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For The First Time
Ludacris |
I generally hate southern
rappers. They seem to come off with a lot of style and very little
substance. Ludacris does not break this mold altogether but his
style is so tight. He is a true master of the English language and
really makes me laugh. Of course, if this were all he could do I
would give him a shitty ass review.
Ludacris' overall effort
does not leave me with an impression. What I do remember from the
album are the times when he taps into levels only achieved by legendary
rappers. Ludacris can get stereotypically bad, but he can also remind
you why you listen to rap music in the first place. He is a pop
hit machine. While this isn't necessarily the best thing to be,
he does it with flair.
Initially I heard the
song "What's Your Fantasy". I thought the song
was okay at best. However, the more time I heard it the song really
grew on me. It's really one of the funniest songs I've ever heard
in my life. It's so over the top and so ridiculous that you can't
really say anything bad about it. Any song that uses a chorus that
uses the word lick three times can't be all bad. Even so, I still
wasn't convinced.
The next song I heard
(before buying the CD) was "Southern Hospitality".
This is the song where Ludacris really proves that he has a gift
for rhyming. He takes on a very challenging format and pulls it
off perfectly. The chorus is also very memorable. The "Long
John" series is also particularly good. The song is very
radio friendly, but says nothing. After I heard this song, I invested
in the cd.
After some exploration
I finally discovered the final leg of the Ludacris journey. That
song is "Stick Em Up". This song is hard core and
it's done very well. Ludacris calls out a lot of flash rappers;
unfortunately Ludacris is flossin' his platinum rings on the inside
cover so I'm not really buying it. Nonetheless the song has a great
relentless beat and has a chorus that is one of the best of all
time. The raps are good, but the song really pays off in the chorus.
Ludacris also takes on a new challenging rhyme scheme in this song
as well. He pulls it off really well. I'll put this against any
other hard core song on wax today.
Of course, the beef with
Ludacris is two-fold. One, he uses his songs to say absolutely nothing.
I waive that requirement here, because he is stylish as hell and
he isn't trying to say anything really. The second half of the criticism
is that Ludacris seems to have a penchant for creating average rap
music. While "Game Got Switched", "Ho", "Catch
Up", and the "What's Your Fantasy" remix
are all good enough, they are very average. Mostly, you will skip
from one top quality song to the next to the next and back again
when you put this in.
Ludacris is young, talented,
and funny. I only hope that he will improve a bit on his content
over time. He obviously has the skill and vision to create top quality
rap songs. Subtract a little flash and add a little substance and
Ludacris has the potential to be a really great rapper. Whether
he will tone down the platinum and up the lyrical substance is up
to him; but we can only hope he does.
Favorite line[s]
"We can do it in
the library on top of books but you can't be too loud!"
- This has special
meaning for me because I work at a library. For the record if
you returned a book soaked in giz you would be expected to pay
a $10.00 repair fee.
Favorite track
"Stick Em Up"
In the tradition of "It Ain't My Fault", "Deep
Cover", and "Natural Born Killaz" is
where this song falls. It does hard core and it does it well.
Total Tracks: 16
Skipped Tracks: 8
Recommend: Buy It
Pick this up unless you
have a real fear of new rap music. This is definitely 2001 as opposed
to 1994. The beats are flashy and Ludacris wears platinum. The rap
is tight if you look past the bullshit.
- The
Great Hart 
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