Rihanna "Rated R"

This place is a "Mad House!" The intro is reminiscent of Vincent Price's voiceover in the great Michael Jackson's  "Thriller" and warns those faint of heart to stay away with this catchy hook and beat. This great synth synergizing the beat makes it hard to "Wait your Turn," and that bloop bloop bloop with a reggae-tinged vibe just has that guitar in the background sounding good, audible but behind the beat and synth. I love the beat of "Hard," that song got me pumped for listening to the rest of the record.The delivery is great, and the hook makes you want to march in place for Rihanna's Army. Young Jeezy's verses really help this song, I'm usually not a fan,but this one helped the song. The part where she addresses the haters and says "where them bloggas at?where them bloggas at? where they at where they at where they at?" just sounds snotty, and perfect when revealing her vindiction. Most of us probably have or will act "Stupid In Love". It has this great singalong chorus and backing vocals, the nice waves of piano and strings coming into the shore, with that finger snapping beat.  Have you ever heard of the class "Rockstar 101?" Well, supposedly it is available at most community colleges, but most do not have it because they believe it is a frivlous class to have registered in the database because there is no major that can use its credits. Silly, don't they know they would be making a good deal of money because people would register for that class in a heartbeat as a break from the classes that are required and no too interesting. they just did not finish the syllabus; the first two classes are rock swag and partying for beginner's ; ok, maybe that's why. Slash is featured in the song,niice! "Russian Roulette" was the first single, and is of a bad relationship, so bad that it has one of them pulling the trigger with a gunshot at the end. "Fire Bomb" is a great airy song that has nice guitar in it. "Rude Boy" may be asking the reggae enthusiasts to give it to her,basically. "Photographs" has nice vocal harmonies sung by Rihanna and will.i.am, with this funky tambo and acoustic strumming, with low bass and sentimental synth at the break down before will.i.am sings his verse and they sing of missing each other. An ending with this reverb and synth. "G4L" has this heart beat monitor beeping and the sound of paper clap with her delievry makes for an eerie sound, but the chorus is very catchy and reminds me of a cross between "Knocks You Down" by Keri Hilson and features Kanye and Ne-Yo and "Megalomaniac" when Brandon Boyd of Incubus sings in the breakdown of  before the lead guitarcomes back in."Te Amo" is a latin flavored track with, not exactly flamenco,but nice guitar, and reggae vibes. "Cold Case Love" is about an old relationship that has Rihanna reconsidering to give it one more chance and solve the case as to why it never worked out in the first place as she sings the hook "Your love was breaking the law/But I needed a witness/ So pick me up when it's over." and works the heart strings with piano,strings, that at 3:45 make room for bopping drum beat and a nice guitar solo workinng well ewith that violin. Awesome ending! Ah, how the waves crash upon the shore at night. "The Last Song" is another nice song that has a guitar solo and strings,piano, doing what they were made to do to make the ending a nice one even if the sentimments aren't always nice. These songs may be "Rated R," but they suitable for any lover of awesome music: Wait Your Turn, Hard, Stupid In Love, Fire Bomb, Photographs, G4L, and Cold Case Love.