Ludacris - All Mouth…

Affectionately dubbed ‘the mouf from the South’ Illinois-born, Atlanta raised Ludacris is rap’s loudest and most lascivious lyrist. In reality though, Hattie Collins finds a much more mild-mannered emcee keen to dispense with hip hop stereotype.

It’s supposed to be a hip hop interview but something’s decidedly awry. Like a classic episode of the Twilight Zone, a perfect image is presented but the mise-en-scene is somewhat skew-iff. First off, and most particularly peculiar is the interviewee arrives on time to the (mandatory bland) hotel room. In fact, weirdly, he’s a bit early (totally and utterly unheard of considering most rappers are hours if not days, often weeks late). Also, while he may be sporting the requisite baggy tracksuit (albeit in muted grey) and black doo-rag (hip hop parlance for bandanna), Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges is hardly ‘rolling deep’ with ‘his homies.’ Preferring instead to travel light he lopes in with just two non-mountainous men in attendance who promptly flop on the bed and fall asleep, not once attempting to join in with compulsive ‘yeah, yeah’s’ or ‘make some mo’furking noise’ like a rap crew is supposed to.

Most puzzling when you consider this is supposed to be a multi-platinum selling, glossy video boasting, bona fide rap superstar. He may have yet to enter the mainstream UK consciousness on the level of an Eminem, but in the US 26 year old Ludacris is a major, major player - his third album Chicken N Beer (“cos you are what you eat”) having just been knocked off the No 1 spot by American Pop Idol runner-up Clay Aitkin after three weeks. On the singles chart he sits comfortably at No 2 with boisterous single Stand Up, a resident of the rundown for an incredible 11 weeks.

However, weirder than all of the above is a total and utter disregard of Hip Hop Rule 101: thou must be shrouded at all times in the brightest bling in all the land. Sacrilege indeed that he is free of the dazzling declarations of his ongoing success. Is this really the man who brags, in proper rap manner, on aforementioned single Stand Up, ‘My diamonds are reckless/ feels like I got a midget hanging from my necklace’? A deep chuckle oozes from the tracksuit. “You see, my jewellery is so heavy that I keep it in a box. In fact, he has it,” says Ludacris pointing to his snoozing sidekick. “If I’m not on television or in front of a camera I don’t really wear it cause it’s uncomfortable to wear all the time - that’s how heavy it is. I have 4 rings on each hand, earrings that are 5 carats each and a really, really big medallion. And watches. So when I said that about the midget I was being for real.” And the ‘reckless’ diamonds are worth? “Around $200, 000,” he mumbles modestly in his Southern tones. Hmm, fairly moderate for a rapper, then, considering 50 Cent has a watch that costs $300,000 alone. “I do have money but I don’t see the need to prove it everybody,” he remarks lightly. “I just like being comfortable.”

You see, its rap, Jim, but not quite as we know it. Okay, so album sales of 6 million ‘n’ more may have afforded him 22 acres of land in Atlanta, Georgia on which rests a 15,000 sq ft, split-level house complete with his own “Ludaplex” cinema, basketball court, outdoor Jacuzzi, a ‘pond’ where he fishes for 3lb bass and a fleet of cars including Escalades, Cadillac’s and Cutlass Supremes. A far cry from his first abode and car - rented accommodation and rusty Plymouth Reliant respectively - but Ludacris is not your average big baller, more a man with giant dreams. Owner of his own record label, Disturbing Tha Peace, as well as a clothing line, his own trainer (a current hip hop must-have thanks to Jay-Z/ 50 Cent’s Reebok deals), a burgeoning film career (he gives a genuinely good performance in the otherwise tepid 2 Fast 2 Furious) and impending beer endorsements afoot, Luda is clearly not one for resting on proverbial laurels. “I have a lot I want to achieve,” he agrees. “That’s what business is about to me and I take business very seriously,” says the man driven, he admits, by ‘power, money and respect.’

