Unfortunately, it takes more than hard work and a tough Bronx upbringing to make art -- you also need talent and an interesting take on your raw material. Fat Joe may get an "A" for effort, but his new CD falls miserably short of appealing in any way. Monotonous and dull, ALL OR NOTHING relies on explicit lyrics, clichéd production tricks, and a slew of star-studded cameos to provide what little energy there is.

Even appearances by Eminem, Jennifer Lopez, Li'l Jon, Mase, Mashonda, Nelly, R. Kelly and Remy Martin don't help a whole lot. And production assists from Streetrunner, Just Blaze, Cool & Dre, Swizz Beatz, DJ Khaled, and Timbaland don't pull this project out of the mush pit either. There's no musical consistency and the individual songs aren't written well enough to make up for the apparent lack of direction.

Then there's the content. Lyrics are explicit without being clever; violent, racist, and sexist without ever getting to the point. Fat Joe may hang out with the big boys, and hang in there as a recording artist, but he's going to have to work a lot harder to hold his own as an artistic peer.