Ludacris combines film and music in Theater of the Mind
The new album co-stars several producers and rappers.
Dec. 1, 2008
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Rapper/actor Ludacris has had success in both of his chosen mediums. While he has been more of a heavy gun in rap music (Grammy wins and five platinum albums), he has also had success in big movies like the Academy Award-winning "Crash." On his sixth album, Ludacris has decided to take on the task of combining film and music for Theater of the Mind, with the hopes of moving himself into rap's top 10.
Ludacris tried to make this album his most epic production by calling in some of the larger names in the game — from producers and rappers alike. Every song is supposed to have a movie theme to it, and rather than having features, the individual songs have "co-starring" positions for the other stars on the album. Theater of the Mind is another great album for Ludacris that doesn't disappoint. Although some songs don't seem to follow the concept, there are enough fantastic songs on the album to make it one of the best of the year as well as one of Ludacris' best.
The "Intro" is just as hard as some of Ludacris' intros from other albums, a great transition into one of the album's hits for the underrated lyricist.
On "Undisputed," co-starring the boxer Floyd "Money" Mayweather, the Don Cannon production uses a sample of "We'll Find a Way" by Edwin Starr to help create a soulful backdrop. The theme of the song is very similar to the "Rocky" movies, with Ludacris being the boxer and "Money" Mayweather being Ludacris' trainer and giving him pep talks between rounds (verses).
Another of the strong cinematically thematic songs is "Everybody Hates Chris." Following along the lines of the TV show by the same name, Luda is introduced by Chris Rock and proceeds to deliver punch lines about how he is hated for being so good. Don Cannon, once again, produces the upbeat funk beat with another sample from the '70s.
The most epic song on the album is "Last Of A Dying Breed" featuring Lil Wayne. The bass, drums and horns make for a beat that sounds like something that might be played if the world was ending. During the chorus, legends Eric B. and Rakim are sampled, which helps contribute to the epic feel of the song. Both Ludacris and Lil Wayne go hard on the beat, making for some of the best lines, such as, "Top five?/ Damn right,/But really it just hit me that three of your top five is too scared to fuck with me."
One song that doesn't really have a movie theme is "MVP." The legendary producer DJ Premier created the song using the techniques he has made famous, like his iconic boom-bap drums and always present scratch. Ludacris does the beat justice by consistently going hard lyrically as he seems to do on any and every song on the album. With very few missteps on the album, Ludacris has done it again with Theater of the Mind.
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