Ludacris – Interview [2003]

Ludacris on tap!

Ludacris: I think I’m naming the next album “Hot Cakes”.

Hot Cakes?

Cause that’s how we sell baby.

The first thing I wanna start I off with is you know your writing process on this album. You’ve got a few albums in the system now and like what you’re really known for and everyone loves your lyrical style and all that. What is your writing process? Do you start the tracks like you have a vision where u wanna go?

My writing process is all over the place but generally speaking, I would say that, umm….., most of the time its basically getting a track from a producer, if I’m not doing it myself. Or working with a producer because its all about atmosphere first when ever you hear and instrumental without any lyrics on there you. Obviously you know you feel something to it. All I try to do is become one with the beat. So sometimes you hear a beat and its real bass driven and maybe real energetic. That’s obviously gonna make you wanna do something hardcore to or make it a club song or do something like that. Then other beats may be soft you may like maybe I need to tell a story on this song. So my writing process usually starts with hearing a song first and then whatever emotion I feel listening to the instrumental, just complimenting that with lyrics and that’s what its all about. And also the writing process is usually done in the car for me. If I have to I’ll write anywhere but I feel like my most creativeness and I feel most comfortable being in a vehicle of some sort, whether its moving or not. Because it’s dangerous when I’m writing music and driving at the same time. But that’s how a lot of hit songs come about, because I’m in my car with my own music. I just write on little scraps of paper while I’m driving and it’s ridiculous. It’s crazy and I’m going to elaborate like a mothafucka on these questions cause I think its just the greatest shit so that they didn’t get anything that I’m saying they will get it because I’m talking try to answer all parts of whatever questions you about to ask me. Let’s get going. Oh yea, I’m always making changes. I’m a really nice guy because, I guess when my first album came out where producing isn’t necessarily who did the beat. And I always give the credit to the producer. I won’t name anybody. But I really, really have a lot to do with the process of the beat making, the song sequencing, everything, adding certain instruments into the track. I take part in all of that because my main goal is to make myself, the artist Ludacris, my voice as an instrument and the track become one. And that’s why I think I have an edge over all of artist. Because if I can put those two things together, that’s what the word flowing is all about, you flow into the track. And that’s what I try to do.

Producers?

Some of the producers I picked on this new album are mostly hungry producers that nobody really knows too much about but I’m just trying to put them on the map. I did this partly because I hate the stereotype of any artists, or any fan feeling like an artist, can only work with one producer…you know, throughout their whole career. Because what if something happens with their relationship or what if something happens with that producer or that artist where they can’t together anymore. It’s crazy to me. So I feel like, over my career I’ve tried to prove to the fans that its not necessarily who produced the track for me. Its about me making the hit song and just trying to work best with whatever producer I get a track from, if I feel it. So to answer your question, the only known producers on this album would be Eric Sermon and Kanye West and myself produced the first single. And pretty much everyone else is up and coming producers.

What about the new guys?

New guys like Ice Dre. You can say, Black Keys. Shit, some of these mothafuckas I don’t even know their names, I just got they tracks. Oh, Dj Nasty. Aight, that’s three. Ice Dre, Dj Nasty and whoever else I just said.

The ’71 Cutlass is tight.

Damn dawg, I have a 71 Cutlass. That’s crazy that you say that. My favorite ride. It’s a blue cutlass with white stripes, convertible. Its ridiculous man, I ride it around. You probably seen it on some interviews. Matter of fact, with FunkMaster flex, on spike t.v. You can see my favorite old-school car, 71 Cutlass supreme. Oldsmobile all day.

What about your other rides?

I own 6 cars. I have a mustang. I just bought it. But I bought it for one of the cribs I have in Miami. So I actually had someone get it for me. If I’m not mistaken, its one of those 97 mustangs. I have a 93 Acura Legend, a 2000 cadillac deville, 2001 cadillac escalade, the 71 cutlass supreme and a 2000 X5. But the X5 I let my mama drive and the rest of my family, who ever needs it. I just let them drive it. Its too fast for me. I already received one speeding ticket in it and I won’t let it happen again. I do that by not driving that shit.

I know from being an A Tribe Called Quest fan that you sample a lot of diverse artists. Were you raised listening to lots of different music styles?

Some stuff I grew up with and some of the other stuff I got from Q-Tip. His father played him a lot of jazz and stuff, so my style was really a combination of both of our flavors.

How did the group come together?

Raphael and I were trying to do something for like three years now. I was actually doing some outside production. We done some work together, a remix of a Tony Toni Tone track and he had played on a Tribe record, and it was just something that we figured, instead of doing stuff with other people, we figured we should just do something together. Three years ago, when we wanted to do it, it never worked out. We reintroduced the issue and said we needed a third person, and he kept running into Dawn at this restaurant in Los Angeles and he approached her about it, and that is how it came to be.

Was the chemistry there right away?

It was right there.

You can hear it.

Yeah.

When your career kicked off with Tribe, were you just making music for fun and no expectations?

We were just eighteen and were having fun, but we knew what we were doing when we made the record. It didn’t really take off until the second record.

What were the expectations going in, recording this album?

I didn’t have any real expectations. I just wanted to get together with my homeboy and make music. That was it.

Did you get to experiment with different instruments?

Yeah. I was fooling around with the guitar.

I know it was live, but did you three do all the music or was there collaboration?

