Money Maker

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"Money Maker"
"Money Maker" cover
Single by Ludacris featuring Pharrell
from the album Release Therapy
Released July 17, 2006
Format CD single
Recorded 2006
Genre Rap
Length 3:54
Label Def Jam Records/Disturbing tha Peace
Writer(s) Pharrell Williams, Christopher Bridges
Producer(s) The Neptunes
Chart positions
Ludacris featuring Pharrell singles chronology
Georgia
(2005)
Money Maker
(2006)
"Grew Up a Screw Up" (featuring Young Jeezy)
(2006)

"Money Maker" is the first single from Ludacris's fifth album Release Therapy. The song was released to the radio on July 17, 2006. The song is produced by The Neptunes and features Pharrell. The song was written by Chris Bridges, and Pharrell Williams. The video was released on August 17, 2006. The video premiered on MTV's Making the Video. The single reached number 1 on various charts. It has peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and number 1 on Hot Rap Tracks in the United States. It also became the number 1 single on radio in the United States on October 19, 2006[specify]. The music video managed to enter BET's 106 & Park and peak at number 1, where it remained for several days. The single has strong airplay on BET and MTV. It also has airplay on Canada's Muchmusic. The single has a major promotional status and huge airplay on radio around the U.S., North America and other countries around the globe. The song was performed on the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. This is Ludacris's third #1 hit single.

American R&B singer, Amerie, also recorded a answer back (remix) to the single. The song is currently on her first Mixtape, Because I Love It Volume 1. It is yet unknown if the song will be released on the forthcoming LP, Because I Love It (summer 2007).

The song won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song in 2007.

Contents

[edit] Credits

  • Written by Chistopher Bridges, and Pharrell Williams
  • Produced by The Neptunes
  • All instruments by Pharrell Williams

[edit] Reviews

  • About2.5/5 stars
"Money Maker" was obviously intended as a summer smash, as it more than satisfies the requirements: lame yet memorable pick-up lines (“I’m a bedroom gangsta”), disorganized, rambunctious production, and an accompanying big-budget video. Overall, it's a major setback in Ludacris’ campaign to claim the southern rap throne.
  • Pitchfork3/5 stars
Atlanta really did need another strip-club anthem. So Ludacris and Pharrell deliver "Money Maker", roasting a Nellyesque sing-rap over steamy tropical percussion, a relentless knock that re-imagines "Can I Get a..." played with pots and pans. Fleshed out with deep, one-two bass punches and organs that trickle before bursting, it sounds faintly sinister. The hook boasts a lowering blend of Eros and economics: Luda's soliciting followed by Skateboard's stage-whispered counsel to "Shake your moneymaker / Like somebody 'bout to pay ya."

[edit] Video

Ludacris in the music video
Ludacris in the music video

The Money Maker video was released August 17, 2006. It premiered on various channels including BET, MTV, and Muchmusic in that week.

The video to "Money Maker" is a simple video. It is basically coloured backgrounds of orange, green and black thoroughout the shots. There are shots of Ludacris on the ground rapping with girls surrounding him. Pharrell is also singing the chorus around girls on stacks of money. Ludacris has a counting machine that counts how many times he has got a girl to shake her money maker (buttocks) for him - a reference to a commercial featuring Nick Lachey using the same kind of device to click off the amount of women who flirt with him in his everyday life. Girls are also dancing throughout the video. "Money Maker" was shot by director Melina, who directed Shareefa's Need a Boss.

The video is noteworthy in that is was Ludacris' first appearance on camera with his newly-cut hair, as Ludacris had cut his trademark cornrows in order to signify a new image for the rapper.

The large speakers in the background vibrating throughout the video are no more than salad bowls, according to Ludacris in MTV's "Making the Video."

[edit] Charts

Chart (2006) Peak
Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 1
U.S. Pop 100 5
U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks 1
U.S. Hot Rap Tracks 1
Rhythmic Top 40 1
Canada BDS Airplay 52
United World Chart 14

[edit] External links

Preceded by
"SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake
Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
October 28, 2006 - November 4, 2006
Succeeded by
"My Love" by Justin Timberlake featuring T.I.
Preceded by
"Say Goodbye" by Chris Brown
Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs number one single
October 28, 2006
Succeeded by
"Say Goodbye" by Chris Brown

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