Is this his first hit in a while, or am I forgetting something?…

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[5.22]

Mallory O’Donnell: Ah, but must it?
[3]

Josh Love: Look, black people, I know we stole the blues and rock ‘n roll and hip-hop and jazz from you, but sampling “Float On” is not a terrific way to get even.
[5]

Iain Mew: My favourite moment in “Float On” was always the bit during the second verse when each line ends with weird unhinged guitar chiming in from nowhere, lending a sense of excitement and being a on edge which transfers to the song at large. “The Show Goes On” is based on the main riffs from “Float On”, but it messes around with them until they all sound like that amazing bit. The effect is similarly great, and in the same way it’s a fine trick in making a song which is on the surface a very simple positive message actually feel much more complex and hard won.
[8]

Anthony Easton: I always thought that the slave rhetoric of Prince was actually fairly accurate, and he was unfairly pilloried for it. This uses similar rhetoric, more politically astute and denser, with musical and lyrical calls to order, but of the same ilk. Quite excellent.
[9]

Martin Skidmore: His flow is bright and perky enough, but I find the sample entirely tedious, and he doesn’t do anything terribly exciting.
[4]

Edward Okulicz: Lacks the imagination, wit and sheer thoughtfulness of “Hurt Me Soul” or “Kick Push” in a big way.
[4]

Zach Lyon: As far back as 2005, DJ Erb made a perfectly adequate mash-up of “Float On” and “Lean Back“. There is no reason for this song to exist.
[2]

Alfred Soto: The insistent guitar riff doesn’t go far enough towards effacing the inspirational déjà vu of Lupe’s verses. I wouldn’t have thought in 2008 that T.I.’s “Live Your Life” would persist as a template.
[6]

Al Shipley: Considering that pretty much everything I’ve heard from Lupe since the handful of good songs on the first album sounded pretty much worthless to me, I was a bit shocked to find this perfectly nice and agreeable, if not exactly great. It helped that I didn’t recognize the sample source, to be honest.
[6]