Summarize in up to four sentences.: Ludacris is Ready To Remind Us Why He’s an Icon
The legendary MC talks about new music, his favorite young rappers, and his favorite Christmas movies

BY ANDRE GEE

DECEMBER 4, 2023
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JULY 01: Rapper Ludacris performs onstage during night 2 of the 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture™ at Caesars Superdome on July 01, 2023 in New Orleans, Louisiana.  (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
Rapper Ludacris performs onstage during night 2 of the 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture™ at Caesars Superdome on July 01, 2023 in New Orleans, Louisiana. PARAS GRIFFIN/GETTY IMAGES
Ludacris is cruising through New York a few days before the release of his new movie Dashing Through The Snow with Lil Rel. Our Zoom session isn’t long, but I’m happy to ask the rap legend a few questions. With six platinum albums, over 24 million records sold worldwide, and an integral part in the South’s initial reign of commercial dominance, he’s a certified rap legend. His resume gives his opinion a heavier weight than the average artist. 

During an appearance on basketball and entertainment pod All The Smoke earlier this year, Ludacris divulged that Jay-Z told him he didn’t get more “lyrical credit” because he “plays too damn much” with his music videos. That’s a shame if true. The Atlanta rapper was indeed a go-to source for fun, colorful visuals such as “Stand Up,” “Get Back,” and “Rollout,” but harping on his sense of humor overlooks his fierce delivery, dexterous technical lyricism, and willingness to step up to the plate with a stinging diss if pushed. He’s also pretty high on the all-time feature killer list. That’s probably why he was the South’s main representation at the Hip-Hop 50 edition of LL Cool J’s Rock The Bells festival in August. 

It looks like Ludacris might be stepping back outside to remind people who he is as an MC pretty soon. He’s not saying much, but he’s started working on new music. “We’re still in the beginning stages, but there’s definitely music coming out in 2024,” he tells Rolling Stone. “I’m going to keep it tightlipped for now. Nowadays you got to do that.”

It will be interesting to see him explore a modern rap game more accepting of his brand of playful, imaginative sonics and music videos. He says his follow-up to 2015’s Ludaversal will reflect where he’s at now in life. “As I’ve grown as an individual and evolved as a person, so has the music. You got to talk about what’s real to you. You got to talk about what’s going on,” he says. 

Ludacris has a lot going on. Along with a musical resume, the man born Chris Bridges has also been a successful actor for 20 years now, with films and. In July, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, an honor he says his top three professional accomplishments. “If there was such thing as a perfect day as a human being, that was one of them,” he says of the ceremony, which was attended by a range of his celebrity peers such as Queen Latifah, his best friend Larenz Tate, and his first rap hero LL Cool J. 

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Ludacris talked to Rolling Stone about new music, his work in the community, and how he feels about younger artists sampling classics. 

I saw that you may be working on a new album for some time in 2024. What you could say to your fans who are curious about the album?
We’re still in the beginning stages, but there’s definitely music coming out in 2024. I’m going to keep it tightlipped for now. Nowadays you got to do that.

In what ways do you feel like you’ve grown as an artist since your last project?
Music and rap is all about what you’re going through and what your reality is. And I think as I’ve grown as an individual and evolved as a person, so has the music. You got to talk about what’s real to you. You got to talk about what’s going on. And I think that that’s one of the things; I’ve always been competitive and wanting to evolve with the time. [I] love all of this new stuff that’s coming out. 

Who are some of the younger artists that you’re really into these days?
I love J. Cole. I definitely love Kendrick Lamar. Those are just to name a few. Those are probably my top two. I love listening to them. I love how progressive Kendrick is and Cole, he’s just… it’s that’s the hunger. That’s what I need to motivate me in order to continue going. People like him. And I’ve told both of these individuals this. It’s nothing but love.

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I also saw your interview on All The Smoke where you were talking about your conversation with Jay-Z about your innovative visuals. Who do you think are making the best visuals these days in music?
Whatever my man Dave Myers is shooting these days. He’s so dope of a director to me, and I feel like he’s made some extremely creative videos. I’m trying to think what was one of my favorite visual videos over the last… You know what’s crazy? What stands out to me is still that Childish Gambino “This is America” video. It’s pretty much still one of the dopest videos I’ve seen. I can go back and watch that over and over. You’re going to make me watch it once we get off this interview. It’s dope. But I’m going to be honest with you, the best visual video that’s out right now or coming on November 24th is this Ludacris State Farm commercial.

I also wanted to ask you, as a veteran in the game with such a legendary catalog, one of the hotter trends in the game now is the sampling of classic songs. What’s the line for you between an artist paying homage versus feeling like they’re just trying to use it as a crutch? How do you go about it in the right way as a younger artist or producer?
I think that there’s different ways to present the new, unless you’re taking every single thing, then I’m all for remixing and sampling and people making it their own, and artists making something their own. Because that’s how hip hop started, it’s subjective about people saying how much somebody took or how they flipped it. So I’m all for inspiring people to do that.

