Hip-Hop Island

Looks like Ciara's Goodies are up definitely up for grabs ... She hooks up with Ludacris to show off just what she's capable of on "Ride." And apparently all the men love it -- err -- her skills.

Heineken kicked of the weekend right with D-Nice, Biz Markie, Wale, Estelle, and Ludacris rockin' the stage Friday night at Gotham Hall. The usual melee of New York media's faux-celebs and marketing rockstars were in attendance. D-Nice and Wale got things rolling and it wasn't soon after Biz hit the stage rumors of a special guest started spreading around. Would it be Kanye? Jay-Z? Who was going to make this night tight?! Estelle and Luda has their business together working the audience and playing radio's favorite, and it all came to perfection when Nas hit the stage with Luda. Heineken bottles in the air, along with a million digi-cams, everyone went bananas over Nas, especially his performance of "NY State Of Mind." Peep the pics and videos below.

Rappers are still backing liquors... Not just Diddy and his Ciroc. Sure everyone's got to have a backer when it comes to making straight pay these days, but the alcohol industry remained indebted to Hip-Hop for the constant flows of their brand. We poor and poor these bottles and major artists are still dropping names left and right to complete a verse. At some point when Jay-Z said he was done with Cristal, the movement started to lose it's impact. Apparently, that's not the case. Alcohol remains to be a pivotal part to the rap game -- defining status, providing swagger, and making everything simply "cool." Beyond the status factor, artists have always been products supporting and feeding off of other products. Clothes, shoes, jewelry and technology are not the only products that have mutually survived off the popularity of Hip-Hop artists -- the trend transcends these typical supporters and merges celebrity with commercial products that define lifestyles. It's not only about the products you drape yourself with; it means more to have a complete package of coolness emanating from a celebrity's persona. Rap artists are the epitomy of every great about being a male or female. From the liquor they sip to the kush they burn, alcohol and drugs are not only temptations but they define a bad-ass image that sells a rapper and pushes products to the forefront of their main audience. Hip-Hop is a delinquent's culture and that makes it easy for liquor companies to feed off its many personas. Being bad has never felt so good.

Mr. October and Mr. Thanksgiving are back at it on the mixtape circuit. Ludacris' latest The Preview: Gangsta Grillz presents some dope DTP gems and that Luda magic he's known so well for. Hooking up with DJ Drama, Luda's preview is full of herb-smoking joints, political angst, and clever jabs at his Hip-Hop peers. The Preview is just a sample of what Luda has coming up this fall, and so far things are sounding pretty sweet.

After a lot of shouting about some upcoming movies and a new album, Ludacris finally gets down to business "Get Up Get Out" featuring DTP's own Block XChange. As Luda's rolling up, he proclaims, "I love it like Jeezy because Hip-Hop needs me / So roll up a blunt and be easy." Luda also shows off his wicked flow on the classic Jazzy Pha beat "Sho'Nuff Revisited."

Ludacris gets serious for a minute on "Politics As Usual," as he throws his political support to Barack Obama and calls on Black people everywhere to get out and vote. "Paint the White House black and I'm sure that's got them terrified / McCain's don't belong in any chair unless he's paralyzed / Yeah, I said it 'cause Bush is mentally handicapped."

At points, Luda's bragging get a little old -- he smokes the best dope, has the biggest house, and rakes in eight figures… so? As he sums up the history of breakups and shakeups in the celeb world, Luda attempts to make DTP sound like the Roman Empire that stands strong on "Stay Together." At times, even collaborations with DTP affiliates "Smoking Big Kill" featuring Shawnna and "I'm A Dog" featuring Playaz Circle fall short.

Luda's always gravitated towards being the funny man and humor is his forte when it comes to rapping. He playfully rips on tone deaf rappers (T-Pain, G-Unit, Snoop Dogg, and Lil Wayne) on the hysterical "The Vocalizer" skit, and even John Legend's romantic swagger doesn't stand a chance with the remake "Ordinary Negroes." The Preview is a sample of Luda at his finest and his upcoming effort is sure to be tight.

Originally published @ http://allhiphop.com/stories/reviewsmusic/archive/2008/08/05/20370533.aspx