 " Rockstar 101 " received mixed responses from music critics . Brian <unk> for IGN praised the song , writing that it " actually works " despite sounding disjointed at first . Emily <unk> of PopMatters defined " Rockstar 101 " as a " brilliant bit of <unk> " during her review of Rated R , while <unk> Malone for NME wrote that Rihanna sings with " <unk> " on the track , which was something that she has <unk> 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 " <unk> leftover hints of her warm Caribbean vocal <unk> " . Ann Powers for the Los Angeles Times was critical of Slash 's inclusion on the song , and she described it as an " <unk> " . Powers wrote " she can definitely get by without that ultimate rock phallic symbol " , a reference to Slash . Pitchfork Media 's Ryan <unk> felt that " Rockstar 101 , alike " Russian <unk> " and " The Last Song " , were " instantly @-@ dated <unk> from a <unk> era when a Slash feature was cool " . He further wrote that " Rockstar 101 " and " <unk> " were " harder to justify considering their mindless <unk> and <unk> production " . The song was met with a negative review from The Guardian 's Alex <unk> , who wrote " At one extreme , the resemblance of ' <unk> ' ' s chorus to that of a stadium rock ballad seems to have encouraged Rihanna to cut out the middle @-@ man and just start making stadium rock : cue the awful <unk> @-@ woo guitars of ' Rockstar 101 ' and ' Fire <unk> ' " . 