Have you heard a favorite flip of yours so far of one of your records?
Man, that’s a good question. Just recently, J Balvin did the “Yeah” record over and I loved it. I loved what he did to it. I thought it was dope. And that’s probably my favorite flip right now.

What do you think are some of the biggest issues in the music industry that you would like to see changed or evolved?
It goes towards what you just said. When people completely take a sample and don’t change anything about it, or they take some lyrics and then they don’t switch it up. I would love to see a little more thought put into trying to flip something as opposed to [taking] it the way that it was in the exact same form and [redoing] it. Now, that doesn’t go for everything, but I would say for the most part it does. Because even when Whitney Houston took Dolly Parton’s record, she still made it her own. As far as production, I don’t feel like people should take a beat that was made 20 years ago and not do anything to it, just literally… That’s basically what I was saying.

How have you been feeling about Hip-Hop 50? Do you feel like the South has been properly celebrated within the celebrations?
I do feel like it could be a lot more of the South celebrated, but we can’t ask for much. We’ve been arguably dominating the industry for the last decade or two. So I’m not mad. And I think that hip hop is still young. To feel that it’s only 50 years old is a beautiful thing to me. Look at what we’ve accomplished in this timeframe and look at how much more we can accomplish [by] continuing to move forward. I feel great about it.

What made you want to explore a Christmas comedy? How long have you wanted to explore?
The crazy thing about that is I always wanted to work with Will Packer and Tim Story. I’m such a fan of their work and Will is now a friend. So when they approached me with this, and I already have Ludacrismas. I thought it was dope because when I read the script, I thought it’s a Christmas staple, but I felt like it’s powerful because it has a lot more to do with healing and traumatic stress and trying to get over those things than the Christmas element. It has multiple themes. And so a movie like that, I knew I wanted to be a part of because of all the different people involved and what I feel like this can do for people that watch it. Because art is supposed to heal and it’s supposed to be therapeutic is the best way to put it.

What’s the average Ludacrismas like?
I got a whole family now. So I got four daughters, a wife. So my Ludacrismas, it is ludicrous. My whole household running around. There’s big trees, there’s gifts, there’s food being cooked, eggnog, turkeys, cookies, everything you can think of. We do holidays pretty big in my household, not just Christmas.

What’s your favorite Christmas movie besides this one?
I love to laugh. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is one of my favorite. I can watch that over and over again. 

Where does the Hollywood Walk Of Fame rank in all of your accomplishments?
Bro, that’s a good question because it was truly one of the best days of my life. I was like, if there was such thing as a perfect day as a human being, that was one of them. Where does it rank? I’m going to have to say somewhere in that top three. Me winning Best Rap Album Grammy was up there in the top three. If we are not counting my children being born or me getting married. And it’s like when you think about musical moments, it’s in the top three moments of my entire life so far.

What made it such a perfect day? Was it the actual ceremony or were there elements before or after that made it such a great day?
It was before. It was after. It was all of the people that I truly care about in the industry were really there. My family was there, everyone being able to witness the generation. So my mom, her being proud, me being able to show her that. People I’ve worked with from different movies, from Queen Latifah to Larenz Tate, who’s my best friend, and you got the Fast and Furious cast, and then you had people from music as well [like] LL Cool J, who made me want to rap. It was pretty much a full circle moment. And I think that having that star is also a tangible way for fans to share with me. So when you put all those elements in together, that’s what made it so perfect.

I saw next week that you’re going to be in a State Farm ad. Based on their slogan, “Like a good neighbor,” who’s been your favorite neighbor you’ve had since you’ve been a celebrity and why?
I work so hard so that I don’t have to have any neighbors. I got 22 acres of land and I don’t even know who my neighbors are because they’re not within reach. [Laughs] But, I’m joking. 

In terms of me partnering with State Farm, I love doing that because they’re in the service industry and in the community industry. I’m in that same industry with my foundation. We’re doing the same thing in terms of making life a little more enjoyable. When you realize that even when you go through those hardships and things that are ludicrous, so to speak, there’s always something that you can rely on that’s going to help you out. And that’s what State Farm does. And I feel like I’m the same person for my family when they’re in need or when something bad happens and we have to lean on one another as a community.

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Could you speak to the work you’ve been doing with your foundations?
Man, my foundation has different pillars that we’re so involved in. One is health and education. When I say health, that’s like eating healthy and living healthy lives. So [we promote] exercise and organic vegetables so that kids can be their best selves. And then we think about community, definitely whatever’s in need. We visit hospitals and rehabilitation centers and also, during the holidays, we have something called Ludacrismas where we’re giving out coats and we’re giving gifts and Thanksgiving turkeys and things of that nature.

And education is the third one, trying to give people a hand up as opposed to a handout. So [we’re] educating people in communities that are not as fortunate as others and trying to get tutors and different things where we can teach them the arts and so many other things. We have a partnership with Microsoft recently where we’re dealing with AI and bringing a lot of inner city kids to understand how to use AI and how to use music production and digital audio workstations. So those are some of the things, but it all goes hand in hand with State Farm.