EMCEE 101: LUDACRIS
Since his smash hit “What’s Your Fantasy” it was obvious that Ludacris was bringing something unique to the School of Emcees. Ludacris quickly showed that he had a mastery of delivery speed. He could switch up the speed of his rhyme flow from fast to slow and managed to keep you attention the whole way through.This worked particularly well in two ways. First off, he cleverly found ways to use his speed to complement the beat of a track. When he wants his flow to shine, he keeps pace with the beat. When the beat has a really cool change up that he wants people to notice, he’ll slow his flow down a bit to let the track breathe. Secondly, he often uses speed to punctuate his superb sense of humor by slowing down the delivery of a punch line or battle rhyme.
What makes his speed changes so seamless is his larger than life voice and great sense of rhythm. Ludacris has a very strong voice that keeps perfect time with the beat; keeping things interesting no matter what speed he chooses to deliver his lines.
Below I have included two tracks: “Money Maker” the Neptunes’ produced single off of the upcoming Release Therapy and the unknown classic “Cry Baby (Oh No!)". The Swizz Beat produced “Cry Baby (Oh No!)” is an excellent showcase of Ludacris’ skills. It’s a relentless collection of hilarious battle rhymes by none other than the Luda-man. More than any other Ludacris song I’ve come across, this track shows off the man’s amazing sense of word play.
Here’s the 3rd verse from “Cry Baby (Oh No!)” off of Ludacris’ sophomore effort, 2001’s Word Of Mouf:
I kick niggas in they're ass, reboot 'em like laptops.
And they wouldn't even box if I gave 'em a flat top.
You punks pucker and pout, bicker and babble.
Now they all lost for words like I beat 'em in Scrabble
You see I'm from a small town called "Fresh out a cop's ass"
Where Mr. Head-Potatoes are skinned, they get mashed.
I smell puss from fifty yards.
Y'all not playing with full decks as if I jacked out ya Jacks and left fifty cards.
Catch me in Vegas, spinnin' the green.
I re-up with more chips than a vending machine.
Then you can catch me in Rome, mackin’ some broads and sticking 'em.
And you'll be at home picking your buggers and flicking 'em.
A drug dealer's dream, so fresh and I'm so clean.
I'm a grown ass man and you all are sweeter than sixteen.
So go and kick rocks, peons, you're just rookies.
Headed down stairs to get you some milk and cookies.
[MP3] Ludacris :: Cry Baby
[MP3] Ludacris :: Money Maker feat. Pharrell
Muttpop Bob
posted by Bobby Tomio at 11:43 AM
2 Comments:
See this is the true hip-hop head in me. I've never been a fan of Luda, but I have the utmost respect for his flow. His cadence and delivery are definitely some of the best in the game. My issue with him is I can't relate to his rhymes. I can't claim exstensive knowledge of his catalog, but all the tracks I'm familiar with are about how many ho's he pulls, how much money and bling he rocks, and how nobody else can mess with him. Personally I never get laid, I'm broke as hell, and people are always fucking with me left and right. In all seriousness though I could never deny his skills.
In other news my blog is ready to be checked out. It's just a holder page right now, but it should update at midnight on the 1st. Of course you guys were the first added to my blogroll (it appears in alphabetical order though).
I had to roll with EZarchive just because the interface was the simplest I found. So far it's actually been a lot more stable than some of the other hosting services I tested and I like the fact that readers don't have to go to an additional external site to listen or download.
There'll be a few kinks to work out as we get things rolling, but I'm up. Any tips or criticism you guys have when you check it out would be more than welcome.
DOCTASHOCK:
Thanks for the props. I have mad respect for Ludacris' skills...but will be the first to agree that, at times, I wish that he had more to say.
When I listen to Luda, I've learned to accept that he's going to usually be about talking crap and hot women...but because he has such an excellent sense of timing and delivery, it's okay with me.
That's probably why I appreciate Ludacris from song to song...but have yet to really fall in love with a Ludacris album.
"Cry Baby (Oh No!)" may just be another song with a bunch of shit talking...but it's one of the smartest and funniest shit talking song that I've ever heard. It makes it very clear that Ludacris is one heck of a smart dude...but he just isn't all that interested in getting deep and insightful with his lyrics.
I'm not to sure if this is a bad thing. His flow is so over the top in sound that talking about deep stuff may fall really flat.
We really look forward to seeing your blog once it's up. Don't forget to keep us in the loop!
Thanks for you regular comments. They mean a lot to us.
-Muttpop Bob
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