Ludacris World Part of the Rap Basement Network

Interviews

He might have hoes in different area codes, but apparently there are a few things that Ludacris hasn’t tried between the sheets. Like Tantric sex, for instance.

“Doing what?” questions the MC-turned-actor when asked if he’s ever indulged in a marathon session of the wild thing. We try to explain. You think about something else and you can make it last for hours. Sting does it a lot.

“You'd have to think very, very deeply [in order to pull that off],” marvels the 25-year-old. "I don’t know if I’m that patient of a person!”

He has a point. Since stressing the dirty part of the dirty South with his hit 2000 album Back for the First Time, Ludacris has barely paused to give a big ole butt an admiring glance. His distinctive baritone and verbal acrobatics have graced some of hip-hop’s wittiest and catchiest anthems, from “What’s Your Fantasy” to “Rollout (My Business).”

Those hits made Ludacris into rap’s court jester. So he seemed a natural pitchman for Pepsi - until talk show host Bill O’Reilly slammed the soda company for associating themselves with someone he branded a “thug rapper.” Pepsi yanked Ludacris’ TV spots, but following a threatened boycott by his fans, made a hefty contribution to the Ludacris Foundation to exonerate themselves.

The MC is too busy to be bothered by the furor. As well as churning out his own hits, he’s an in-demand guest who has animated singles by everyone from Missy Elliott to Jermaine Dupri. Considering Vin Diesel is sitting out the summer blockbuster sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious, Ludacris might just drive off with his big screen debut, too. That’s provided he’s not too busy watching TV in his new Cadillac Deville, or visiting a strip club to sample the buffet, or putting the finish touches on his new album Chicken & Beer, a surefire smash combining his three major concerns – food, fun and fornication. The Tantric stuff will have to wait.

Traveling light, and boldly wearing a Boston Celtics warm-up suit in Manhattan, the CEO of Ludacris Inc. took time out from his busy schedule to talk about rides both furious and feeble, how Ben Stiller cracks him up, and why chicken and beer (or vodka and cranberry) are good for the creative juices.

VH1: What was your first car?

Ludacris: Aw, man, you don’t want to know about my first car! I was in high school – it was an ’86 Plymouth Reliant, one of those box cars. I bought it from my teacher. What made it so bad was the paint job. When you do a wax job and leave the wax on there for too long, it permanently messes up the paint on the car. But I didn’t care because it was my first car. I just didn’t want to ride the cheese anymore – we called the school bus “the cheese.” I didn’t care what it looked like as long as I had wheels and speakers in the trunk. That’s what we liked doing in the South. We love getting big speakers. As long as our sound system is cool, the car can be completely messed up! [Watch Clip]

VH1: Were you the guy who would drive around and pick up all your pals?

L: Everybody was trying to get a ride! If you don’t jump on the bus, you're in a cooler category - because the day you’re not on the bus, everybody’s like, “Damn! Where’s what-his-name? He must have got a ride with somebody. Lucky him!” In the car, we’d blast “Summertime” by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince on our way to school. We'd even in the wintertime, because at that point you’re just waiting for the summer to come.

VH1: So tell us about Taj, your character in 2 Fast 2 Furious.

L: Taj is a street hustler. He’s the one that organizes all the races. If anybody needs any accessories or rims for their car, they come to my garage. I’m always about my money – that’s basically who he is. It wasn't too hard to pull off - I am a street hustler myself. It’s better to ease into acting gradually.

VH1: Did you do your own stunts?

L: We did do stunts, but not in the movie. Before the movie, they let the people that were going to be driving in the movie get comfortable behind the wheel, so we went out to the airport and they put cones out on the airstrip, like a driver’s course. We were doing 360s, figure eights, using the emergency brake to skid with a Corvette and a regular Honda Accord. I was doing all kinds of stuff!

VH1: What is your favorite car?

L: I own my favorite car. It’s a green 2000 Cadillac Deville. The inside wood paneling is the same color as the outside. There’s a TV in the middle of the steering wheel. There’s a TV in the passenger side visor; [there are] TVs in the headrests for the backseat. I got four amplifiers in there. I got like speakers in the trunk. It’s just ridiculous. It’s got a chromed-out grill, everything!

VH1: Why do you need a TV in the steering wheel?

L: I’m dangerous! I’m not gonna lie. I watch it while I’m driving, but you not supposed to do that. I guess the reason behind it is, if you stopped at a stop light, you have nothing better to do, you just look at TV. There’s a TV in the trunk, too, so when you go to a picnic, you can pop it and watch television outside.

VH1: What do you watch in your ride? Soap operas?

