Def Jam is the Tracy McGrady to every other hip hop label's Todd MacCulloch - especially when it comes to album sales. Multi-platinum releases in 2001 from Ja Rule, Jay-Z and DMX have told us that much. Oh, but the label with the Midas Sound isn't stopping their near-monopoly on the game anytime soon. Some guy named Noreaga has joined the team, and he plans on dropping another CD in the coming weeks. 'Til that time comes, Chris Bridges hopes his new album, Word Of Mouf, can keep Def Jam the envy of every record label.

Anticipation for Ludacris' album comes from a number of things: years of him being a popular DJ on an Atlanta hip hop station, the reputation he has of spitting comical one-liners on other artists' songs (see: Missy's "One Minute Man") and the string of popular radio hits - "What's Your Fantasy," "Southern Hospitality" and this summer's "Area Codes" - he's already released. So, yeah, expecting the Chicago native to come through on his second major release isn't too much to ask. Actually getting Ludacris to come through, however, could prove tougher than finding a Microsoft Xbox any time before Christmas.

Kids used to hearing funny, hard-knocking songs from Luda will be hard-pressed finding Word Of Mouf more witty than some of his past stuff. Though "Rollout," the current chart-buster, "Oh No" and "Cry Baby" will get things going in the club, fans have come to expect more from good MCs - and yes, Ludacris is a good MC - than a couple of party tracks. When Luda slows things down, like he does on the exceptional "Growing Pains" and "Cold Outside," we finally hear the rapper we knew all along was up under all of that hair and dick-slingin' bravado. Unfortunately, most of the other 16 tracks are nothing more than sexual rants and hometown raves that fail at taking this ATLien to that next level. Sure, you'll laugh at some of the verses. Hell, you might even bob your head at the beats from Shondrae, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland and Organized Noize, but saying that Ludacris has put Def Jam in the perfect spot to start off the new year may be a mouthful.

by DeMarco Williams, Hip Hop DX