Songoftheday 11/21/22 -Now you thought I was just 7-7-0 And 4-0-4, I'm worldwide bitch act like yall don't know...

 

 

"Area Codes" - Ludacris featuring Nate Dogg

from the albums Rush Hour 2 (Original Soundtrack) and Word Of Mouf (both 2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #24 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 6 

Today's song comes from rapper (now turned actor) Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, whose breakthrough major label album Back For The First Time in 2000 had spun off two crossover top-40 hits on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with "What's Your Fantasy" and "Southern Hospitality". The following year, Ludacris was featured on three big hits by 112 ("Peaches & Cream"), Mariah Carey ("Loverboy"), and Missy Elliott ("One Minute Man"). In the summer of 2001, he returned with his next lead single, which he contributed to the soundtrack to the sequel franchise movie Rush Hour 2 with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, and would also be the lead single from his upcoming second album on his Disturbing Tha Peace imprint on Def Jam records, "Area Codes". The record featured G-funk singer Nate Dogg, who had last been seen in the pop top-40 back in the summer of 1998 with "Nobody Does It Better" with Warren G. Written by the rapper with producer Phalon "Jazzy Pha" Alexander along with Nathan Hale, the single interpolated the pre-disco funk song "Do It ('Til You're Satisfied)" by B.T. Express, giving Billy Nichols a writers credit as well. In it Ludacris brags about the expanse of women wanting to get with him, identifying them by the 3-digit area codes from where they live. Starting with his hometown of Atlanta's two, 770 and 404, he rattles off a total of 43 of them, from Connecticut to Hawaii. It's an ingenious stunt, not only for fans (which mostly reside in all the ones given) but for the radio as well, Ludacris guaranteed himself exposure from that alone. The drawback is that its way heavy on the "ho'" puns, flooding the lyrics with as many as he can get, let alone anchoring the chorus hook. But somehow Nate Dogg smooths things over with his vocals, so the misogyny gets a friendly sheen that I guess Jackie Chan was OK with. The music video slaps a cavalcade of young women with the three-digit numbers as Luda and Nate collect them, interstitched with scenes from the Rush Hour 2 movie...

"Area Codes" became Ludacris' third top-40 crossover single as a lead artist on the Hot 100, and Nate Dogg's fifth overall to that point, in September of 2001, while reaching #10 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart, and #9 on the dance-oriented Rhythmic radio format. Internationally, the single barely made the top-40 in New Zealand at #40 (it was a harder sell overseas where the concept of "area codes" is unknown to them). The Rush Hour 2 soundtrack, released in July of that year, climbed to #11 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, going on to sell over a half-million copies. Ludacris' own Word Of Mouf album, which came out in November of 2001, spent three weeks at #3 on the Billboard 200, and topped the R&B Albums list for three weeks, spending over a year on each and going on to move over three million units. At the Grammy Awards in 2002, "Area Codes" was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, losing to rapper Eve and No Doubt's Gwen Stefani for "Let Me Blow Your Mind". The following year, the Word Of Mouf album was up for Best Rap Album (his second consecutive nod), which went to Eminem for The Eminem Show. 

The Rush Hour 2 soundtrack spun off one more modestly successful single, when the female vocal group LovHer took "How It's Gonna Be" to #60 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart in 2002. As for Ludacris, both he and the Word Of Mouf album will be back to the series.

(7/10)

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Here's a clip of Ludacris and Nate Dogg performing "Area Codes" at the Source Music Awards in 2001...

 

 and lastly in concert in 2005...

Up tomorrow: The all-star group goes ape for the Green Man.