L: Hell no, man. DVDs. When you have company, you throw on the NBA and NFL highlight DVDs. That way you can ride and listen to music while being entertained by something you don’t necessarily have to listen to.

VH1: Why are so many hip-hop artists being plucked for leading men these days?

L: A certain amount of your audience is going to support you in anything that you do. So movies are just taking it to the next step, because music videos are like miniature movies.

VH1: Seems like being a rapper isn't enough these days, like the music is an automatic doorway for other business ventures?

L: If you’re a smart person – whether or not you just love music – you’re going to maximize your opportunities. Even if you just love rap, you’re going to want to do something else because you see your audience is buying into it.

VH1: You've got a clothing line, too, right?

L: Yeah, it's called CP Time - you’ll get the first look at by the end of this year. We pitched a movie to MTV/Paramount called Skip Day. There’s a crazy animated movie called Lil’ Pimp, which is like South Park meets the pimp world. My third album Chicken & Beer comes out soon. There’s a lot of things going on.

VH1: You can’t even say the title Chicken & Beer without laughing.

L: We’re going to sell a million copies off the name alone! I call it Chicken & Beer because people want to know where all the crazy rhymes and creative ideas come from – and you are what you eat! I find myself eating chicken without even thinking about it - in a Caesar salad, baked or fried, rotisserie. I go to my favorite restaurant Mr. Chow’s and I’m still eating chicken! No matter what, it’s chicken everyday, then beer and other alcoholic beverages. But we don’t have to get into all of that. [Watch Clip]

VH1: Do you still drink Pepsi?

L: Hell no, I don’t drink Pepsi anymore, man! I didn’t even drink Pepsi when I was with them. I don’t drink carbonated stuff. I just drink juice.

VH1: So what’s your favorite tipple?

L: It depends on the day. For some reason, I have a high tolerance for alcohol. Right now, it would be like Grey Goose and cranberry. I’m open, man. I don’t just stick to one drink.

VH1: Are there a lot of sex rhymes on Chicken & Beer?

L: Yeah. I have a song talking about ménage a trois, called “Teamwork.” I don’t know what took anyone so long to have a song talking about ménage a trois. It’s probably going to be one of the singles, and it’s great, man! But there are different records on there, too. On Word of Mouf, none of my singles – “Roll Out,” “Saturday,” and “Move Bitch” - were sex songs. I try to be as versatile as possible. On the first album, everybody was like “All he talks about is sex.” I had to try and do that differently. Now it’s time to go back! [Laughs.]

VH1: Where’s the strangest place you’ve ever done the nasty?

L: In an elevator. You got to hit the stop button. It’s all about the timing: what time of the day it is, if the elevator’s busy or not, things of that nature. It depends on where the elevator’s at, too, man, which is why I can’t tell you what elevator I was in. I would be incriminating myself!

VH1: What’s your favorite strip club in Atlanta?

L: Atlanta’s like the strip club capital of the world. Right now, the reigning champion of strip, clubs in my opinion, is Magic City. This place called The Gentleman’s Club closed down, because the owner got arrested for something. Now the women that worked at that club have shifted over to Magic City and that’s where it’s at!

VH1: As you’ve become a bigger and bigger star, have your strip club privileges increased?

L: Privileges in a strip club? You can’t go any further than the champagne room. It’s not only the women that make Atlanta the strip club capital of the world. It’s the drinks, the music that they play, and more importantly, the food. The chefs that worked at the Gentleman’s Club moved to Magic City, too. They cook really good food, not just chicken fingers and your regular strip club food. It’s like an industry meeting place, so even women that don’t care about the stripping come, too. All kinds of people in the music industry come there; you can expect to see movie stars all the time. That’s just how popular it is. It’s one of those environments where people can politick. [Watch Clip]

VH1: When you’re not stuffing dollar bills into G-strings, what do you do on your days off?

L: I love watching movies. I’m really into comedies. There are certain movies you can watch over and over again and you don’t get tired of them. Meet the Parents is the all-time funniest movie, because every time I watch it, I find something different.

VH1: What scene makes you laugh out loud?

L: There are so many parts that make you laugh out loud. [He starts laughing.] When Ben Stiller puts on them damn swimming trunks, man! He can’t play volleyball, and they call him “Florence Nightingale.” That whole movie from beginning to end is hilarious. Ben Stiller is the funniest dude. He’s funny without even trying to be funny. He’s funny just being himself.

VH1: Lil’ Pimp will be your first animated film. What cartoon character do you most identify with?

L: Bugs Bunny. He always outsmarted Elmer Fudd. I always loved that. Plus, I got some pretty big-ass ears. I’m not going to front. I try to throw it off by throwing some big-ass earrings in there, and make it seem like they’re not that big, but I got some pretty big ears!