Entertainment

LUDACRIS TAKES ON ‘THEATRE’

WITH the release of his sixth studio disc, Southern rap sensation Ludacris is ready for his close-up.

“Theater of the Mind,” a lengthy 14-track disc, isn’t as much a concept album as it is a CD framed in a notion that hip-hop icon William Shakespeare had a long time ago: All the world’s a stage and we’re all players on it.

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Ludacris, who was actively filming two movies (“Max Payne” and “RocknRolla”) as he crafted this record, has embraced the idea – so much so that he lists the likes of Jay-Z, Nas, T-Pain and T.I. as his “co-stars.” It’s an interesting idea, with songs like “Southern Gangsta” (co-starring Rick Ross) mirroring the film “American Gangster” and Hollywood insiders such as Jamie Foxx and Spike Lee both featured on the record.

Yet under the cinematic and theatrical references, the foundation of this record is as clear as Ludacris’s 2006 Grammy-winning, beat-happy “Release Therapy.”

“Theater of the Mind” is all hip-hop bravado, with rhyming skills extolled, threats leveled and bank accounts flaunted – all while the party rages on. The key tracks are the clubber’s rave “One More Drink,” in which Luda trades licks with T-Pain, “Nasty Girl,” a rap that explains what Luda is looking for in a woman, and “Last of a Dying Breed,” wherein Luda lives up to his rep as a wordsmith with the help of Lil’ Wayne.