Customer Reviews

Theater of the Mind [Vinyl]

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Ludacris has always been one of the most entertaining rappers to watch and listen to, more for his ridiculous lines and outrageous, sharp humor than any redeeming social qualities. Ludacris has always been the class clown of the Dirty South scene, and Theater of the Mind is nothing if not an absolute embrace of this image. Crass and vulgar, with beats that slam and bounce with no respect for dynamics or subtlety, Ludacris' latest is popcorn entertainment at its finest.

Beginning with the intro, a "please-quiet-down-the-movie-is-about-to-begin" skit that sounds like Pirates of the Caribbean mixed with Atlanta's hottest club cinema, Theater of the Mind pounds home its loose concept by calling each guest rapper a "co-star" and each song supposedly corresponding to a scene from a movie. The production is self-assured and more of what one has come to expect from a Ludacris record: thumping bass `n drums, an active horn section, and vintage R&B samples to complement the synths and occasional sound effects.

One More Drink" co-starring T-Pain (that guy must really like buying more drinks), is a fairly hilarious tale of Luda's drunken adventures with less-than-attractive women combined with Pain's lovely observation that "if I take one more drink / I'm gonna end up ******' youuuuuu," while the lyrical genius continues on "MVP," with the rapper bragging that "women say I talk more game than John Madden" and advising that "she should blow me like candles on your b-day / `cuz I signed more lines than she's passed on the freeway." Deep Ludacris is not.

The "co-stars" are what you would expect from an artist of Ludacris' caliber, ranging from T.I.'s fierce verse on "Wish You Would" to Chris Brown on the repetitive, standard club-jam "What Them Girls Like." The best spots, however, are those that you don't see coming, but fit perfectly into Ludacris' hip-hop theater: boxing champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. on the epic "Undisputed" is spot-on, and when Ving Rhames announces that Ludacris is a "true entreprenegro" and has "expanded his empire into multiple profitable businesses, including his Thai food restaurant," you can't help but admit that Ludacris is, indeed, a born entertainer.

Theater of the Mind, however, has some slow spots you'd just as rather skip through like in every movie. "Nasty Girl" is an increasingly outrageous sequence of prim and proper girls turning wild in bed without an interesting beat to back it up, and "Call Up Your Homies" is your typical "gather up the crew" anthem that you've probably heard a dozen times before. "Contagious" co-starring Jamie Foxx, however, is the worst offender here; the kind of slow-jam ballad that you cringe upon hearing; it's the awkward sex scene spliced into the middle of an otherwise great picture.

The highlight of the record, however, the quite cinematically-titled "Do The Right Thang" co-starring Common and Spike Lee, is the exact opposite of much of the rest of the album; a plea to urban youth to stop and "use your brain," making for one of Luda's most immediate and meaningful songs and a sharp contrast to the other tracks. When the track blows up into a horn-laden `70s funk jam and Luda proclaims "I see the sunshine gazing through window pane / blazing like indo flame, it's time to wake up," it's a heartfelt closer to a record that, while it does have its missteps, remains a guaranteed blockbuster.

This is the first classic Luda album since Word of Mouf. While Chicken N Beer was great, the rest of his releases were just decent at best. Luda always has and always will be one of the greatest pure rappers of our generation, but he is sometimes inconsistent as far as whole albums go. But this album is a true classic, and is giving Nas a run for his money for rap album of the year. While I do wish that he would have cut the features or in this albums case, "Co-Stars", down by about half. He only gives us three solo track and all three are phenominal tracks. Starting with "Undisputed" which technically features Floyd Maywhether, but hes really only in the song for a few seconds so i dont even consider that a feature, but the track is just a classic raw Luda track where he just goes into attack mode on what could almost be considered a freestyle over just a phenominal beat by Don Cannon who turns out to be a great producer on this album. And then on the again technically featured track "Everybody Hates Chris", "Co-Starring Chris Rock", but again Chris Rock only makes a very brief appearance at the intro to the song and the outro, so i dont really even consider that a feature. But Cris just kills this old school soul beat by Don Cannon with this super catchy hook. And then on one of the best Luda tracks ever, the brilliantly DJ Premier produced "MVP", Luda just smoothly glides over this beat, its an record you could tell Luda was really going all out on and really put alot of thought into. Then you get the signature club track singles from "What Them Girls Like", "One More Drink" and the sure to be follow up single "Nasty Girl" co starring Plies. And then you get that signature "Meaningful Song" in "Do The Right THang", but none of this album comes off corny or fake or forced like some songs on his previous efforts. This is the first rap album that i have been truly satisfied with since Nas's Untitled album. Good Job Luda, you got a classic on your hands again!


