Artist: Chamillionaire
Album: Ultimate Victory
Label: Interscope
Release Date: Sept 18, 2007
Main Site: http://www.rapcentral.co.uk/chamilliona ... CTORY.html
Album Lyrics: http://www.rapcentral.co.uk/chamilliona ... CTORY.html
Track listing:
1) The Morning News (3:58)
2) Hip Hop Police ft Slick Rick (4:11)
3) Standing Ovation (4:27)
4) Wont Let You Down (4:37)
5) Industry Groupie (3:32)
6) Pimp Mode ft Bun B (5:22)
7) Rock Star ft Lil Wayne (5:00)
8) Skit 1 (3:04)
9) The Bill Collector ft Krayzie Bone (3:51)
10) The Ultimate Vacation (4:05)
11) Come Back To The Streets (4:52)
12) I Think I Love You (4:43)
13) The Evening News (4:08)
14) Welcome To The South ft Pimp C (4:12)
15) You Must Be Crazy ft Lil Ken (4:54)
16) Me Breakin Up (4:40)
17) Skit 2 - Stuck In The Ghetto ft Tony Henry (1:45)
18) Rock Road ft Devin The Dude (4:59)
19) The Ultimate Victory (3:11)
RAPCENTRAL REVIEW:
Houston Rapper Chamillionaire is back with his follow up to international success 'The Sound of Revenge''
with Ultimate Victory, which in my opinion is a very worthy follow up. Although the song
''Hip Hop Police'' has not yet (and is not likely to) match the success of the dominant hip-hop single and
highest selling rap ringtone ever, the album over all is enjoyable to anybody who remotely appreciates
good Hip-Hop. Some of Chamillionaire's mixtape fans will be glad to know he hasn't abandoned his mixtape
style at all, and these underground elements mix well with both his lyrical ability and some rather decent beats
thrown in on most of the tracks. For those fans who have any of Cham's earlier album you'll appreciate
the two skits, which Cham is well known for having in his earlier albums, such as ''Get Ya Mind Correct''
both of which are very entertaining in their own way.
What i particularly like about this album, which you don't see in many South Side albums is both political
commentary, and the state of the Hip-Hop game that Chamillionare is obviously a large fan of. It's not often
you get an album so well put together that pulls of a clever combination of the truth and true southside style
beats and entirely southside collaborations, such as Scarface, Lil Wayne, Bun B and Slim Thug. My only
concern with tracks such as ''The Morning News'' and ''The Evening News'' is how easily these tracks are
forgotten about. What i mean by this is i have found myself listening to these songs about twice and once you
know the lyrics you get very bored of the song, as it becomes very boring and Chamillionaire's sometimes
'lazy' lyrics show up and you find yourself not very entertained to say the least.
As i've mentioned, Chamillionaire hasn't pushed the boat out when it comes to collaborations. Although
Slick Rick was a complete suprise to me, he did not appear much only appearing on a short verse which
was rather dissapointing dispite being entertaining when you first see the video to ''Hip Hop Police''.
Bun B is a decent rapper, but if you like Chamillionaire, and you dont like Bun B then you will find him unwelcome
in the smooth, relaxed flow of ''Pimp Mode'' even though in my opinion his verse was better that i expected
and didn't offset the song pretty much at all. If you bought the album entirely for Chamillionaire's smooth
hooks you WILL be dissapointed at the song ''Rock Star'' (featuring Lil Wayne) who's rather annoying and
quite ridiculous verse completely ruined the song that was going rather well, despite the occasional guitar outburst.
Krayzie Bone impressed me most when it comes to collaborations, Cham and Krayzie go well together and
''The Bill Collector'' is a good song for you bone fans, even non-bone fans such as myself will like this track.
Overall i did like this album a lot. Quite frankly you will not lose friends if you don't have this album but it's
definetly worth the money if you're a Chamillionaire fan. If you aren't a fan of Cham's mixtapes then chances
are you will not like this album more than ''Hip Hop Police'' which does get old a little fast. Being a mixtape
fan myself i think i prefer some of Cham's earlier songs such as collaborations with Paul Wall, The songs on
this album are probobly not much better than most of his not sampled popular mix tape tracks and it's a shame
those songs aren't produced on a major album such as this. So... don't expect this album to be a hip hop classic
but it still gets album of the year in my opinion, beating both Kanye's and 50's album by a safe amount.
- Written by Shenron (Content : 608 Words)
TOP TRACKS: post the top tracks from the album here
1) Hip Hop Police
2) Pimp Mode
3) The Bill Collector
RAPCENTRAL OVERALL RATING:
3.5/5
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ALL MUSIC GUIDE REVIEW
Crossover rap hits don't come much bigger than Chamillionaire's 2005 single "Ridin." The track was inescapable for months longer than anyone expected, put a Grammy on Cham's mantle, was graced with a Weird Al parody, and spawned a ringtone that became the first certified triple platinum. The rapper takes great pride in these achievements by repeatedly mentioning the sales numbers, but he also takes great pride in himself and his work. Fellow millionaire 50 Cent may lie back and let the money roll in with a proven formula, but Cham is still chasing paper, the dream, and a legendary status with everything he's got, something that makes Ultimate Victory feel more important and more genuine than the everyday hip-hop album. The bad new is, it's flawed, with a couple redundant numbers and a surprisingly underwhelming Lil Wayne collaboration that does the overdone guitar and "party like a rock star" thing without a hint of flair. Past a few missteps, the album is a winning embrace of hip-hop with commentaries on beefs, nostalgic pining for better days, and a positive outlook for the future of the genre. Beef is shown the door, cussing is absent, and yet somehow Cham comes off as more Scarface than Mase. Part of this is due to Ultimate Victory's allegiance to verse-filled hip-hop and its unwillingness to repeat "Ridin" for a quick buck. Even if "The Evening News" has an instant hook, its subject matter is heavy, and even if "Hip Hop Police" with very special guest Slick Rick has that slick J.R. Rotem beat, it's more concerned with hip-hop's history than selling ringtones. "Industry Groupie" is also worth noting thanks to its exciting venom and sample from Europe's "The Final Countdown," and when you add the excellent "The Bill Collecta" with Krayzie Bone, along with the extremely catchy "You Must Be Crazy" featuring Lil' Ken, you've already got more highlights than most of the competition. A rapper's credibility is bound to take some shrapnel when a single crosses over as big as "Ridin." Ultimate Victory is a brilliant way to recover from overexposure and bring things back to a more sensible level if a long-term, credible career is what's at stake.
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