Ludacris: When I picked it, I knew it was a really aggressive record. I feel like we need more aggression today. ... I'm talking about throwing elbows, and that's something people in the South have been dong for a long time. 'Cause if you're in the club and it's real, real packed and you don't got no space, you need some elbow room, so you got to start throwing the elbows.

MTV: In the video, you seem to be really just enjoying yourself — you got the cars and the women, and that's a trend right now in  hip-hop.

Ludacris: I just enjoy being different. Anytime I shoot a video, I just think of anything I can do to set myself apart from everybody in the music industry. Being in the tub in the first video ["What's Your Fantasy"]. Hanging out upside-down, I know Pharcyde did it a while back [in their "Passing Me By" video], but I had to let the hair out Dirty South style. I feel rap repeats itself just like history repeats itself, so I'm just trying to take everything I grew up with and add my own spice to it.

MTV: When did you first start rhyming?

Ludacris: I made my first song when I was 9 years old. Just beating on garbage cans, having people beat box ...

MTV: Music was always around you growing up?

Ludacris:  My parents had me when they were in college.  So I used to be, like, 3 or 4 years old going to college parties with them.

MTV: Where did you first perform for an audience?

Ludacris:  When I was like 13, I performed in a club in Atlanta.  I took my shirt off and everybody thought I was cute. I didn't have any muscles or nothing.

MTV: I guess it's safe to say Def Jam South did the right thing by putting you out as its first artist?

Ludacris: People was always asking me if it was pressure being the first artist signed to Def Jam South. I felt that Def Jam has always been the #1 hip-hop label. I love the way they market their artists. I felt if I was going to be the first artist signed to their Southern label, then they were going to put their all behind it.

MTV: You're working with [Def Jam South head] Scarface, and I'm sure that has a great influence on you, but he's pretty low-key and behind-the-scenes. How is he fitting into all this?

Ludacris: Scarface has put out six albums. He's done Geto Boys albums, [and] he's been in the music industry for a long time, so he has the wisdom and the knowledge. Right now he's kind of playing that incognegro tip. He's on the low playing that business thing, but at the same time still doing music.

MTV: What's the next move for Def Jam South?

Ludacris: I got a girl signed to my [production] company, Disturbing the Peace. Her name is Shawna. We also have the artist Fate Wilson, Infamous 2-0 and a guy named 4-Ize, so it's all about building the company.

MTV: Any thoughts about what you might be doing for the next single?

Ludacris: We got an Internet video for the song "Ho." It's the first Internet video on Ludacris.net. We also just did a remix with Nate Dogg on there called "Area Code." It might be on a soundtrack, but it's definitely going on my next album, Word of Mouth, which is going to drop at the end of this year.

MTV: All that success is leading up to your first tour, which will be with Outkast.

Ludacris: Outkast was the first real group to put Atlanta on the map, so just to be on tour with them is a blessing. I feel their audience is going to be exposed to what Ludacris has to offer. 

MTV: How did the tour come together? Was this an Atlanta thing?

Ludacris: Yeah, basically. I've known them for a minute. I guess you can say I've always been proud of them and looked up to them, but for once they're proud of me for selling records and doing what I'm doing. They've known that I've been trying do it for so long, and now that they see me doing it, it's almost like they're trying to award me. This is the home team. Everybody in Atlanta, it's like we're family.

MTV: Do you have any plans for a stage show?

Ludacris: Just expect the unexpected — it's Ludacris. You might see some girls pop up onstage, with some bikinis or nothing on, but at the same time you might see Cadillacs rolling onstage with customized grills. It's definitely gonna be real energetic and real wild, just like my name implies.

MTV: Aside from the tour, what else do you have planned for yourself?

Ludacris: I got a collaboration with Method Man, something with my girl Missy "Misdemeanor" [Elliott], a collaboration with Jagged Edge, Three 6 Mafia. Plus, working on my second album. Just trying to live prosperous, drinking a lot of water.

MTV: What's your insight into the Napster thing?  As a one-time independent artist, do you think it could have helped you?

Ludacris: As a new artist trying to break into the industry, I don't feel like Napster is such a bad thing because you need as much exposure as you can get. Some of the Napster stuff is exposure to a certain audience that you wouldn't normally get if it wasn't on there. But as an already established artist, that's where I'm against it, because people are going out there and buying your records anyway. [RealVideo]

MTV: What inspires you lyrically?

Ludacris: In Atlanta we have a lot of young black millionaires.  Whenever I go somewhere I'm seeing people buying all kinds of Cristal and Moet [champagne] and riding around in Benzes. They inspire the hell out of me.  Every time I go to a party and see that, it's like, "I'm trying to live like that also."

MTV: The hip-hop industry has created a lot of black millionaires, but it's continually burdened with internal strife, these internal arguments. Why do you think there is like so much violence in the community?

Ludacris: The hip-hop community is made up of a lot of hustlers.  Everybody is trying to get theirs, and everybody is trying to eat. Sometimes people are knocking down [one another for] the opportunity to eat, so sometimes you have to go through whatever means you have to go through to get what you want. And a lot of times, people are only brought up knowing [how to use] their fists ... or snatching something or taking it, because that's the only way they feel like they can get it.