Grade:
A-

All of the tracks are well produced and there is not much filler (eg: tracks with just skits on them) on this album. A lot of the "skit" material is worked into themed songs which are creative and well orchestrated and mixed.

Some of this album comes off sounding too "pop variety show" for me, though, and I don't really care for Everybody Hates Chris or the slow tracks (excluding One More Drink.) This may just be a personal thing.

The tracks that really show off southern hip hop do it with great effect. Wish You Would, Call up the Homies, Last of a Dying Breed, I Do It for Hip Hop are all fantastic. The good tracks are amazing, and leave me wishing the whole album was filled up with these instead of feeling like a variety album.

Fans of just one style may feel the album is lacking. If you like a lot of the styles that are popular in hip hop nowadays, this album delivers a good mix of different flavors, but if you're hitting the skip over some tracks, you may end up enjoying half an album worth of entertainment.

The mixing and production is top-notch. Pop hip hop (hate to say it but this style of hip hop is pop nowadays) has a great new album addition.

Luda is one of my favorite rappers to emerge in the last ten years or so - period. The dude is a kind at word play and commanding the mic - a true emcee in any form - he's got versatile styles and can write songs and hits with the best of them.

Just like his last CD, I wasn't thrilled by the lead single - but the man is a blind buy for me each time so I took a chance and it was dope as expected. With this one Luda did a little concept album, but not all the way and had some real dope songs. The DJ Premier produced song was some real raw hip-hop which was a nice change of pace for Luda.

One of 2008's best and definitely worth a purchase.

What does it take to be considered a great rapper these days? Is it platinum plaques? Is it No. 1 singles? Is it ringtone sales? The standards vary. So how come people don't consider Ludacris a great rapper? He has platinum albums. He has chart topping singles. He is one of the smartest lyricist today. He sells just as much as T.I. but dosent receive the same praise."Theater of the Mind", is Luda's newest CD in his underrated career.

Luda`s "Theater of the Mind" flows like a movie. It has a beginning, middle and an end. It even has `special guest appearances' by Jamie Foxx, Chris Rock, Ving Rhames, Common and Spike Lee. The hit single "One More Drink", ft T-Pain is funny.(Plus you can't go wrong with T-Pain singing your hook these days) "Nasty Girl" ft Plies is a solid Swiss Beats track. It seems that Luda has squashed his beef with T.I. on the collabo song "Wish You Would". And he got Jay-Z and NaS together on "I Do It For Hip Hop". Somehow Luda resurrected DJ Premier on "MVP". And got 9th Wonder on the album closer "Do the Right Thing" ft Common & Spike Lee. These are two of my favorites on the album.

However, this is not a flawless album. "Everybody Hates Chris" ft Chris Rock is a corny call-and-response track. The first single "What Them Girls Like", ft Chris Brown is a club song and not much else. And "Southern Gangsta" is an attempt at recreating BET's "American Gangsta". It even features narration from Ving Rhames but the song goes nowhere.

When rappers crossover into acting they seem to struggle with the balance of acting and rapping. The better actor they become, the harder it is for them to maintain the same motivational level for the studio. Ludacris has shown that he has not lost a step. He cut off his braids to appeal more to movie audiences but has not lost the hunger to make bangers. No other rapper right now can transition like that easily.

Ludacris almost takes it back to the "old-school" with this one. Its almost like the storytelling raps of the 80's and not the bragadocious, drinking, flossing, booty crap of today. You can ride out to this entire CD. In a couple of the songs, like "I Do It For Hip-Hop", he lets the seemingly forgotten DJ shine by exhibiting quite a bit of cutting and scratching. Quite refreshing. You never know what you are going to get with Luda. This is easily one of the best albums of the year, if not THE best. When artists realize that its not the beats alone, but the lyrics and subject matter that make a great album, maybe hip-hop will return to its glory. If not, mourn for it, because it will be dead.

