R.O.O.T.S. (Deluxe Version)

iTunes Review

Hip-hop purists don’t care for Flo Rida, but Flo Rida doesn’t make music for hip-hop purists. He makes muscular singalongs designed to make entire clubs explode with excitement. R.O.O.T.S. sounds a bit like the Black Eyed Peas might, if will.i.am had discarded his musical ambitions and decided to focus solely the party-hearty formula of “My Humps” and “Lets Get It Started.” “Right Round” is hybrid of headbanging hair metal and walloping disco — sure, it’s not the most sophisticated music ever, but is there anything more fun? “Available” and “Be On You,” collaborations with pop crooners Akon and Ne-Yo respectively, deliver a shimmering kind of ear candy, but it’s as easy to image Rihanna or T-Pain on the track. There are a handful of cuts that aim for the standard Southern rap recipe, but the songs that carry Flo Rida’s distinctive signature are “Jump,” “Gotta Get It,” and “Touch Me.” His hyperactive flow (marked by cascading patterns of triplets) and the tracks’ bass-driven force is enough to remind one of MC Hammer, pop-rap’s immortal party starter.