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When Alex Ludovico, at the time going by the nom de microphone Ill Eagle the Anti-Rapper, sent me his first album way back in '07 it only took one quick listen to convince me that this kid from Gary, Indiana was a cut above the rest of the Myspace rappers that were flooding my inbox at the time. On his very first time out the gate, at the age of nineteen, Ludo already displayed significantly more charisma on the mic than most industry vets. What he lacked - more focus in his lyricism - was something that would come with more experience.
Now almost four years later Ludovico is on the verge of releasing his latest album, Winning/Losing, an album that has so many good tracks on it that, if it gets the attention from the blogosphere that it deserves, it should put him at the top of the class of unsigned emcees. At some point tomorrow, Ludovico and producer Douglas Martin (aka Blurry Drones) will be releasing it for free. I'll get into it in more depth tomorrow with a link to download, and I'll also be putting up an "exclusive" (according to Ludo) track that they were kind enough to let me post.
In the meantime, I wanted to post this version of D.O.A. that will be on Winning/Losing. As Alex says, he Fallujah'd this song, and this isn't even the best cut on the album! I've been holding onto this one for a couple of months, and it's so good I don't even bother listening to Jay-Z's version anymore. Check it out:
Alex Ludovico - d.o.a. (right-click to download)
Winning/Losing: May 4th!
Oh, and since I never got around to posting it before here's Ludo freestyling over The Wu's Ooh beat, while answering a phone call and chatting on AIM. Things fall apart about half way through when he goes off the dome (which we've seen happen before), but the first verse is on point:
Alex Ludovico - New Wu Beatjack
5/03/2010 8:45:51 PM posted by Fresh