From Nothin' to Somethin' [PA] by Fabolous (CD, Jun-2007, Def Jam USA)

"Make Me Better," the second single off Fabolous' "From Nothin' to Somethin'", considers the improvement to an already good thing.

The A-list guests Fabolous enlists for his fourth studio album suggests a similar state of mind. But it may be the flood of mainstream musicians that bog down the project and make Fab seem like a guest on his own show.

Even considering guest spots in hip-hop are more frequent than any other genre, there's a sense of cameo overkill in "From Nothin'". Of the 19 tracks, Fabolous rides solo on just three of them.

The guest appearances aren't necessarily detrimental to the album's quality as much as they are to Fabolous' impact on his own album.

In many cases, his visitors snatch the spotlight, leaving him little more than an afterthought.

Rising R&B star Ne-Yo's crooning compliments the sleepy, yet captivating Timbaland-produced beat in "Make Me Better" far more than Fab's basic rhymes.

The abundance of big-name guests likely bodes well for the commercial success of "From Nothin'".

Fab shares record space with the ever-popular Young Jeezy in the album's first single "Diamonds." Appearances by Akon in "Change Up" and T-Pain in "Baby Don't Go" have made their usage as future singles a foregone conclusion.

Three years removed from his last album, "Real Talk", Fabolous' latest effort reveals the gap between releases didn't result in much growth from the emcee.

Fab finds himself in the quagmire of remaining true to his street-inspired persona while continuing to evolve as an artist. "From Nothin'" suggests that he, like many of his colleagues simply aren't up to the task.

The album features a handful of tracks with romantic overtones, but other than that, it's more of the usual from Fabolous.

The Brooklyn native's 2001 debut "Ghetto Fabolous" featured an emcee with passable, but promising lyrical prowess. Six years later, it appears perhaps that's the most he's capable of.

"Return of the Hustle," a ferociously-paced Just Blaze production, forces Fab to diverge from his standard loitering delivery with messy results.

Fabolous' occasional clever wordplay is easy to miss or in other cases, is marred by flaws.

In "I'm the Man," he exhibits some of this, only to have it overshadowed by the lazy decision to repeatedly rhyme a word with itself: Young Denzel, I'm the inside man / They open they legs to let me inside man.

From a commercial standpoint, From Nothin' is already a more promising endeavor than the disappointing Real Talk. The abundance of popular names should see the chosen singles garner more airwave love.

But there's also the realization one of the promising young talents of the early 2000's looks to have peaked well short of original expectations.