No, the only collaboration was on the song called “You”, with Snoop Dogg and Q-Tip. Everything was done with me and Raphael and two cats named Jake and the Fatman. It was something we thought about, but as we got together, we thought it was coming together nicely and we played off each other nicely, so we didn’t need an album full of other people.

How do you approach an album?

Every album that I do, I definitely want to reinvent myself and also take things to another level when it comes to adding a chapter of my life because people want to know more about myself. I understand that. And more about who I am and kinda like put the whole puzzle together. Create more of a picture. That’s something that I’m going to do with each and every album. What makes Chicken N Beer different is just taking things to levels, new links. Of course, I’m the same Ludacris that everyone seems to like. You know for the people that buy my albums. Just being wild and crazy and humorous, but then there’s another side. For instance, I’ve never told stories. I tell at least two stories on this album and I think they’re real good. One is just basically how I got started so that so many people stop asking where the fuck I came from and how I got started in the music industry. I broke that shit down in a song that’s going to be on this album, from beginning to end. From when I was born to the point I’m at now. Another song for instance called “Hard Times”. Where a lot of people wouldn’t necessarily think I would talk about any hard times being where I’m at now. But it’s true; I have a lot of hard times. And that’s what it’s about.

What about the track “Hard Times”?

I recorded “Hard Times” for the last album but we put it on this album. A lot of people don’t know that. A lot of people don’t know that “Rollout”, which was on the last album, was supposed to be on the first album. So basically to make a long story short, with that being said, I record way more songs that I need for each albu, because its not about quantity, its about quality. Basically, I record way more songs than I need for each album. The reason I keep it to a certain amount, for one , publishing reasons, which I don’t want to get into too much detail about right now . But some people know what I’m talking about. If you only record a certain amount of songs, you only get paid for a certain amount of songs. Another reason is I want to hit people over the head and leave them with just enough to have them wanting more after twelve or thirteen songs. And that’s exactly what I did. And its about subject matter and versatility when it comes to choosing the songs that I’m going to put on my album. That’s the editing process. So to make sure everything isn’t always talking about the same, or each beat isn’t the same tempo. You know what I mean, have different people on it. Because what’s important to me, as an artist Ludacris, is to have versatility where you can listen to my album the whole way through. I hate getting peoples albums and you have to skip through them to find which songs you like. I like you listen to my album and be able to listen because every song is completely different. Believe it.

Any crazy fan experiences?

Yea, the craziest thing a fan has ever done. The most frequently asked question. I have a very short memory span. Which answers another question, which is something about Ludacris that everyone doesn’t know. I have a very selective memory. Damnit, I’ve never said that. That’s great. I have a very selective memory. It seems like I only remember some of the things I want to remember. But back to the original question, what’s the craziest things fans have done. People have thrown panties and shit like that on stage. But that’s something that happens to a lot of people. I actually went to San Francisco at a show and saw a girl with a whole gold grill with ‘Luda’ in the middle of it. That was crazy. Just to meet me back stage. Yea she got to meet me backstage. She was real cool. I just couldn’t believe she had a whole gold grill that said Luda. I was in North Carolina one time. And if you haven’t heard this story than damnit you’re not on your job. I was going to a strip club and we were greeted by the own of the strip club when we were outside to take us inside. She was a woman. And basically she went into the strip club. I came to find out that she was the mother of at least three or four daughters in the strip club, stripping and working in there. And then when we left the owner which was the mother of the daughters came on to my tour bus and started trying to strip for us. But she was fat and nasty so we kicked her off. That’s another crazy thing. A family followed me before. We had a show outside a certain city and they followed me the whole way. And when I say its crazy just because usually it would maybe be some teenagers following you or someone. But no this consisted of a mother, a father, a daughter, and a son. The whole family followed me and that just blew my mind. So you know, just to name a few. That’s a crazy thing a fan has ever done. Some more things that no one probably knows about Ludacris is I’m a real adventurous person. I’ve sky dived before. I’ve always wanted to do that man. But I mean, its fun. I’ve done it twice once in Hawaii and once outside of New York. I just bought a new crib. This answers two questions what am I most happy about or what was the happiest point in my life, buying this house. I’ve always wanted a big ass house and I finally got it. 22 acres of land, 15 thousand square feet. This house, anything you name it has it. I have a movie theater. I have a basketball court. A tennis court. 2 kitchens. A lake outside where you can go fishing. I ride 4 wheelers on my property. I have a pool of course. Two saunas, two steam rooms. A dummy waiter. Like Six bedrooms. Hideaway spots. Its ridiculous. I could go on and on about that. The other happiest point in my life was when I signed two Def Jam records and I was able to quite my job at the radio station. I felt great about that. Hmmm what else can I tell you about. I told you about the 6 cars. I actually have 7 cribs. I’m very happy about that. In different places. Mostly in the places I go the most. 2 in Miami. 1 in L.A.. 1 in jersey, right outside NY. 3 in Atlanta. So that makes your seven. What else can I say?

If you could record with anyone dead or alive who would it be?

If I could record with anyone dead or alive it would definitely be Tupac Shakur. Why? Because I feel like, I always talk about music is all about emotion. I feel like he go to anybody emotionally more than any other artist in this music industry. And just to do a song with him would mean so much. Seeing if he would even do a job with me at this point. It would mean a lot. I know how much of a hard worker he was and he motivates me. Even though he’s deceased, he just motivates me a lot.

+ Published: October.20.2003