The artist: Ace Hood

The album: Ruthless (Def Jam)

The spin: On his sophomore release, Broward County rapper Ace Hood faces the task of striking it big in a hip-hop scene already flooded with Floridians. Coming less than eight months after his debut album, Ruthless does little to distinguish Hood from Rick Ross, Flo Rida, DJ Khaled and T-Pain.

With a raspy voice reminiscent of Pastor Troy, Hood manages to squeeze in a smattering of witty wordplay amid typical braggadocio rhymes about girls, guns and wealth.

With a chorus from Akon and guest verse by T-Pain, the first single, “Overtime”, preaches the benefits of working hard (lots of money) over a generic club beat courtesy of The Runners, the Orlando-based production duo that usually makes much bigger backdrops.

“Champion” is a surprisingly soulful song, with Hood and Ross trading verses about finding success and Jazmine Sullivan repurposing lyrics from Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” for the hook.

Otherwise, Ruthless is a disconnected hodge-podge of what’s popular (but not necessarily good) in hip-hop at the moment. And with an overabundance of guest spots (Ludacris, The-Dream, Lloyd, Birdman and Miami rapper Ballgreezy also appear), it’s hard to make a connection with Hood.

The grade: C

– Adrian Ruhi