R.O.O.T.S. (2009)

Image credit: Mark Mann

Going with the flo: The rapper gets shady

There's a slim chance you haven't yet heard ''Right Round,'' the current radio behemoth from Sunshine State rapper Flo Rida that has already hit No. 1 on three continents. Indeed, it would take a monklike level of pop cultural abstinence to avoid the swaggering, bass-heavy anthem, improbably based on the 1984 camp classic ''You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)'' by rouged British dance-poppers Dead or Alive.

Flo (real name: Tramar Dillard) got his start on hip-hop mixtapes — ­the street-level, heavily collaborative currency of the genre — ­and R.O.O.T.S. is essentially a flossier version of the same. His 2008 debut, Mail on Sunday, nearly burst with cameos from established stars like T-Pain (on the chart-dominating smash ''Low''), Timbaland, and Lil Wayne, and its follow-up responds in kind. Each track feels maximized for optimum radio saturation, with frantic, synth-heavy choruses, jock-jam backbeats, and a multitude of boldfaced guests (Nelly Furtado, Akon, Wyclef Jean).

Songs like the squiggly ''Gotta Get It (Dancer)'' and the hyperspeed thumper ''Jump'' practically come with their own strobe light (though Furtado's obscured vocals are largely wasted on the latter). And aside from the relatively wistful coda, ''Rewind,'' his lyrics rarely veer from stock hustle-and-flow territory. You won't leave R.O.O.T.S. knowing much about Dillard the man, but you'll probably think Rida the rapper is an excellent — if eventually exhausting — party guest. B

Download This: Listen to the song ''Right Round'' on imeem.com

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