ye olde down south shit

i like ludacris. he was one of the original rappers to bring the 'dirty south' sound to the mainstream. fusing humourous rhymes with actual skill, his stuff is fun, energetic & witty, with little of the dumb-as-dogshit attitude of so many charting hiphop artists (i'm looking in your direction fiddy). and now luda has dropped his 5th album release release therapy - sure, gangsta posturing and aquiring the bling still make up a lot of the subject matter, but it's all executed with style and a great sense of humour. like most hiphop records it's not perfect but there are some right bangers at the start before all the slow jams and odes to g-funk start :) the second half never really regains the energy of the opening 6 tracks, rather, starting with a bang and slowly lulling the listener into a state of relaxation. very weird pacing but a solid record nonetheless.

something that lil' jon and many of his peers can't seem to grasp is that within commercial hiphop and all it's excess lies a hotbead of material ripe for clever satire; these guys are larger than life cartoon characters who lead dual existences that most of us can only dream of. haven't you ever wondered what it would be like to have an alter-ego to command the world's perceptions of you? worked for bowie, right? below are some of my favourites.

ludacris feat. kardinal offishall & pyrelli - no. 1 spotz (samples the austin powers theme!)
from dj semtex presents - crunk and grime mix-tape (2006)

ludacris feat. pharrell - money maker
from release therapy (2006)

ludacris - girls gone wild
from release therapy (2006)

in unrelated hilarity, this discussion about mylo's 'doctor pressure' single made me laugh my arse off. read the whole thing, sometimes internet discussion boards can be quite entertaining..