i originally posted this earlier and then added my two cents afterwards. then i decided that i don't wanna make any waves so i erased the whole post and started anew. all i'm gonna say though, is that it's good that other people are starting to catch on to certain things that i've felt for a long time now. read the following article and figure it out for yourselves. i wish i knew who this author was...
originally posted at atlstatus.blogspot.com on July 15th, 2008
Ludacris & Dj Drama appeared on MTV recently to talk about Luda's new mixtape that's about to drop called "The Prequel" as a part of DJ Drama's "Gangsta Grillz" series. They both comment in the video as to why it took them so long to get together in collaborating on a mixtape. Well let's see.....maybe it's because T.I. & Ludacris had beef at one point? (Maybe they still do, but T.I.'s got bigger issues to worry about these days)
It's not a secret that DJ Drama is T.I.'s deejay & they've made big moves together throughout their careers thus far. Sooooooooo...you don't want to appear to be biting the hand that's feeding you so maybe that's one of the reasons why it took them so long to get together. Then again maybe it's because the dollars or business outside of the creative part may have been an obstacle. Anyway who knows & who cares as long as Luda keeps flexing those lyrical talents. Over here we don't care about the business because we are consumers of good music & solely focus on the music. Which is why we all noticed something very interesting in our discussions about Ludacris with his very successful career thus far.
Although Ludacris is a very talented lyricist outshining many other rappers on the same song & has plenty of solo hit singles, it feels like he's never put out an album that you could listen to all the way through. He has yet to make THE classic album like an Illmatic, Ready To Die, Reasonable Doubt, Atliens, The Chronic, KING, Low End Theory, All Eyez On Me, & Only Built For Cuban Linx, among others. Quite simply Ludacris is "Paid In Full", but he's yet to make everyone in the game "Follow The Leader". It's not that he's not talented enough, but maybe he could take the advice of a group of people including one that's already close to him. His deejay...DJ Jaycee. DJ Jaycee is one of the most talented deejays in Atlanta & is very knowledge about hip hop music. Why hasn't Ludacris done a high powered mixtape with the direction & ideas of his own deejay? Jaycee is definitely not a "internet" deejay because the kid has skills & can battle the best of them. We're postive the mixtape would be interesting with the choice of tracks used & the deejaying talents being exploited.
If Ludacris's new album "Theatre of The Mind" is already completed, then it's understandable that some of these ideas couldn't come into play immediately. But for an artist like Ludacris, why not employ a team of a few deejays he respects to A&R or provide a musical & creative direction for the next musical project? Many deejays put out creative mixtapes so for Ludacris's elusive "Classic" album he should have a good A&R team of deejays to sit in the studio & provide ideas. Most artists should employ a team of deejays to maybe go in the studio with the artist & work. It's just a suggestion. Also it would be a wise idea to start at home & to drop a mixtape with one of the few people who probably knows Ludacris best at this point. His name is DJ Jaycee & he's already Ludacris's deejay.
*Editor's note: We're not trying to get Dj Jaycee fired, but it was an observation by many of us here at ATLstatus.com
