No one expects Ludacris to be as hungry as he once was. Especially considering that he’s six albums into his career and he’s got a budding movie career with two films (RocknRolla and Max Payne) recently receiving major releases. Instead of letting one career path distract the other, Luda tries to merge the two with Theater of The Mind—a valiant effort that falls short of its concept but is entertaining nonetheless.
“The whole album is theatrical, conceptual-wise,” said Luda, to MTV. “Every song you hear sounds like a scene from a movie.”
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With his third LP, Black Milk has quickly established himself as one of hip hop’s premier producers, most important voices, as well as the carrier of J Dilla’s torch.
While you may not know all that much about the Detroit native, Black Milk is one of the best rapper/producers in hip hop, and certainly worth your attention. Black Milk, aka Curtis Cross, is known best as a producer with a soulful production style. But he’s also an emcee, and while he isn’t a mind blowing lyricist, he’s clearly got more range and comfort in front of the mic than most of his rapper/producer counterparts. He’s been on the scene since 2001 when he produced a track for Slum Village. Instead of waiting for his rap group B.R. Gunna to catch on, he went on to release his first LP with Sound of The City, Vol. 1 in 2005. But he set himself apart from his peers with the release of his second album Popular Demand—one of the best albums of 2007—and the well received mixtape Caltroit (with Bishop Lamont).
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After a ten year hiatus the rap duo Heltah Skeltah—consisting of Rock and Ruck (aka Ruckus/Sean Price)—returns to their back to basis, stick to the script, D.I.R.T. (Da Incredible Rap Team). Following the underground success and critical acclaim of group member Sean Price/Ruck’s solo project Jesus Price Superstar, the Boot Camp Clik members keep it for the streets.
The album is consistently thorough. The tracks rarely let up and the album isn’t bogged down by commercial efforts like their 1998 Magnum Force. Instead the duo stays focused on delivering what their small but loyal fan base wants to hear; hard beats and harder rhymes. Although this formula grows a bit tired as the album plays on, no one can argue with Ruck and Rock when their in their element.
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It seemed like T.I.—the self proclaimed “King of The South”—had it all; platinum albums, chart topping hits, and a booming film career in which he acted alongside Oscar winners like Denzel Washington. He also did all this without sacrificing the street rep that propelled him to become one of the most potent figures in the rap scene.
But heavy is the head that wears the crown; on October 13th, 2007 T.I. aka Clifford Harris was arrested for possession of three unregistered machine guns and two silencers, and possession of firearms by a convicted felon. Eventually T.I. pleaded guilty to all charges and was placed under house arrest, sentenced to a year in prison pending the completion of 1000 hours of community service, and a three year probation period. After details about his case had come out, T.I. claimed that for the first time since his debut album he would actually write his lyrics.
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It seems like this album is completely lacking the buzz I expected it to get off the success of St Elsewhere which featured ‘Crazy’, the notorious track that everyone including your mom was bumping to..
Well in short, its not getting the same buzz simply because the album is grim and not particularly commercial-friendly. As a DJ I’m probably not going to be able to play a lot of these tracks but in all honestly, the style fits Dangermouse’s production sense much better, and the album as a whole is a much more cohesive piece. Its a nice change to hear an album that makes sense from front to back.
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