It was whilst working in Pizza Hut, attending classes at Georgia State University and moonlighting as a DJ on Atlanta’s Hot 97.5 radio station, that Ludacris somehow found time to record and distribute his debut album Incognegro, a razor-sharp slice of Southern soaked booty-bounce courtesy of production powerhouses The Neptunes (Nelly) and Organized Noize (Outkast). Flogged from his car boot Incognegro sold an impressive 30,000 copies through sheer determination alone. For the man who began rapping as a 9 year old it was a dream long slumbered over. “I built up my own money over time,” he remembers. “I threw parties, I did a track for [producer] Timbaland and printed t-shirts of myself saying ‘Ludacris, Track 11, Tim’s Bio’ [the name of the Timbalands’ album] – I just promoted myself as much as I could.”

Sales of Incognegro created sufficient attention for major labels to look closer at the ambitious then-22 year old. In 2000, hip hop giant Def Jam snapped the rapper up and presented Ludacris as the first artist to be signed to subsidiary Def Jam South. After repackaging and re-titling the album as Back For The First Time, sales soared to over 2.5 million. Second album Word Of Mouf followed in 2001 and bettered Back by another half a million, with its increasingly intricate lyricisms thundering over the rock-tinged hectic hip hop drum-patterns. Current offering Chicken N Beer released this year may have taken a little longer to create but it’s apparent ‘Chris has carefully constructed the album. By increasing syllable-per-bar pace (“but you should be able to here every fuckin’ word I say. I think that’s half the battle of rap today -people can’t get into what they don’t understand”), deepening his already cavernous flow (“I use my voice as an instrument”) and tingeing the oftentimes cartoon-like world with snatches of darkness (“so people can understand where I’m coming from”), it’s clear he’s set on self-improvement. The album scanned 419, 000 in its first week alone and looks set to be his biggest seller. Yet he remains hungry for more: “It’s my best album but I will never be satisfied anywhere I’m at. I’m always gonna see room for development,” sighs the self-professed over-achiever.

This self-effacing talk, and quiet demeanour seems so desperately at odds with Ludacris the loudmouthed lout often seen parading half-naked women in his videos, screaming ‘roll ooooout ma biznizz’ on MTV and who steals the show on guest spots for everyone from Missy Elliott to Mariah Carey. All huge hair and humongous gob he’s part Busta Rhymes, part Jimi Hendrix and part Alice Cooper rolled into one. His forceful personality and incessantly catchy tracks have drawn fans of all races, ages and sexes who are inexplicably mesmerised by his wily wordplay and mirth-filled metaphors. But are lines like ‘your lips down-town just made some familiar faces’ really that funny? “Hip hop is about bringing people to your neighbourhood so if you feel it offensive, well this is how we speak, this is how we communicate with one another sometimes. It’s just the reality of the situation,” he says stubbornly. So he genuinely sees nothing wrong with churning out the same old bitches, ho’s and skezzers stereotypes? “Really listen to the lyrics and don’t hear it on face value,” is the auto-answer. “If you hear the word bitch, then understand why we said the word bitch. Don’t just assume I’m talking about females. I made a song called Ho and people automatically started criticising it - but if they really listen to the song they know I call myself a ho. Men can be just as big ho’s as women.” So he’s a ho? “Hell yeah, I’ll call myself a ho,” he chortles admitting that he’s particularly ‘enjoyed’ groupies who in his time although ‘he’s tired’ of that these days.

He has to go now, he says, can’t be late for Top Of The Pops. Is he aware his ‘real-life’ super-professional presence is at odds with his on-record raucous one? “I don’t try and fit a stereotype or ‘be’ anything,” he declares. “I guess Ludacris is, literally, the ludicrous side of Chris Bridges,” he admits. “I just try and be versatile, funny and one step ahead of the game in every aspect of life because I think that’s how you achieve success,” he says. “I just make music that everybody can relate to, no matter what race. Above all though, I refuse to be one-sided.”

A version of this article appeared in the Guardian Guide