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We the Best

by DJ Khaled

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DJ Khaled's getting by with a little help from his friends. A lot of them. The Miami deejay--whose runs the helm of a popular radio show on South Florida's urban-formatted WEDR--enlists a gaping host of collaborators on this follow-up to his 2006 debut, Listennn... the Album. His guests include Akon, Lil Wayne, Fat Joe, T.I., Birdman, and Rick Ross, and that's just on lead single "We Takin' Over." Elsewhere, Young Jeezy and Juelz Santana drop in ("Brown Paper Bag"), as do Trick Daddy ("I'm So Hood"), Ja Rule ("New York"), and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony ("The Originators"). Even Jadakiss and The Game drop by for the ironically uplifting "I'm From the Ghetto," complete with proud children's chorus. Along the way, Khaled serves up alternating plates of melodramatic bass, happy-go-lucky piano riffs ("Before the Solution"), and Dade-county shout-outs. With its assortment of producers and often unwisely chosen song sequence, We the Best's missteps abound, but the album collects enough sticky beats and hooks to kept the heat cranked up like a proper night out in the 305. --Jason Kirk