Ludacris hasn't switched up his style like most of the other rappers. This album is excellent and just as enjoyable as any of his others. Definitely a must-have for hip-hop and Ludacris fans.

Luda continues to improve with Theater of the Mind. "MVP" is a DJ Premier joint that has the classic Preemo beat with awesome wordplay by Luda. The "Last of a Dying Breed" includes a return to form for Lil Wayne with a verse that actually makes sense as well as Luda speaking his mind about media criticisms. "I Do It For Hip Hop" is an instant classic with Jay-z and Nas bringing heat. Another favorite of mine is "Call up the homies" featuring Game. Every song is more than decent with quite a few being songs you can listen to over and over. A must buy for Hip Hop fans!

I like this album. It is a good followup to Release Therapy. This album shows that he is continuing to expand his reach, his musical prowess remains potent as ever. This album is about drawing people in an imaginative state. This album also highlights his rap supremacy, on a number of levels as far as lyrics, visuals, record sales, personality, and conceptual songs. This album should showcase that Music is still No. 1. This album will be successful like his other ones.

Ludacris is one of my fav from ATL, he has unique hard hitting flow. He is very versitile in rapping and you can tellby the album, he can rap about serious things and also can rap about funny things, he could switch up his flow which makes him a soon to be legend in the game. This is his 6th album, his last album "Release Therapy" won a grammy and this follow up proceeds to being another grammy contender. This is an almost perfect album if you exclude the R&B type tracks such as "Contagious" feat. Jamie Foxx and "Nasty Girl" feat. Plies, those songs are just track fillers but even so, those songs are still above average to me. The concept of the album is suppose to be "theatrical" but the concept falls short, some songs fit the concept with songs like "Call up the Homies" feat. The Game & Willy Northpole and "Southern Gangsta" feat. Rick Ross, Playaz Circle and the famous narrator of American Gangster on BET Ving Rhames, these tracks most def feel like a scene in a movie. The production of the album is top-notch from living legends DJ Premier & 9th Wonder to Swizz Beatz, Don Cannon & Trackmasters, the album is diverse every song has a certain feel to it which helps make the album able to appeal to a wide variety of people. The album features a lot of guest appearances by an A list group of people such as Nas, Jay-Z, Common and even non-rappers like pro-boxer "Floyd Mayweather", comedian "Chris Rock" and legendary director "Spike Lee". This album is great and deserves to sell a lot and be nominated for a lot of awards in the near future.

Favorite Tracks

1) Do The Right Thang feat. Common & Spike Lee - a strong track feat. production by 9th Wonder, with help from Common. The song talks about living for yourself and not for anybody else and learn how to be smart in life. In other words "Use your brain homie, do the right thang". 10/10

2) I Do It For Hip Hop feat. NaS & Jay-Z - a track solely dedicated to Hip Hop. This song features an all star list of rappers with legends Jay-Z and Nasir Jones reigning from New York. The lyrics are top notch but i beleive they could've picked a better beat, its not bad but i believe they could've done better. 10/10

3) Everybody Hates Chris feat. Chris Rock - I LOVE THIS TRACK. The humor behind the track is hilarious, saying "F*** YOU LUDA!"is basically Ludacris playing himself. The beat was done by Don Cannon and it is FREAKIN SWEET!!!! it is so damn infectious you will bang your head tremendously when you listen to it i guarantee it. Plus Chris Rock's intro & outro is hilarious, "you light skin biatch". 10/10

4) MVP - the only song on the album where Luda is truly by himself rapping. The production is done by the legendary DJ Premier. I found myself surprised finding Ludacris and DJ Premier collaborating for a song cuz DJ Premier doesn't usually collaborate with southern artists, but two unlikely people working together makes high quality so you can't hate. DJ Premier killd the beat. 10/10

Honorable Mentions

Undisputed feat. Floyd Mayweather
One More Drink feat. T-Pain
Call Up the Homies feat. The Game & Willy Northpole
Last of a Dying Breed feat. Lil Wayne
What Them Girls Like feat. Chris Brown & Sean Garret
Wish You Would feat. T.I.

BUY THIS ALBUM!!!!! Ludacris's best album to date...