Bruno Mars - Doo-Wops & Hooligans

Bruno Mars is the latest pop sensation to clog my precious hip hop radio airwaves. Every city gets pretty much one real hip hop station, and yet for some reason it always ends up getting jammed by artists like Mars here, who have nothing to do with rap or hip hop - but because they're r&b, they think we'll like them too. Newsflash, die hard rap fans, hate this kind of stuff. So already I'm a little jaded toward this artist. Such as life. Pete Hernandez is Bruno's real name, and he's been sitting in the background for a while now. You might have recognized him from his background vocal on BoB's 'Beautiful Girls' or Travie McCoy's 'Billionaire'. If not, he also helped to write Flo Rida's 'Right Round'. He's done a ton of other stuff too, but those are the big ones. With that sort of success, like most other background folks - they eventually want the limelight for themselves too. And Bruno dropped this album just last week. Could it have been part of New Music Tuesday? Sure. Was it? Of course not. 'Just The Way You Are' is the big pop song today, and it's kind of blah for me. It's not overly catchy and lyrically, pretty mundane. There is one track on this album that I surprisingly enjoy - the rest are subpar at best. What I've decided to base my new pop reviews on, is how different this is compared to anything else out there. And this is flat out identical to most other Taio Cruz, Sean Kingston, BoB types out there. This album offers nothing different. I'm going to go out on a limb though with Bruno - and I think this album was solely made to get him on the map. It feels like this kid has a ton more talent, just isn't showing it yet. My guess, you'll hear a lot more from this kid in the future, and it won't at all resemble this album. He'll reinvent himself into something relevant, or so I think. Time will tell. Pop fans, have at this today - you'll love it.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Grenade
2. Just the Way You Are
3. Our First Time
4. Runaway Baby
5. Lazy Song, The
6. Marry You
7. Talking to the Moon
8. Liquor Store Blues
9. Count on Me
10. Other Side, The

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Grenade
2. Count On Me
3. The Other Side

FINAL RATING:
2.75 out of 5 stars