Young Money Cash Money Records, headed by Lil' Wayne and Birdman, continued its dominance in the rap industry when associate rapper Tyga dropped his very highly anticipated album in late February. Careless World: Rise of the Last King is Tyga's rookie album with the record company, after being featured for the past three years on other Young Money artists' songs as well as the group's debut album We Are Young Money back in 2009.

Young Money Cash Money thrives in its reputation of making a lot of money, rapping about it, and then making even more money rapping about it. Tyga's album stays true to the team motto. Careless World: Rise of the Last King features a hefty 21-track set, and the iTunes version includes 23. My first impression was probably what you're thinking of right now: another over-produced album padded with mediocre songs and interludes to increase the wow factor. Save for three interludes that really add zero value and could easily have been thrown out the door, every song had its place and resulted in a pretty solid record that many expected it to be.

"Kings & Queens," featuring Wale and Nas, is the lyrical beast of a song that you would have expected, simply because Nas is featured. Nas can take any mediocre song and make it a classic, but here he doesn't have to. All three rappers showed up, delivering 20 bars each of rap excellence. The chorus isn't overdone, while the beat, produced by the relatively unknown Arthur McArthur, is simple yet perfect for a lyrical heavy track. A rap fan's dream come true.

"Let It Show" includes the increasingly popular J. Cole. The song is the perfect example of the album's major flaw: Tyga's lyrical inconsistency. The verses really have no meaning, and at times don't even rhyme. The intent listener will notice a real lack of effort by Tyga in writing this one. That being said, every other part of the song is fantastic. J. Cole's verse, the beat produced by Cool and Dre, and the well-done chorus all save the track and turn what would be a mediocre song into a good one by disguising the poor lyrical output from Tyga. If not for these deeds of salvation, this would have been a guaranteed quick-skip song.

"Lil' Homie" features and was produced by one of the best in hiphop in Pharrell, and he doesn't disappoint. Tyga steps his game up a bit in this one, but is elevated by a vintage Pharrell beat that I instantly fell in love with. Like most of his songs, Pharrell sings in the chorus, but doesn't do any damage by accentuating the singing voice that he thinks he has, but really doesn't. It's my favourite song on the record.

Honorable mentions: "I'm Gone" with Big Sean, "This is Like" featuring Robin Thicke and "Still Got It" with Drake on the iTunes Store bonus version.

With featured artists such as Nas, Pharrell and Drake among others, and an underrated production cast, it would have been very difficult for Careless World: Rise of the Last King to be a bad album. The rookie does a decent job, but was given a huge alley-oop being helped immensely by the associated talent. The album is still a solid attempt at the hoop, but comes up short of a slam-dunk. Okay, enough of the basketball analogies. The album is admirable and worth a good listen.

Rating: 4 out of 5