When Ludacris "was an embryo, something in [his] brain told him to shape up and kick out." Toss in some misogyny, token arrogance, fatherly love and good ol' Christian preaching and you've got Ludacris' fifth album, Release Therapy.
The album plays off typical, old-school Ludacris themes but in a slower manner, as deliberate, lyrical melodies dominate the record.
The variety of topics Luda raps about on the album seem scattered and random, but they make each of the tracks listenable while simultaneously hysterically funny. "Freedom of Preach" is an excessively long (it rounds out seven minutes), ceremonious sermon in which Luda questions and preaches on everything from totaling his Escalade to loving his mama to finding strength in religion.
Release Therapy certainly is a shift from the typical rap album, as Luda tries to pass on inspirational messages to, well, pretty much anyone and everyone he deems worthy of his sympathy and motivation. In "Do Your Time" especially, in between voicing his political views on incarceration and listing all his friends who are currently in the prison system, Luda offers up his unequivocal words of wisdom, including "if you're locked in the box, keep making it through. / Do your time, don't let your time do you." Deep, Luda.
Luda's lyrics have become progressively more and more watered down and suitable for mainstream radio as his career has grown in recent years. His latest hit, "Pimpin' all over the World" secured his position as a pop-radio staple after his collaboration with Usher on the 2004 massive super-hit, "Yeah."
In "Runaway Love," Luda lyrically tackles the pain and suffering of living in an abusive household, narrating the stories of different young girls experiencing forms of abuse where "hell is a place called home."
Ironically, though Luda seems to genuinely condemn the behavior of these abusive individuals, the preceding track is called "Slap." -- Ever feel like "slappin' somebody today?" Sick of "getting up on the wrong side of the bed?" Want to "rob a bank today?" Luda does, and he vocalizes these urges throughout the single.
"Girls Gone Wild" is the best track on Release Therapy, and is the only track in which Luda accurately finds the perfect balance of dance rhythms, watered-down but still raunchy lyrics ("You feelin' kinda warm like you was havin' sex / You wet, a little storm like you was taking X"), self-obsession ("I'm like hot sauce with extra flavor / So put it on your tongue for your mouth to savor") and upstanding Christian values ("I would definitely die for Jesus because he died for me").
Ludacris says that he's "universal / Luda never limits himself to the South." Release Therapy is a more universal album. It seems to be merely an offshoot of his older works, a sugar-coated, dramatic change from the Luda of years past. Some of the tracks do resound with typical hip-hop/rap beats and rhythms; however, for the most part, the record is self-indulgent and unimpressive. Luda has become a mainstream pop culture icon, which has hurt his music significantly, pushing his work to the same radio stations as the biggest pop performers. Somehow, this doesn't seem to coincide with where Ludacris would like to be.
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