If Tomorrow Comes... [PA]

Performer: Maino
Artist: Push Montana; B.G.; T-Pain; Trey Songz
Engineer: Nick Nastasi; Andrew Wright; Vaughn Beck
Producer: James Rosser; Teraike "Chris Styles" Crawford; Lenwood Reed; Wesley "G.Q. Beats" Brown Jr.; Steve Kang Cruz; Charlemagne; Just Blaze; Justice League; Swizz Beatz
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Jimmy Starnes, Eritza Laues, Push Montana, Dawne M. Hill (vocals); Just Blaze (keyboards); Josh Gannet (bass guitar). Audio Mixers: Ryan West; Andrew Wright ; "You Can Ask" Giz; Fabian Marasciullo. Recording information: Baseline Recording Studios II, New York, NY; Fight Klub Music Group LLC, New York, NY; Grind House Studios, New York, NY; Integrated Studios, New York, NY. Photographer: Michael Schreiber. Bed-Stuy rapper Maino spent nearly a decade behind bars before he launched his rap career. Thanks to numerous appearances on mixtapes, the "Maino Is the Future" tagline started appearing about 2004, just one year after his release. Switching labels, scrapping a finished album, and not releasing his official debut for five years brought this "future" into doubt, but it was really just a case of the stars aligning because IF TOMORROW COMES is a killer way to start a career. Over an especially good Swizz Beatz production, he identifies himself as different right from the start, declaring it's better to give than receive on the opening "Million Bucks." Feeling good about the success of others isn't common in gangster rap, but Maino is hardcore all the way and will later offer "I contemplate, they ain't never hear you screams with a pillow to your face" on "Kill You." IF TOMORROW COMES believably lives in both of these worlds because it is a concept album that follows Maino from crack addict parents to prison and on to parole where he's determined not to fail. He speaks to the soul-crushing joylessness of prison and what an important role pride plays in his life, and how much that differs from the average rapper's ide-a of respect. Lighter moments appear along the way with the infectious and snide "Hi Hater" and the T-Pain-produced victory number "All the Above" keeping the album from becoming too heavy. After all that time in prison, Maino has few answers but he has a plan, and it happens to be a righteous plan.

XXL (Magazine Publisher) (pp.88-89) - "[S]ongs like the album-closing 'Celebrate'...and the Just Blaze-helmed 'All the Above,' with T-Pain, display the rapper's appreciation for his current position, as well as for his previous hard-knock life."

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