Battle of the Sexes was heavily promoted when Ludacris released his sixth album, “Theater of the Mind” in 2008. Now, two years later, the album has finally seen the light of day. The album was originally intended as a duet album between Ludacris and Shawnna, which was suppose to be setting up her next album. However, due to some unknown reason and Shawnna leaving DTP for Nappy Boy Entertainment towards the end of 2009, Ludacris stripped the album of Shawnna and replaced her verses with guest verses. Shawnna did make the album, however most of her verses were removed. On songs where Shawnna recorded the chorus she was listed for additional vocals.

“How Low” was the perfect lead off single for the album as it flows into the next track “My Chick Bad” featuring Nicki Minaj. This song was a great pairing and Nicki held her own as she was trading lyrical verses with Luda. Chris Lova Lova must’ve liked this track so much that he reached out to Diamond, former member of Crime Mob, Trina and Eve (where have you been) for the remix.

Evidently, Luda thought the album needed some male substance as he has Trey Songz (Sex Room), Lil Scrappy (Everybody Drunk), Flo Rida (I Know You Got a Man), Ne-Yo (Tell Me a Secret) and Gucci Mane (Party No Mo’). Now honestly, there were many flaws with the male cast. Lil Scrappy verse on “Everybody Drunk” should’ve been left on the cutting room floor as Shawnna verse on the original was far more superior, and this what caused this track to be one of the weakest ones. “I Know You Got a Man” shouldn’t made the final cut. And Gucci Mane didn’t serve a purpose as he made a cameo on the hook.

One of the strongest tracks of the album would be “B.O.T.S. Radio” featuring Shawnna and I-20. This is a great track as The Runners production and the skill level. Each subject matter was perfectly addressed with no stones unturned. The gem of the album would be “Can’t Live With You” featuring Monica. If anyone has ever had a love/hate relationship, then you would relate. Luda expresses his feelings on this one: Just when I think its cool, you back startin sh*t/Findin the smallest things to start an argument/ Goin through my phone, know you shouldn’t took it for/ Hope your stupid ass found what your lookin for.

With a little over an hour of listening time, the end of the album came all of the sudden. This was somewhat odd to me because I’m used to funny skits throughout Luda albums or maybe a funny outro track or something. Instead the last few tracks of the album are remixes of previous tracks on the cd. Was this a way to fill the cd up………?

Grade: B-

Kevin Petway
The Waterboy

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David Watson
Captain Of The Debate Team