Ludacris' music has aged terribly and it's high time we acknowledge it

Pop123

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I never understood the Ludacris phase. He does have one of the best, cleanest rap deliveries maybe ever...which made them lyrics sound a lot better than they really were...but that's where it stopped for me. He was like a poor southern man's Redman to me...with a perfect delivery
 

ThaRealness

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You can say that for all music tbh

how well something ages has a lot to do with how big of a fan you are of that person

I love the fact that music reminds you of a certain time period when you revisit
Yeah. There are exceptions.

For example... After sampling laws got fukked, most beatmakers had to compose and they had no training or experience.

Those plastic casio strings don't hold up, I dont give a damn about era

I also think grimy east coast hip hop holds up extremely well. There isn't a way to 'evolve' that sound.... the drums must remain grimy and if you try to punch them up, it just fukks up the mix. Modern drums don't necessarily make Boom Bap better. Im talking about the shyt Style P and Dave East rap over. Its not an improvement on Boom Bap, just a different take. So you always need that grimy shyt. Mobb Deep and Wu Tang are such a distinct sound they'll never become dated.

On the other hand, producers that aimed for a more 'polished sound' dont hold up the same way. Because that approach has evolved so much. Look at the shyt Trackmasters and The Hit Men (to some degree) were doing and compare that to Justice League

Trackmasters added boom bap drums to late 70s funk samples.. Justice League would interpolate the samples and add live percussion. Its a more realized vision.
 

Crumple

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It's been 16 (:wow:) long years since Ludacris debuted, and we were all captivated by this animated, over the top newcomer from Champaign, Illinois Atlanta, Georgia, but has his music truly stood the test of time? Let's see:



First single out the gate, our man is kicking sex raps to let you know he's not just any old cartoon character, he's rated TV-14 :leon:.

Let's see what else the debut album has to offer:



In case any of our young listeners out there didn't know what to classify some of these scandalous women of the night, our hero Luda gives them a quick course and let's them know, some of us men can be just as bad! :ohhh:



Luda also gives our young listeners a lesson in repetition which let's us know he's twice as nice than the rest!

But this is only the first album. In a career spanning almost 2 decades, surely Luda has had time to grow as an artist...right? :lupe:



:comeon:


Second album:



Multi-millions later, dude said he may as well embrace the character while the money is rolling in.



Since we're keeping the "fantasy" going, let's talk about all the imaginary hoes I don't have across the country with another sex-tinged single.



At this point, the only thing memorable about this song is the hook. MAYBE Mystikals verse too.



The clown cipher can't be complete without the obligatory weed song! Light up that sticky icky icky kids! :myman:

Rest of the album isn't really worth mentioning. Consider them the filler episodes of The Ludacris Show.


But we've got to see some improvement for the third season...right? :hamster:


:childplease:


You don't even have to hit play to see how ridiculous this man has become. Take a look at the cover:
61D0pf8gKvL.jpg


Word Of Mouf was corny enough but this? :snoop: Anyway, onto the music:



The album kicks off with a bragging song I can actually rock to, if just for the shots at Bill O'Reilly. Then things go downhill as soon as the next track comes on...which is unfortunately the first single.



Our looney protagonist is hitting the clubs...again, only this time, he actually manages to outdo himself with outlandish claims: a midget hanging from your necklace? :why: I'm not even gonna comment on the foolishness in the video.:snoop:

Next up? Luda WITH YET ANOTHER sex-tinged single:



Things are truly stagnant in the writing department at the Chris Bridges studios because these new episodes are starting to feel like reruns. OHHHHH! :krs: nikka, NOOOOO! :camby:

But its not all repetition, peep Luda giving his best Chino XL impression over an Erick Sermon beat better suited for the man Ludacris is desperately trying to be:



Towards the end of the season, we've got Luda reminding the kids its not always fun and games in the Ludaverse, and to do so, he enlists the nefarious DTP gang to help back him up!



Golly gee willickers guys, I hope I never have to encounter triggers that go "SQUEEZE ME SQUEEZE ME!" :sadcam:



:fohch:

Believe it or not, things actually get worse for the fourth season. :snoop:



I actually have to step outside on the ongoing joke in this thread for the one. Look at this shyt. The man is beyond a caricature at this point. From the song to the video, there is no self awareness whatsoever. A parody of a parody. This is just sad. Shout out to Lisa Raye and Esther Baxter though.



Look at this nonsense. I don't even have to speak on this dumb shyt.



ANOTHER sex single...albums sold all around the world, same song. fukk this shyt. :timmyimout:



Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled programming. We've hit season 5 of The Ludacris Show, and something has got to give at this point. Fortunately for us, out protagonist has come to the same realization and actually decides to switch it up a bit! :ooh::gladbron::banderas:He even cut off his trademark braids for emphasis. :wow: Unfortunately, hope is lost once we find out that he's only gone from a weekday cartoon to an after school special.



Three little girls are only X years old and want to find out why the world is so cold. :mjcry: To do this, they attempt to run away from their broken homes, and they might NEVER come back, but will they find the answers they seek? :jbhmm: Find out on the next episode of A Very Special Ludacris Show!

