Ludacris and Rick Ross

Rock the Dome: Feb. 2

Ludacris: ‘1.21 Gigawatts: Back to the First Time,’Disturbing tha Peace

Rick Ross: ‘Rich Forever,’ Maybach Music Group

Decibels: 4/5

It’s not every day that Ludacris and Rick Ross team up for a concert in Syracuse. With two established and talented rappers with great music, University Union’s Rock the Dome will give students good reason to trek through the snow to the Carrier Dome. Plenty of fans will yell ‘Aye!’ and Rick Ross might even take his shirt off, unfortunately.

As for the music —expect to hear a lot of old favorites, the occasional ‘rah’ from Rick Ross and the duo’s collaborative effort from a few years back, ‘Down in tha Dirty.’ But new music will definitely be on the agenda. Both artists recently released mixtapes, and with the popularity they’ve generated, the show will definitely be worth the ticket.

Ludacris’ mixtape ‘1.21 Gigawatts: Back to the First Time‘ —Nov. 15

Luda uses this mixtape to give a huge middle finger to the radio and all of his haters. The music on this album clearly wasn’t made for radio; if it were played, every other sentence would probably be censored. As always, Ludacris brings clever rhymes and an aggressive delivery, but now his lyrics are raunchier and more controversial than before. There’s the usual claim of being the best in the game and references to money and women, and even more present are his shots at other rappers.

Although he doesn’t say it directly, the ‘counterfeit rappers’ he disses in songs like ‘Bada Boom’ and ‘Say It to My Face’ are most likely Drake and Shawn Jay. He calls them out for accusing him of stealing their flows and starting beef on Twitter. Packed with the worst language and hardest flows, these actually are some of the best tracks on the mixtape. Though ‘Bada Boom’ is one of the tape’s biggest hits, these two songs are perfect for Luda to rock at the Dome.

Rick Ross’ ‘Rich Forever‘ — Jan. 6

Just as the title suggests, this album is all about how much of a boss Ross is. The mixtape is meant to promote his upcoming album, ‘God Forgives, I Don’t,’ set to release later this year. The mixtape is filled with classic Ricky Rozay: songs boasting his wealth. In ‘Yella Diamonds,’ he talks about one of his chains for four minutes. He also talks about his easy access to drugs in ‘Off the Boat,’ in which he also unnecessarily says that he’ll ‘blow up your house.’

However, the mixtape does contain a lot of tunes with head-bobbing, bass-driven beats perfect for rocking to in the Dome. One of the highlight tracks is ‘Keys to the Crib,’ in which the ‘only trending topic is the cash,’ but the smooth yet danceable beat is undeniably sick. Another track that he should definitely perform at the concert is the mixtape’s title track, ‘Rich Forever.’ The song starts off with a beautiful chorus by John Legend, followed by a verse by Ross tracing his humble roots. The song talks about the idea that being rich forever could possibly be a mentality rather than just material wealth. However, the beat gets heavier later when Ross begins talking about money. Hands in the Dome will definitely go up in the air.

ieinyang@syr.edu

Published on January 30, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Ibet: ieinyang@syr.edu