This time of year is the best for partying and celebrating but as far as blogging, not so much. However, there is one thing to look forward to during this time. This would be the incredible United State of Pop mash-up by DJ Earworm, this year entitled as “Don’t Stop the Pop.” The mash-up blends the top 25 hits of the Billboard Hot 100.

This year’s mash-up includes Ke$ha‘s “Tik Tok,” Bruno Mars‘ “Just the Way You Are,” Travie McCoy‘s “Billionaire” featuring Bruno Mars, B.o.B‘s “Nothin’ On You” featuring Bruno Mars and “Airplanes” featuring Hayley Williams, Lady GaGa‘s “Bad Romance” and Telephone featuring Beyoncé, Rihanna‘s “Rude Boy,” Eminem‘s “Not Afraid” and “Love the Way You Lie” featuring “Rihanna,” Taio Cruz‘s “Break Your Heart” featuring Ludacris and “Dynamite,” Enrique Iglesias‘ “I Like It” featuring Pitbull, Katy Perry‘s “California Gurls” featuring Snoop Dogg and “Teenage Dream,” Mike Posner‘s “Cooler Than Me,” Black Eyed Peas‘ “Rock That Body” and “Imma Be,” Young Money‘s “Bedrock,” Iyaz‘s “Replay,” Lady Antebellum‘s “Need You Now,” Usher “OMG” featuring Will.i.am and “DJ Got Us Falling In Love” featuring Pitbull, Train “Hey, Soul Sister” and Jay-Z “Empire State of Mind” featuring Alicia Keys.

After two listens it’s obvious that the made-for-radio hits of 2010 focused on melodies. This isn’t Earworm’s best to date; the songs of 2010 allowed for pretty beats but they all don’t perfectly blend together. Despite that, Earworm’s 2010 effort has us reliving all the fun energy of 2010 in a little over 5 minutes.

In other news, those of you who are aged 13-17 and will be spending you New Year’s here, in The Bahamas, can check out DJ Earworm at Club Rush, at the Atlantis Resort, listen below.

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The video is full of stomping and whipping sounds effects for added value. Ciara is taking pages from the iconic J. Jackson by keeping a minimalistic approach to her video and keeping our attention by using every bit of choreography she can think of. She is definitely back to the urban style of her first album and is representing the city of Atlanta the best she can. We just had to watch that video twice and so should you.

After the failure of last year’s Fantasy Ride, due to the gash of leaks, Ciara headed back into the studio towards the end of 2009 to record her upcoming fourth studio LP.

Fast forward two leaks and a few months later and we have the first official single from the project. Last week we were privileged to an exclusive listen of the first single entitled “Ride” which features fellow ATL native, Ludacris. Of course, we only could post the review today because of legal reasons. So go on to read two very different reviews from C & S.

C’s Review

“Ride” takes us back to 2004, the Goodies days when Ciara was the Princess of Crunk&B… Upon first listen, this was just another rehash of Ciara’s better days. Then it became clear that this type of music is Ciara’s rightful lane. The midtempo urban tune doused in a sophisticated “ghetto swagger” quickly becomes addictive and it will be a very weird occurrence if urban radio, at least, does not acknowledge this song. Oh, of course Ludacris lays down his signature style of rapping to take this song up a notch. C approves this CiCi track!

S’ Review

I find this song highly annoying. It shows no vocal growth or range. She is one of those artists that will make it on beats and being pretty and a good dancer. Ludacris, I cant say helped it, he was alright. There was nothing new or cool about the beat, it was typical Ciara. I can see the video of her dancing extremely sexy or riding some sort of electric bull but I will listen to it again. Maybe the song will grow on me.

Yesterday, Ciara teased us with the kiss of news that her first single “Ride” would feature Ludacris and today the teasing went two steps further. We first get to hear “Speechless” featuring The-Dream as well as view some behind-the-scenes footage of the “Ride” music video with Ludacris.

“Speechless” displays the return of Ciara to a more urban sound which also focuses more on her vocals. It seems the magic that The-Dream used on Electrik Red’s debut LP and along with the little magic on Mariah Carey’s album from last year is being thrown all over CiCi. The song is smooth and has that signature The-Dream bassline. This leak does scare us though, because this is not even the first single and it has leaked.

Download audio file (Ciara-Speechless-feat.-The-Dream-thecsperspective.com.mp3)

Ciara – Speechless feat. The-Dream

To further the leaking curse, some sneaky snake recorded footage off of the set of Ciara’s “Ride” video with Ludacris which was shot today in Los Angeles. “Ride” is another smooth midtempo R&B jam, not to mention that Ciara is looking sexy to the core even from those LQ screen caps. Watch the leaked on-set footage from the “Ride” video after…

Rap-Up reported exclusively today that Ciara will collaborate for a 3rd time with Ludacris for her first single, “Ride,” off of the entertainer’s upcoming fourth studio album. When the two get together they usually start a fire especially in the case of the first collaboration, “Oh.”

