 Rockstar 101  received mixed responses from music critics . Brian Linder for IGN praised the song , writing that it " actually work " despite sounding disjointed at first . Emily Tartanella of PopMatters defined " Rockstar 101 " as a " brilliant bit of bravado " during her review of Rated R , while Ailbhe Malone for NME wrote that Rihanna sing with " swagger " on the track , which was something that she have Hova to thank for . Jon Pareles for The New York Times simply highlighted a line from the song , " I never play the victim " . Neil McCormick for The Daily Telegraph thought that " Rockstar 101 " was one of the few songs on the album to retain the " vaguest leftover hints of her warm Caribbean vocal flavouring " . Ann Powers for the Los Angeles Times was critical of Slash 's inclusion on the song , and she described it as an " afterthought " . Powers wrote " she can definitely get by without that ultimate rock phallic symbol " , a reference to Slash . Pitchfork Media 's Ryan Dombell felt that " Rockstar 101 , alike " Russian Roulette " and " The Last Song " , was " instantly @-@ dated missteps from a bygone era when a Slash feature was cool " . He further wrote that " Rockstar 101 " and " G4L " was " harder to justify considering their mindless boasts and torpid production " . The song was met with a negative review from The Guardian 's Alex Petridis , who wrote " At one extreme , the resemblance of ' Umbrella ' ' s chorus to that of a stadium rock ballad seem to have encouraged Rihanna to cut out the middle @-@ man and just start making stadium rock : cue the awful widdly @-@ woo guitars of ' Rockstar 101 ' and ' Fire Bomb ' " .