Ludacris

The corn rows may be gone, but Luda's winning formula is otherwise intact on Release Therapy. He delivers horny hubris on "Girls Gone Wild," affects a crazily coiled flow for the creeping electro banger "Ultimate Satisfaction," lashes out at soft-target Chingy on "Tell It Like It Is" and strings together enough folksy-funny one-liners to resurrect Red Fox. And while Luda impresses, R. Kelly nearly steals the show on "Woozy" when he reveals that he's "always wanted to go down on a girl who reminds me of me." Um, okay.

As "Crash" and "Hustle and Flow" proved, Ludacris is by far the best actor in hip-hop; he's
also a smart businessman with an ear for talent (see Shawnna, and before that, Chingy). But
Luda the rapper has reason to be concerned. His early nickname "The Mouth of the South"
seems almost quaint now: Southern hip-hop has more mouths than ever these days, and
Luda can't even claim to be the hottest rapper in his hometown of Atlanta. (You... More >