In a musical era where carving out a unique identity is more important than ever, Rick Ross’ problem is that he seems interchangeable. With a voice and delivery that makes it hard to pick him out of a lineup of his fellow Southern contemporaries, the Miami-based rapper could easily fall victim to an identity crisis. And since he’s not even the hottest artist in his own Poe Boy Entertainment camp (with Flo Rida currently enjoying more buzz), it would be understandable for listeners not to expect much from his sophomore major label effort, Trilla.

As it turns out, that would be a bit of a mistake. Thanks in no small part to some excellent work by a varied team of producers, Ross manages to make this collection of tales of Florida street life stand out from the crowd.

The lead single, “Speedin’”, is nothing special, despite a guest shot from R. Kelly, but Ross rebounds by letting everyone knows exactly where he stands with the follow-up, “The Boss” (featuring the omnipresent T-Pain). Over a head-nodding beat concocted by J.R. Rotem, Rick sums up where he feels he stands in the game with lines like, “Hopped out the Magnum, hopped in the tre/Just to let the top back and thank God for the day./Who gives a fuck what a hater got to say?/I made a couple million dollars last year moving weight.”

Though there’s more than a few tracks that fit the stereotypical Southern mold, the real revelation is that Ross sounds comfortable flowing over a number of different types of beats. That’s true on the soulful “We Shinin’” (produced by Bink!) and on the lush, orchestral “Maybach Music” (produced by the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League). It doesn’t hurt that Jay-Z hooks up the latter track with a verse, offering, “I’m a G Rap with better transportation/On the road to the riches, I reached my final destination in the Lear.”

Ross’ other guests aren’t too shabby either. A sort of Southern all-star team comes together on “Luxury Tax,” with Lil’ Wayne, Young Jeezy and Trick Daddy joining the party. Nelly even shows he still knows how to rap on the piano-driven girl-chasing track “Here I Am.”

To be sure, Rick isn’t exactly reinventing the game on the lyrical tip, and songs like “Money Make Me Cum” and “This is the Life” are eminently skippable. He does make a stab at something deeper on the final track, “I’m Only Human,” which delves into his past over a reworking of The Human League’s 1986 pop hit. No, really.

All told, Trilla falls into the “pleasant surprise” category and should have enough going for it to repeat the gold success of Ross’ previous album. Even better, it should help people identify him at first listen, and in the mind of this reviewer, that would be a tremendous victory. – Nick Tylwalk