Album Preview: Ludacris - "Battle of the Sexes"

It has been two long years since the release of Ludacris' last album. He will return with an album much like his older work. This new album, Battle of the Sexes, will always stand out among the other albums that Ludacris has created. For starters, it will be the first album centered around genders. Also, the album was meant to be a collaboration album with his artist, Shawnna.

However, as the recording process began, Shawnna announced that she had left DTP Records in favor of T-Pain's Nappy Boy label. The announcement was also news to Ludacris. He had assumed that she was still signed to his label. When she left the label, she forfeitted her place on the album. But, Ludacris promised to release Battle of the Sexes. He went out and found female artists and they made an album.

This album will go down as Ludacris' eighth studio album, but it will not be a sequel to his last album, Theater of the Mind. Instead, his next album, Cineplex, which will be released later this year, will serve as the sequel. This album, however, will feature a lot of gender-related songs. Ludacris has featured female artists from each generation on this album in hopes of it being a classic. Aside from doing the back-and-forth with the female artists, Ludacris also recorded with Ne-Yo for this new album.

Track listing:

 1. "Intro"
 2. "How Low"
 3. "My Chick Bad" featuring Nicki Minaj
 4. "Everybody Drunk" featuring Lil' Scrappy
 5. "I Do It All Night"
 6. "Sex Room" featuring Trey Songz
 7. "I Know You Got A Man" featuring Flo Rida
 8. "Hey Ho" featuring Lil' Kim and Lil Fate
 9. "Party No Mo" featuring Gucci Mane
10. "B.O.T.S. Radio" featuring I-20
11. "Can't Live With You" featuring Monica
12. "Feelin' So Sexy" featuing Shawnna (uncredited)
13. "Tell Me a Secret" featuring Ne-Yo
14. "My Chick Bad (remix)" featuring Diamond, Trina, and Eve
15. "Sexting"
Bonus Tracks
16. "How Low (remix)" featuring Ciara and Pitbull
17. "Rollercoaster" featuring Dru Hill

For years, Ludacris carried Southern hip hop. He led to the Atlanta wave that dominated hip hop until the Miami scene took over in 2006. After Miami took over and then Lil Wayne, rappers like Ludacris were simply lost in the shuffle. They were replaced by the likes of Plies, Flo Rida, and Rick Ross. On this album, Luda was able to unite the past with the present. He did so with Southern hip hop by inviting Flo Rida to record on the album. Ludacris also allowed his good friend, Gucci Mane to appear on this album. Gucci is on a run to become the newest star in rap. He could very well fill the void that Ludacris once filled.

Ludacris proved that the core of his DTP Records roster is still intact with appearances from longtime artists, I-20 and Lil Fate. It had been some time since they released any music to the public. There had also been a long gap in between their appearances on Ludacris' albums. The collaborations that Ludacris had promised with such artists as Monica, Ne-Yo, and Trey Songz took place on this album. He even went out and reunited with Trina in their first collaboration since they first united for Trick Daddy's hit, "Sugar." Ludacris even gave a boost to Eve's comeback and to the comeback effort of Dru Hill. There are not too many people from the past and the present that were left off of this album.

Battle of the Sexes definitely has the potential to become the best album of 2010. So far, the hip hop releases have not been hitting on much. This album is expected to be released on March 9, 2010 on DTP Records and Def Jam.