After a number of legal troubles, endorsement bailouts and an exposed past—it would seem rational for an artist to rework their image. Detaching the Parental Advisory label from his release, Akon creatively decides to put his hormones on the back burner, settling for a much different tone on Freedom.

Quiet the past two years, Christopher “Ludacris” Bridges has ventured into new territory; reworking his image and establishing himself as a household name. Already among the few well-respected rappers turned actors, Ludacris seems persistent in proving he’s still a title holder in the hip-hop realm, with his latest release, Theater of the Mind.