Album Review: Ludacris-Battle Of The Sexes

Posted On: March 5, 2010
Posted By: odeisel
Comments: 3

By Fawn Renee

After more than a year in the making, the seventh studio album from Atlanta rapper Ludacris, entitled Battle of the Sexes, is finally dropping. Originally due in 2009 and intended to be a collaborative effort between him and Chicago-born MC and former Disturbing Tha Peace artist Shawnna, this concept album tackles the timeless paradox in history, the differences between men and women. To fuel the fire, he hand-picked some of the hottest chicks in the game to heat things up.

The album features the industry’s newest pop tart Nicki Minaj, veterans Lil’ Kim, Trina and Eve, and the beautiful Monica, who appears to be making a comeback of her own these days. The male features aren’t as significant, and actually quite useless on this album, as Ludacris is more than capable of holding his own on every track.

The album’s first single, “How Low” is one of the few times where we hear Shawnna bless a track on this album, and this time she isn’t rapping, but instead, providing her sultry voice for the hook. The song, a contagious club banger that garnered mass appeal both on radio waves and club sets, set the tone for what would be one of the best concept albums since Jay-Z’s American Gangster.

“How Low” flows seamlessly into the album’s steaming follow-up single “My Chick Bad,” which features the aforementioned Minaj. The pair creates magic on this track with their animated lyricism, as they flow against the bass heavy backdrop. Ludacris displays his machismo as he gloats, “Yeah your girl might be sick, but my girl’s sicker. She rides that dick and she handles her liquor.” The song emotes masculinity without decimating women, a skill that Ludacris has honed and perfected on this album. The song is revived at the close of the album with the remix, which Ludacris’ aptly calls the “pussy rules the world version.” This version, which features Trina, Crime Mob’s Diamond and Eve, will likely fare even better than the original version.

One of the few male features on the album, Trey Songz throws Luda an assist on “Sex Room,” a sensual track guaranteed to tantalize the female listeners. The production is rudimentary, but Ludacris’ provocative lyrics intermingle with Songz’ seductive falsetto so perfectly that the song’s generic construction is easily overlooked. This one is destined for the single life.

“Hey Ho” is the most obvious song on the album, exploiting the double standard regarding sexuality between men and women. Luda accurately states that if men sleep around they’re some players, but for a woman to do the same thing is taboo. Lil’ Kim flexes her feminist muscle on the track as she counters, “And women cheat better than men, we don’t disturb ‘em. My motto is ‘what they don’t know won’t hurt ‘em’. I’m just doin’ what you do, see the role’s done switched. If I’m a ho, you’s a ho. If I’m a b*tch, you’s a b*tch.” It’s nice to hear Nicki Minaj and Kim on the same album, giving listeners a chance to pose a fair comparison and quickly dead the debate because Kim effortlessly asserts herself as the Queen B.

Gucci makes an unnoticeable appearance on “Party No More,” the quintessential party song. Again, the production here is agonizingly generic, but Ludacris takes advantage of the opportunity to go all the way in with his strong lyricism and aggressive delivery. Contrarily, on “Tell Me a Secret,” which features Ne-Yo, Luda’s flow is fluid and enticing as he attempts to coerce the object of his affection to bare her deepest sexual fantasies.

If nothing else, Battle of the Sexes is a fun album that has revived the presence of the female rapper. Lucky for fans, the album goes beyond that and succeeds in offering a solid body of work, with enough versatility and controversy to knock out the competition, solidifying his place as the most underrated contender in the rap game.

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