Ludacris is one of the rap/hip-hop world’s most in-demand performer. Despite the full-fledged market of this part of musical industry and enormous inner rivalry, his very first album Incognegro of 2000 has led Ludacris out to upper chart’s lines. From that time each of his following albums was only strengthening his authority. Ludacris is definitely a charismatic and talented person and his popularity proves this in the best way. You can cooperate with successful performers and show business’s bigwigs as long as you want but if your music is boring don’t expect a platinum status, it is impossible to deceive a listener. Ludacris was always able to impress the public. His enormously popular hit of 2001 What’s Your Fantasy has opened the door for the countless followers of truly “dirty” sex songs that would soon become the norm in the rap culture rather than an exception. But judging by his last album Release Therapy, Ludacris is trying to change the image he has gained dew to his previous works and wants to be taken seriously now.
Release Therapy is the fifth major-label album from Ludacris. “You’re going to take me serious on this album, I guarantee it.” That’s what he told during the MTV interview about his new release. And the album cover confirms this strategy. Where previous CD’s depicted him holding a flaming $100 bill or getting ready to sink his teeth into a girl’s leg, this one shows him with his eyes closed and his fingers folded. It’s the universal symbol, one supposes, for seriousness. Luckily the musical part of the album wasn’t exposed to such a radical image cleaning. There are still a whole bunch of hot hip-hop party songs that are ready to become radio hits. Many of the tracks were recorded in collaboration with guest stars (Young Jeezy, Pharrell, R. Kelly and many others) and in the end of the day the songs, which are only Ludacris by his own, comprise about 30 percent from the total album’s playing time. But this of course doesn’t mean Ludacris has lost grip of his forte. Just the opposite, it’s his brash lyricism and talent that get you into the mood of the album. And while the anatomical jokes are in somewhat shorter supply and the beats are a bit further stripped down, this is more or less a characteristic Ludacris album.
As a man who has already released five albums and besides who lays claims to a new image, Ludacris could pay more attention to the musicality and arrangements. Ludacris songs need to have a careful balance between his over-the-top lyricism and beats that can keep up with his bravado. None of his albums to date have been whack, but some have tended to skew too heavily towards one or the other side without being just enough of both. This time on Release Therapy it seems that both the beats and rhymes were carefully measured out in just the right amounts. Ludacris has exposed to the public’s judgment his maximum quality product that he could ever do. Release Therapy is just that very music, which brought him a worldwide success but with some more mature points, and this is what can bring even more new fans on his side. Release Therapy is the name that fits the music in the best way because this is the album that will relax your mind and let your conscience be free as you get down to the sounds.
White Trash With MoneyLess than a year after releasing Honkytonk University, Toby Keith unveiled another full-length studio outing. With White Trash with Money, he tops himself, delivering not only his fifth excellent album in a row, but his riskiest, richest record yet