of 187,000 units.

With the album's success, six-foot-two, 300-pound Rick Ross - who was first signed to Trick Daddy's Miami-based Slip N' Slide records in 2001 - came into hiw own. A "hip-hop heavyweight," was how the New York Times described him. "The number one ghostwriter in the South," was how he described himself and his work behind the scenes for all those years. "I'm bridging the gap between the South and the East Coast," he told Rolling Stone. "The sound is real Dirty South. But I'm spittin' hard, to where the East Coast appreciates it." All eyes are now on Rick Ross, as TRILLA underscores the promise of one of today's premiere hip-hop voices.

Customer Reviews

I know Pablo, Noriega, the real Noriega, he owe me a 100 favors.
Although he may have been known by many in the 305 before he released the track "Hustlin'", that's when I was introduced to Rick Ross. The Runners crafted some nice production and Rick Ross introduced you to the rap style of the life that was glorified by the former drug dealer of the same name. At the time there was also an unofficial remix that featured Busta Rhymes. Rick Ross was also featured on various remixes and collaborations at the time, most notably "Holla At Me Baby" that also featured Lil Wayne, Pitbull, Paul Wall & Fat Joe and was produced by Cool & Dre. The official remix of "Hustlin'" was released and featured Jay-Z and Young Jeezy. This track definitely had me anticipating the release of Port of Miami.

When the CD was released, it remained in my CD rotation for awhile. Although Rick Ross' tales of hustlin', drugs, sex and obtaining money wore off on you after awhile, the production by The Runners, JR Rotem, Cool & Dre, Akon, DJ Toomp, Jazze Pha, etc. was the strength of the CD. "Port Of Miami" also served as a 2006 rap soundtrack of the movie "Scarface". This was clearly evident on the CD's 2nd single "Push It" which even contained the "Scarface (Push It To The Limit)" from Scarface. My favorite tracks included both versions of "Hustlin'", "Push It", "I'm Bad", "Cross That Line" w/Akon, "It's My Time" w/Lyfe Jennings and "Prayer".

Once Port of Miami ran its course, Rick Ross kept his name out there on various collaborations, most notably "We Takin' Over" w/TI, Lil Wayne, Birdman, Fat Joe, & Akon, "I'm So Hood" w/Trick Daddy, T-Pain & Plies and "Cocaine" w/UGK. In September of 2007, I began to hear a track named "Trilla" that featured Dre of Cool & Dre on the chorus and while the track wasn't comparable to most of the tracks on "Port Of Miami", it was still decent. "Trilla" was originally supposed to be released in December of 2007, however it would be pushed back to March of 2008.

Trilla's 1st single was "Speedin'", which was produced by The Runners and features R Kelly on the hook. The beat will definitely get you energized in the club as Rick Ross once again continues to talk about the almighty dollar and the benefits of having it. R Kelly continues his string of collaborations with Def Jam artists and the track was a nice choice for the 1st single. "The Boss" is the 2nd single and is produced by JR Rotem and features T-Pain on the hook. Eventhough, he already had a track entitled "Boss" that was produced by Cool & Dre on "Port Of Miami", you will forgive Ricky Ross because "The Boss" was a nice choice for the 2nd single. Once you hear the nearly 3 minute long title track intro, you'll just wish that Rick would have just used the original title track as Track 1. No intro needs to be almost 3 minutes long. That's not an intro, that's an actual track. Mannie Fresh, who surprisingly had no production credits on "Port Of Miami" joins Rick Ross on the hook and produces "All I Have In This World". The track is decent but you will wonder why the same All I Have In This World sample that the rapper Scarface used in his Scarface trilogy was used as part of the hook. That shows no originality whatsoever. Rick redeems himself on the Bink produced "We Shinin'". Bink usually works with Rocafella artists like Beanie Sigel and Freeway but he saved a nice beat for Rick on this track. Trey Songz, who is 3 videos deep into his 2nd CD Trey Day, joins Rick Ross on "This Is The Life". The track is decent, you'll just wish that Rick would have stepped up his lyrical content on the track.

The best 2 moments on "Trilla" are clearly "Luxury Tax" which features Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy and Trick Daddy and "Maybach Music" which features Jay-Z. Even if you end up not being a huge fan of the entire CD, these 2 tracks will prevent you from putting "Trilla" on coaster status. J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League produced both tracks and Ricky Ross & the collaborators take care of the rest. J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League also did some production work on Young Jeezy's The Inspiration and Young Buck's Buck The World.

The problem with "Trilla" is that 1) Rick Ross talks about the same thing on every track. It definitely sounds redundant after awhile. You forgave him for doing that because of the production on "Port Of Miami" but the production, while decent, doesn't measure up this time overall. 2) this CD clearly has more of a commercial edge to it. "Port Of Miami" clearly had a street edge minus a couple of tracks and that is one of the reasons why I liked the CD. 3) If you are going to push a CD back almost 3 months, you expect the results to represent that. 4) Rick and Rodney absolutely "butcher" the sample of the track "Human" that was originally performed by The Human League. "I'm Only Human" is clearly the worst track on "Trilla" and "Money Make Me Come" is a close 2nd.

If you were a huge fan of "Port Of Miami" then you should atleast have this CD for "Luxury Tax", "Maybach Music", "Speedin" and "The Boss". While there are other noteworthy tracks, if you thought that "Port Of Miami" was just OK then you should leave "Trilla" alone.


James' Top 5

1) Luxury Tax w/Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, & Trick Daddy
2) Maybach Music w/Jay-Z
3) The Boss w/T-Pain
4) Speedin' w/R Kelly
5) We Shinin'

Honorable Mention:

This Me
All I Have In This World w/Mannie Fresh
Here I Am w/Nelly & Avery Storm (unless you despise Nelly)

Rick Ross MI YAYO - 5 Stars
I liked this album, although have to agree with other reviewers that it got monotonous towards the end and that Devin the Dude's latest albumSmoke Sessions, Vol. 1is pure dope and a must buy

Actually pretty good
It's hard for me to review a rap album comin' from the south, since with the exception of Scarface, Ludacris and Outkast, I prefer listening to artists like Common, Talib and Lupe.

Still, when it comes to Rick Ross I do feel that there is some potential. He is probably on the same level as T.I. and Lil Wayne, with a nice "unique" flow and great production in his songs. Best songs on the CD are (of course) "Maybach Music feat. Jay-Z", "We Shinin'", "This Me" , "Luxury Tax feat. Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy" and "Speedin' feat. R.Kelly".

This might not be as good as Lil Wayne's new "The Carter III", but most definately "Trilla" deserves more than 3 stars.