A quick glance at the cover of Release Therapy, Ludacris’ fourth full-length for Def Jam, might leave the casual Ludacris fan wondering if they haven’t picked up the wrong album. Ludacris appears, with eyes closed and hands folded in a contemplative prayer-like posture, strikingly at odds with the cartoonish blowout afros and wolfish grins of Word of Mouf, and Chicken and Beer. Fortunately Release Therapy provides abundant evidence that Ludacris has not lost sight of the fact that party music, in the grand tradition of James Brown’s “Cold Sweat”, The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight”, and Redman’s “Time 4 Sum Aksion” is very serious business indeed. Ludacris’ shines when applying his boisterous roar to the shimmering, club friendly thump of “Shake Your Money Maker” and the low-slung southern bounce of “Grew Up A Screw Up.” He falters a bit on some of the album's more ambitious numbers, which occasionally feel forced and underwritten, but ultimately Ludacris’ considerable talents are enough to make Release Therapy one of the strongest releases of his career.