Ludacris: You Went Pop

I really, really, really hate to bag on Ludacris. He's got ill rhymes and his first three or four albums were pretty good. And I feel like I'm stating the obvious when I say this, but Ludacris "went pop". I know that Luda has collaborated with other artists who may not be as talented as him, but the "Baby" music video where he appeared with Justin Bieber crossed the line for me as a hip-hop head and Ludacris fan. Though Ludacris' verse starts out interesting enough, it doesn't really say anything that hasn't been said. But honestly this is one of the worst music videos I've ever seen. It's so bad I don't want to even put it in the same category as other videos I examine by actually embedding it. Instead, I'm just going to link to it at the bottom.

I've actually watched the aforementioned video at least two times now, just to study what's wrong with it. I'm disappointed with the monotonous material in this video, not to mention the extreme dichotomization of gender that occurs throughout this clip. Why do the girls in this video (who are dressed in a slutty fashion which is really odd 'cuz they look like they're fifteen.) have to bowl separately from the boys, and then titter amongst themselves at what the guys do? For a self-proclaimed "old soul," Justin Bieber proves to think that this world is pretty superficial. Ultimately, I think that many of the scenes teach kids the wrong things about sex and relationships. For example, I don't agree with the way that Justin tries to restrain the girl in the video and prove his "cool kid" status. I'm wondering what a kid knows about relationships that most people don't know or couldn't figure out themselves. I'm digressing here, I think I might save this talk for another post.

P.S. Before you start telling me that I'm overreacting, please watch the video first and compare it to some of Luda's stuff from ten years ago.

Link
Just Ludacris' verse