• Senegalese-American singer-rapper Akon returns with Freedom, an album filled with "extremely breezy, Caribbean-tinged songs that are less hip-hop than lucid pop," according to The Boston Globe. "[H]is best songs [are] light, expertly constructed and just a touch insipid," writes The New York Times. Rolling Stone calls Freedom "pure melodrama about love and love lost, delivered in a hooting style over synth-swamped beats that are closer to early Peter Gabriel than to 2008 hip-hop."
• Rapper and actor Common drops Universal Mind Control, his eighth album. Spin magazine loves its retro sound: "While we're used to Common in the role of poetic prophet or self-righteous rhyme slayer, Universal Mind Control is primarily a rhythmic celebration, paying tribute to Afrika Bambaataa and Jonzun Crew jams." The Los Angeles Times applauds his new direction: "Common tries to break away, taking on a harder, naughtier persona and dipping his typically dusty grooves in executive producer Pharrell's cold chemical wash. For part of the album, the techno gambit blows fresh air into Common's paisley pondering."
• American pop-punkers Fall Out Boy release their fifth album, Folie à Deux (Madness For Two). "For all the negatives said, written or blogged about Fall Out Boy (and trust us, there are a lot), it's damn near impossible to fault the Chicago-born band for their creativity, ingenuity and willingness to try just about anything," gushes Alternative Press. The Onion's AV Club gives the album an "A" while underscoring that the band is overshadowed by bassist Pete Wentz's tabloid escapades: "While the adulation of millions of kids has made the Chicago quartet a platinum-selling arena act, the group inspires equally passionate disdain from non-fans, who made 'Wentz' slang for 'douche.'"
• California R&B singer-songwriter Keyshia Cole is back with a new hairdo and a new album, A New Me. USA Today calls it "sexier [and] more playful," featuring "much less pain than on previous works." Entertainment Weekly thinks she's "chosen an odd way to escape" the Mary J. Blige comparisons, since Cole "turns her focus from heartbreak to happiness only a few years after Blige promised she was done with drama." Allmusic digs the change of pace: "Cole pushes herself into new territory and becomes a more versatile songwriter and vocalist in convincing, frequently thrilling, fashion."
• Miami based producer and rocker Kevin Rudolf releases In The City, an album that "cribs tricks from both rap and rock 'n' roll, not in the pursuit of a bastardized Limp Bizkit-type hybrid, but with the intention to produce a crossover rock record with modern hip-hop tools," according to the BBC. Despite the album's flaws, hip hop webzine Rap Reviews enjoys Rudolf's Cash Money Records debut: "In the City offers good production, excellent melodies, and – of course – the same song, ideas, and kinds of guest appearances many times over. Still, I'd recommend it as a blueprint for potential."

Cash Money Records, home to Lil Wayne, just dropped one of the biggest rock hits of the year: Let It Rock, a stadium-ready jock jam by Kevin Rudolf. With its whistling synths, pounding drums and catchy chorus, "Let It Rock" draws on adrenaline over aggression, leaning closer to rap and rock like Black Eyed Peas and Queen than Public Enemy and Anthrax. Not surprisingly, the song has become a staple on football and basketball broadcasts, also appearing on TV shows like "Dancing With The Stars" and "90210."

A 25-year-old New Yorker, Rudolf was already an established songwriter, producer and session guitarist (Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland) before he became Cash Money's first rock act. Label co-founder Roland "Slim" Williams says he was a fan first: "I've been listening to Kevin's music for a while. The record was good before we even put Wayne on it." His debut, In The City, was released last month and features production by The Neptunes' Chad Hugo and collaborations with Rick Ross, Nas and Birdman.

While some call it "gangsta emo," Rudolf prefers to describe it as a sincere attempt to mix the sounds of Sting and Phil Collins with hip hop: "What I'm most excited about is putting out a record that's authentic, true to myself and doesn't sound like it's come out of a factory."