Ace Hood is among hip hop’s Most Underrated

By Hardcore Critic
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer

This summer will mark four years Ace Hood has been in the public eye and he has still yet to fully make an impression on the rap game. During the summer of 2008, Ace Hood burst onto the scene with his popular single, “Cash Flow.” The success of “Cash Flow,” along with his energy, and connections in the rap game led to many hip hop publications, namely XXL, boldly predicting Ace Hood as the future of the rap game.

By 2010, it was safe to say Ace Hood was nearing “has-been” status. Only two years prior, Ace Hood signed a lucrative contract with Def Jam and was the founding artist of DJ Khaled’s We the Best Music Group. Even with all of this going for him, Ace Hood struggled to gain prominent radio play and to sell records. During this period of time, Ace Hood revealed he contemplated cutting his losses and giving up.

In the eyes of the public, Ace Hood was a non-factor by March 2011, when he made the statement, claiming to be the Derek Jeter of hip hop. The comments from the Miami rapper were scoffed at, but only for a few days, as Ace Hood was preparing the last laugh. In mid-March 2011, Ace Hood released “Hustle Hard,” which was followed by the remix with Rick Ross and Lil Wayne.

Ace Hood was one of the biggest names during the spring and early summer of 2011. While he posted three hit singles, record sales were still relatively low for the “Hustle Hard” rapper. His Blood, Sweat, & Tears album was met with mixed reviews, but the criticism about Ace Hood being a bust continued. If anything, Ace Hood proved he has what it takes to become a true star last year. Without the same promotion as the other artists involved with DJ Khaled, Ace Hood still managed to have three hit singles.

One thing has been clear about Ace Hood from the beginning, he has what it takes to become a star. But, as far as lyrical ability, many always felt he was limited. Ace Hood disproves this on his recent mixtape, The Statement 2, with the lyrics provided on the opus. The quality of music on the mixtape leaves it almost good enough to be an album. Despite the efforts made by Ace Hood, however, he is still under the shadow of those around him.

The We The Best movement enjoyed a solid run and Ace Hood was more of the “power play.” Def Jam noticed the influece DJ Khaled was having on the rap game, so they granted him a label and an executive role with the label. After helping Lil Wayne take over the rap game, keeping Fat Joe relevant, and turning Rick Ross and Plies into stars, DJ Khaled now could boast of having his own label. No record label is complete without at least one artist, which has been Ace Hood.

If Ace Hood is given the same attention, or assembles a team, which will promote him the way Lil Wayne, and later Rick Ross, were promoted, he could easily become one of the top five rappers in the game.