Other episodes include: the importance of raising a family



The consequences of a crime



How to deal with bullying



And even the pitfalls of having your own daytime cartoon show




That's right folks, it took 5 seasons but it seems our man Ludacris has finally started to grow up and tackle the more serious issues our viewers face everyday. Unfortunately, this was the season where ratings and viewers began to drop off. In a vain attempt to regain fans, Luda has actually regressed and decides to slip on the clown outfit again for future releases. I'd give you more of an in depth look, but the less said about them...



the better. :scust:


This man should not be included with other southern legends. He simply doesn't compare. He doesn't put you right in the middle of a story and/or evoke emotions like Scarface, he doesn't get you hype to the point you feel like throwing away all common sense and decency while ruining property values like Three Six Mafia, he doesn't give you the inspiration to go out and hustle, legally or illegally like Jeezy, he doesn't represent as well as UGK, he doesn't even paint fictional scenarios as well as Ross can. He's nothing more than a cartoon character ass rapper, taking the worst parts of the latter half of Redman's prime without being nearly as dope, that has a penchant for sex raps. He just so happened to come out at the right time and had a run that admittedly most rappers nowadays would kill for.

But as far as any of that run being memorable? Hell no. :trash:


Agree to disagree I guess. Luda is very hip hop. Very original and dropped classic music for that time. Watching some of those takes me back to fun times. I liked what he did for the clubs.
 

thaKEAF

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Luda is underrated, he had a great run and was the face of the south for a while in the mainstream along with Outkast. He was one of my favorites and has a classic album to me (Word of Mouf) along with a lot of good songs/verses spread out. Red Light District was a fall off, even in 04 I knew it wasn't as good as his previous stuff. Release Therapy and Theater of the Mind were just ok with a few good songs each, it was over after that for me. Of course a lot of stuff from 2000-2004 will sound outdated, hell most of it probably sounded like filler even back then. :wow: We Got is one of the hardest southern songs ever :ufdup:

Southern Fried Into + Blow It Out + Stand Up all back to back to open an album :gladbron:

The p*ssy Popppin video on BET Uncut :whoo:

:salute: Luda though I'm glad to see that he's getting them hollywood checks and don't have to depend on the music. Nelly/Ja/Luda were staples of my teenage years.

:blessed:
 

Zero

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Nah thread is still relevant just cause Nellys music aged even worst doesn’t mean I want to listen to Ludas music in this era, doesn’t sound all too great to me and I respect Luda for his mc skills
Battle came and went like Ludas last album that no Stan in this thread bought :mjlol:
 

Ukbrotha

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I'll give OP props for a good write up in the OP. Otherwise most of it isnt how the general public interested in Luda felt. He got big time props last night for an excellent career and a good reminder of how much he murdered features in particular and how great of an MC he is. Of course he's fallen off now but that doesnt take away from the fact that his work is still greatly appreciated.
 

JustCKing

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Yeah. There are exceptions.

For example... After sampling laws got fukked, most beatmakers had to compose and they had no training or experience.

Those plastic casio strings don't hold up, I dont give a damn about era

I also think grimy east coast hip hop holds up extremely well. There isn't a way to 'evolve' that sound.... the drums must remain grimy and if you try to punch them up, it just fukks up the mix. Modern drums don't necessarily make Boom Bap better. Im talking about the shyt Style P and Dave East rap over. Its not an improvement on Boom Bap, just a different take. So you always need that grimy shyt. Mobb Deep and Wu Tang are such a distinct sound they'll never become dated.

On the other hand, producers that aimed for a more 'polished sound' dont hold up the same way. Because that approach has evolved so much. Look at the shyt Trackmasters and The Hit Men (to some degree) were doing and compare that to Justice League

Trackmasters added boom bap drums to late 70s funk samples.. Justice League would interpolate the samples and add live percussion. Its a more realized vision.

Dated =/= did not age well. '90's music aged well, but most of it is still dated because it still sounds like the '90's and without modernizing the sound, it would sound old when played next to today's music. That doesn't mean that its wack, it just means that someone who was listening to a '90's song for the first time would know that it's an old song. Whereas something that didn't age well is music that was dope at the time, but later sounds wack. And that's where things get icky. A lot of music that people on here claim didn't age well is actually more so songs that posters never liked to begin with. You got people saying certain Jay Z songs didn't age well, but those songs are still staples in Jay's set lists and garner responses to this day. Same with Luda's music, people claim his music didn't age well, but again a lot of those songs STILL go.
 

DonKnock

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You can say that for all music tbh

how well something ages has a lot to do with how big of a fan you are of that person

I love the fact that music reminds you of a certain time period when you revisit

Go listen to Biggie’s two albums and that shyt would be fire if it dropped right now.
 

Rell Lauren

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Nelly and Ludacris mentioned on the first page in the same sentence and they matched up last night. Both of them have music that did not stand the test of time.
 

CrimsonTider

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Go listen to Biggie’s two albums and that shyt would be fire if it dropped right now.
That’s your opinion and it has a large part to do with how big of a fan you are for biggie

I don’t care for biggie so that music is dated af
 

CrimsonTider

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Nice confirmation bias argument
It’s music it’s all based on preference

I rather hear Word of mouth or Country Grammer over any biggie album

the fact that you prefer Biggie doesn’t mean his music had some type of power to it
 

Born2BKing

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Luda did can be comical but you can’t take the fact that he can actually spit away from him. So op nice thread and attempt but when it comes to ludacris? You can eat a dikk.
Most of these nikkas favorite rappers ain't tryna see luda in a battle. Don't forget how he had T.I. swinging on nikkas because of one verse. :sas2:
 
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