Ludacris "Release Therapy"

Ludacris - Release Therapy
(Def Jam Records)

I saw Ludacris at an upstate college stadium type jump off about 2 years ago or so with fan favorites Clipse. Clipse was on stage for maybe 30 minutes and killed it. This was to be expected. What was not to be expected was that Ludacris in fact did not kill anything. In fact he gave one of the most uninspired performances I've ever bore witness to. I mean I've seen my fair share of talent shows, lip synching and public access "check my man's flow" freestyles. Granted Luda was marginally better but I actually expected Luda to gimme something.

The problem that I have with Ludacris is not a lack of technical ability, dude can rap he's one of the few heads that pulls off that fast rapping shit. But homeboy has to be one of the most generic dudes in the game. After countless singles and being gifted with some monsterous beats I still have no clue who the hell Ludacris is as a character. Think about it like this, you can sum up the other big southern rappers in usually one line and get a good idea of who they are. Jeezy - trap rapper wth no remorse. T.I - regally self assured trap rapper/ladies man. Weezy - coke obssesed lyrical nutcase. Ludacris - ?

The generic rapping is on show hard on Release Therapy. more..

- reviewed by The Black Pixar

The generic rapping is on show hard on Release Therapy. Usually Luda is over some big "tear the club up"-esque beats. He'll give a nice punch line now and then and we're all happy. But on Release Therapy he's scaled that down to more middle of the road fare beats, possibly so we can hear what he's saying more. Not a good look my dude. You are not Jay-Z son no one will be pouring over your lyrics for double entedres and hidden meaning. No one will find inspiration from your verses. This record is a chubby girl in a belly shirt, no one needs to see that shit. Put the focus on the chesticles or ass and go cop you some dudes at the club.

When this record works it's when we don't have to pay attention to Ludacris myoptic view of the world. On the first single "Moneymaker" the Neptunes bless homeboy with a beat that will be sure to inspire the raunchiest of dancing in Sallys, Nancys, and Britneys from Iowa, to Lisas, Pamelas, Angelas and Renees from around the way. The Neptunes also bless dude with "Girls Gone Wild" the other highlight of the album. Do you see what I mean about sameness and genericness of "Moneymaker" and "Girls Gone Wild"? These songs are right next to each other by the way.

"Grew Up a Screw Up" samples Biggie for the hook and the beat sounds like "Riddin Spinners" but boring. The much talked about "War with God" is actually pretty unimpressive, usually beef records bring out the best in a dude or at least get him amped up and foaming at the mouth (see T.I's "Im Talkin To You"). However "War With God" has Ludacris trying to go hard over a beat that sounds like it could be a nice "girl I'm gonna make love to you jam." I appreciate putting together two things that shouldn't go together as much as the next dude (like breasts and duck sauce), but this shit is just asinine.

Basically if you really want to, go download "Moneymaker" and "Girls Gone Wild" from iTunes and add em to your best of Ludacris playlist, but there's really no need to fuck with the rest of this tap water record.

back to the ratings..

Track By Track

-- Degrees --	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100
1. Warning (Intro)
2. Grew Up a Screw Up
3. Money Maker
4. Girls Gone Wild
5. Ultimate Satisfaction
6. Mouths to Feed
7. End of the Night
8. Woozy
9. Tell It Like It Is
10. War With God
11. Do Your Time
12. Slap
13. Runaway Love
14. Freedom of Preach

The Industry Says

allhiphop.com - 3 1/2 stars "While this release is not a "classic" it is undeniably very different from what's coming out of the south. Consider it an alternative to the lean, rock and snap movement that also furnishes plenty of reasons to respect Luda's hustle."

Stylus Magazine - B- "..there really isn�t anything on Release Therapy that distinguishes it from Red Light District, Chicken-N-Beer, or even Word of Mouf. It�s probably worse than all those records, but it�s definitely the same ol� shit. And that�s kinda the best part."

XXL - XL "Ludacris is dying to be taken seriously�at least some of the time. The Atlanta rapper has demanded respect from Bill O�Reilly and Oprah Winfrey. He�s cut his trademark braids to a more-sophisticated low fade. And on his sixth solo effort, Release Therapy, he even addresses issues such as child abuse and the prison population. The result is a solid album short on obvious club bangers but long on the more worldly perspective of a rap veteran."

Your Breakdown

comment and rate this album = 1){echo "- (".$counter.")";} ?>

degrees

The Whudat..
Steam Meter Rating

degrees

The People Say..

Recent Reviews

0; $i--) {array_push($rev, $lines[$i]);} // Reverse order and display earliest entry first $lines=$rev; // Display 5 comments while ($i < 6){ list($key)= each ($lines); // split the data lines into a user array - user[0] is the name, user[1] is the date, [2] is the message, [3] is album rating [4 and up] are the individual track ratings $user = explode("#",$lines[$key]); // Check for latest entries and pop off the last item.. corrects bug in diplay programming $lastentry = explode("%",$content); $lastentry = array_pop($lastentry); // get it on the screen already.. :) echo "

"; echo $user[0]; echo " - ",$user[3],""; echo"

"; echo $user[2]; echo "

"; // increment loop variable $i++; } ?>