For nearly a decade, Ludacris has uncomfortably carried the flag of your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper. Indeed for an act whose previous five albums, Back For The First Time (2000), Word Of Mouf (2001), Chicken-n-Beer (2003), The Red Light Destrict (2004), and Release Therapy (2006) (Def Jam) have sold an impressive 12 million copies combined and has consistently delivered a series of song-stealing cameos (Exhibit A: his song-stealing verse on Shawty Lo’s 2008 “Dey Know (remix)”) excepting underdog status is like chasing a glass of Chateau Margaux vintage wine with a shot of Thunderbird.
But after glancing at the liner notes of his bloated yet grandiose album Theater of The Mind, you are left to wonder if Ludacris has lost confidence in his own power of persuasion. A quick head count of the myriad of guest features on his sixth studio release totals to a claustrophobic 19, ranging from the ambitious (Nas, Jay-Z, Lil’ Wayne and Common); and the predictable (Plies, Rick Ross, and Chris Brown); to the downright bizarre (Ving Rhames and champion boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr.).
Surprisingly, though, it’s the album’s brazen Ludacris & Friends formula that finally gives listeners the chance to really appreciate the rhymer’s startling diverse palette. You want cocky asshole Luda? Then check out the opening horn-driven, knock-out punch “Undisputed,” which finds Ludacris shamelessly bragging, “I got the women screamin’/They can catch my balls on any given Sunday like my name’s Willie Beamon.” If funny ass Loverman Luda is more your speed, then the T-Pain assisted “One More Drink”—the most infectiously goofy commercial rap song since Skee-Lo’s 1994 loser anthem “I Wish”—will keep the good times rolling (“She started looking better every shot of Patron”). And on the 9th Wonder produced “Do The Right Thing,” he matches Common’s dramatic consciousness, effortlessly stripping down the struggle of ghetto life: “Its the blues, but not on Hill St./You can call it kill or be killed street.” Hell, he even shows off his hip hop fan boy credentials by jumping on a two-fisted DJ Premier track (“MVP”), complete with signature vocal scratches, just because.
Yes boys and girls, Luda takes his jack-of-all-trades prowess pretty damn seriously. One moment he’s matching the regal lyricism of Nas and Jay-Z on “I Do It For Hip Hop.” The next he’s projecting gun-toting sneers with Rick Ross and Playaz Circle on the creeping “Southern Gangstas” a somewhat ridiculous premise given Ludacris’ pedestrian image. But even as you are left disappointed at the lifelessness of his much-anticipated collaboration with former rival T.I. (The duo strangely lacks chemistry on the plodding “Wish You Would”), Ludacris brings it back home on the symphonic sound clash of “Last Of A Dying Breed.” “They say O’ Reilly don’t like him, Oprah won’t invite him, the President denounced him, no one will announce him,” he screams of his public stumbles, following a frenzied straightjacket verse by an untamed Lil’ Wayne. “But this is my art, this is my music/I’m speaking from the heart…” Wow Mr. Bridges. We hardly knew you.
Theater of the Mind hits stores 11/24/08
Track listing for Theater of the Mind1. Intro
2. Undisputed (co-starring Floyd “Money” Mayweather)
3. Wish You Would (co-starring T.I.)
4. One More Drink (co-starring T-Pain)
5. Call Up The Homies (co-starring The Game and Willy Northpole)
6. Southern Gangsta (co-starring Rick Ross, Playaz Circle and Ving Rhames)
7. Everybody Hates Chris (co-starring Chris Rock)
8. What Them Girls Like (co-starring Chris Brown and Sean Garrett)
9. Nasty Girl (co-starring Plies)
10. Contagious (co-starring Jamie Foxx)
11. Last Of A Dying Breed (co-starring Lil Wayne)
12. MVP
13. I Do It For Hip Hop (co-starring Nas and Jay-Z)
14. Do The Right Thang (co-starring Common and Spike Lee)
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