Album Results
Ludacris
Back For The First Time
Genre:
RAP/HIP HOP
Label:
The Island Def Jam Music Group
Release date: 2000
Album Reviews
When Def Jam signed Ludacris in 2000, the Atlanta rapper had already released a regionally successful independent album (Incognegro) with a hot single ("What's Your Fantasy"). So rather than send Ludacris back into the studio to record a follow-up album, Def Jam chose to repackage Incognegro as Back for the First Time (the title a play on the re-released nature of the music) and append some new material. The decision proved wise. Incognegro had been a strong album debut, produced largely by talented newcomer Shondrae, along with Organized Noize (who produce "Game Got Switched") and Jermaine Dupri ("Get Off Me"), and featuring a roster of hungry underground rappers (I-20, Fat Wilson, Shawnna, Pastor Troy, 4-Ize). Plus, "What's Your Fantasy" was already a proven hit, if perhaps too explicit for mainstream radio play. The real difference between Incognegro and Back for the First Time, however, is the newly recorded material -- four songs, each a standout: the Neptunes-produced club-banger "Southern Hospitality," the previously released Timbaland-produced "Phat Rabbit," the rowdy U.G.K.-featuring "Stick 'Em Up," and the provocative Trina and Foxy Brown remix of "What's Your Fantasy." The most significant of these additions is "Southern Hospitality," a feel-good party song that -- sequenced late in the album, at track 14 -- comes as a pleasant relief after the proceeding up-from-the-underground hardcore tone of Incognegro/Back for the First Time. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
Track Listing
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Girls Sugababes |
| By roping in credible producers such as Richard X and peppering their songs with up to the minute electro touches, Sugababes have managed to create songs that appealed as much to the cynical music press as it did to teenage girls. Throw in a revolving door line up and a media fascination with the bands perceived moodiness and you have a recipe for the most successful girl band of the new millennium. However on "Girls", a cover of Ernie K-Does early R&B classic "Here Comes The Girls", The "Babes" lack any of the inventiveness that made singles such as "Freak Like Me" and "Push The Button" so enjoyable. As countless artists have proved over the years, there's nothing wrong with uncovering a hidden gem and putting your own spin on things; Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" springs to mind as a good example. However, you can't help thinking that The Sugababes' producers have hardly been "diggin' in the crates" to uncover "Here Come The Girls" since it has been used extensively by Boots over the last couple of years to sell beauty products. Throw in a few predictable Mark Ronson style horn riffs and you have a sub Atomic Kitten mess that tarnishes a lot of the bands efforts to be taken seriously. | |
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