Artist: Mike Jones

Album: “The American Dream”

Release date: July 10, 2007

Label: Ice Age Entertainment

Availability: CD, iTunes

Yes, it’s Mike Jones. Since his 2005 debut album, the Houston rapper has achieved, as the album title suggests, the American dream. This time around, Jones offers some new beats and lyric,s but, like the last album, offers nothing new and worthy of note. While most artists try to do something a little different going into a sophomore album, Jones did nothing but a retread of his first.

Songs such as “Groupie,” “Bonnie and Clyde” and “Grandma II” provide a passable tempo and beat but has lyrics that are more ludicrous than likeable. The lead song, “Mr. Jones,” like most of his songs, talk about his rise to fame in the sense that he now has the women and money and no one can stand in his way. However, the lyrics still repeat lines more than once and on more than just a few occasions.

One cannot forget his performance at Veishea last spring, with his late arrival and short performance that caused outrage throughout campus. It may always make him inimical to those who were attending at that time.

This album is also the music for the upcoming direct-to-video movie “The American Dream,” which is about Jones’s early life to his rise into the rapping business. Perhaps it will be more engaging than the album. Mike Jones, we could use something with some heart.