Few rappers have fulfilled the party-starting promise of hip-hop's origins as triumphantly as Ludacris, whose manic, animated, sometimes comical style defined popular hip-hop for much of the '00s. His voice jumps from the speakers, whether over dance-floor bangers like "Southern Hospitality" or the horn-driven, Latin-flavoured pop of "Rollout (My Business)". He is as clever when lascivious (the explicit "What's Your Fantasy") as when riding the oddball carnival of "Number One Spot". And his success has proved once and for all that hip-hop can conquer the charts without creative compromise.