The producer nor writer of “Ride” have been announced but it The-Dream, Bangladesh, Tricky Stewart, Darkchild and more will contribute to the album. We have our fingers crossed for the two ATL natives.

Those earthquake(we hope that’s politically correct to say in these times) camera effects are still of the wall; it adds another level of hype to the video.

We don’t know what’s occurring on the inside but from the outside looking in, one thing is for sure and that is Def Jam Music Group must be pretty happy right about now. Last week Def Jam artist, Taio Cruz, went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the Ludacris assisted “Break Your Yeart.”

Fast forward one week and Def Jam’s reign continues on the Hot 100 and 200. Yes, after only moderate success with Rated R (compared to her GGGB era) Rihanna has acquired another #1 single with “Rude Boy.” This is Rihanna’s 5th #1 solo-lead single (6th overall) in her career of almost 5 years. You know what that means, there will defeinitely be no more “all black everything” for Rihanna’s music: color and sunshine straight through.

In other single news, B.o.B.’s “Nothin’ On You” featuring Bruno Mars jumped from #16 to #5.

Rihanna’s labelmate Ludacris debuted atop the Billboard 200 with his latest studio album, Battle of the Sexes. The album only moved 137,000 but it was enough to make it his 4th #1 album. At #2 was Gorillaz’s Plastic Beach moving 112, 000 copies and Lady Antebellum rounded out the top 3 selling another 105,000 copies. Sade holds on to the top 10 coming in at #6 moving 52,000 copies.

The video is decent with it’s all black theme, flashes of red and aggressive nature; it matches the song well. So the video is hot but our general feeling towards Battle of the Sexes isn’t so nice anymore. After listening to other clips from the album it just seems too made for radio in a compromising way… Anyway, we’ll save it for another post, another day.

Diamond, Trina, Ludacris, Nicki Minaj & Eve on "My Chick Bad" video set

Some of the elite bloggers were able to listen to Ludacris’ Battle of the Sexes last week and there was a general opinion of which song stood out from the bunch. That song was “My Chick Bad” featuring Nicki Minaj. Well, the song leaked this morning, so how was it?

First off, it’s great to see Ludacris get back into his fun club music. Theater of the Mind was a great album but a bit serious for Ludacris. Okay, so the song is a definite banger. Nicki Minaj’s flow is a bit better in this song and fits with the urban orchestral production. Overall, we’re bouncin’ left to right with the rhythmic bass.

Download audio file (Ludacris-My-Chick-Bad-feat.-Nicki-Minaj-thecsperspective.com.mp3)

Ludacris – My Chick Bad feat. Nicki Minaj

Teen pop sensation, Justin Bieber, has been riding high on the radar with his mainstream success across the US market. You what they say: if the teen girls like it, it will be a major success… Here’s another item radios will like; a new song from Bieber entitled “Baby” and featuring Ludacris.

When we first heard that Ludacris would be featured on a Justin Bieber song we questioned what in the world would Ludacris rap about with him being on such a young person’s single. Of course, Luda keeps it Rated G whilst maintaining his signature spunk. Justin Bieber has talent and although he may annoy a lot of us older music listeners there’s no denying that his songs are catchy as a…

Download audio file (Justin-Bieber-Baby-feat.-Ludacris-thecsperspective.com.mp3)

Justin Bieber – Baby feat. Ludacris

Ludacris jumps on the Asher Roth’s “I Love College” for the remix. His debut Asleep in the Bread Aisle is a great LP, the guy has a lot of talent. Also, we’ll help to reinforce his thought that he is not Eminem or anything like him. Just because he is caucasian and raps doesn’t mean he’s Eminem.

“I Love College” is such a chilled song that would be good for a movie where they reminisce about high points in a person’s life. At first listen, at least for me, the melody sounds very similar to John Mayer’s “Waitin’ on the World to Change” (another song I really like). Give this great song a listen.

Asher Roth – I Love College feat. Ludacris (Remix)

Here’s a new one from Ludacris entitled “Drinkin’ N Drivin”. His rap game is on point as usual but we have to admit this sound more pop than hip-hop but we aren’t complaining, it sounds good. Check it out!

Ludacris – Drinkin’ N Drivin’

Electrik Red who have been around since ’05 is getting ready to release their debut LP on May 26 entitled How to Be a Lady: Vol. 1 produced by The-Dream. Their efforts to have a single catch-on with the mainstream world have not been completely successful. Now on their fourth single, “We F*** You”, they hope to score a hit by adding Ludacris to the remix. We don’t know if they will ever be a group who will hit it big but this remix is definitely a hot one with its funky beats. Ludacris definitely adds to the original, so check it out.

Electrik  Red – We F*** You (Remix/Clean Edit) feat. Ludacris