Maybe it was because he was hungry and awaiting his Chinese take-out order, but Ludacris had food on the brain while sitting in the chair getting augmentation done to his Disturbing Tha Peace tattoo.
As the body art specialist colored in his tat, Cris, whose second LP, Word of Mouf, drops Tuesday (November 27), was mouthing off about his plans for a third album.
"The name of my third album is gonna be called Chicken and Beer," he said. "People wanna know what I'm all about, and I'm letting you know. Chicken and beer, man. That's all we consume. I mean, really not necessarily beer but all alcoholic beverages. Chicken and Beer just got a ring to it. I swear, being on the road, [I've learned there] is so many ways to cook chicken.
"You can sauté it," he continued. "You could fry it. You could broil it. Whatever, it's like no matter what I'm doing, no matter what part of the day it is, no matter what day it actually is I find myself eating all different kinds of chicken all the damn time. So I'm just letting you know, Ludacris is chicken and beer man."
Cris said his incessant schedule actually helped him when recording Word of Mouf, as he was able to tap into different cities' vibes.
"I picked up that no matter where you at in the country, there might be little differences, but everybody's pretty much the same," he explained. "It's a ghetto in every city. Everybody can relate to the struggle. Everybody can relate to havin' bad times. Everybody can relate to havin' good times. So expanding out of your region is easy as long as you know that people can relate to what you saying.
"Man, [recording] wasn't difficult at all," he continued. "It really helped me out because we were on the road so much and had to fit in other people's schedules. Like say, for instance, if Timbaland was in New York or in L.A. and we had a show out there we just be killing two birds with one stone. That's how we did the whole album. I'll probably continue to do albums like that. As long as you can do two things at once, you good."
Dual roles Cris had to play on his current album were as a commercially embraced artist and respected MC.
"I really don't feel like we're getting our just due yet," he said. "People are starting to realize the talent and the lyricists in the South. That's why I love that Uncle Scarface got that Lyricist of the Year at the Source Awards. We're opening it up more right now. Don't get me wrong, it's been lyricists in the South that the whole South can recognize but as far as the rest of the world, they just need to recognize what's going on. So I try to concentrate a lot on my lyrics — I wanna make people think. I think it's real important" (see "Ludacris Chases The Ladies, Shows Serious Side Too On New Album").
Cris, who's been known to make metaphors by referencing everything from the Muppets to Stone Cold Steve Austin's can of whupp ass, sprinkles his wit throughout the album, but gets a little more straightforward with "Keep It on the Hush."
"Basically, the song's talking about all these women when you get into the mode of foreplay and you about to get down and dirty with your girl," he said. "They're talking all this and that. It's basically like 'Man, just shut the hell up and let me do my thang. I know what I'm doing.'
"It's got a lot of live instruments in this song and it almost reminds you of church, 'cause you hear some church organs going on. It's like you preaching to her. I got a live choir in the song."
His libido is just as fervent on "Freaky Thangs," which features Twista and Jagged Edge. "Of course that's one of my main songs talking about sex and sexual activities," he said. "And Twista came off on that so hard. I always wanted to work with him. I thought we were gonna do something off the first album, but I got him on this second one. So you know it's just a perfect combination, and it's the perfect beat. It's definitely one of those songs that's gonna sell the album whether it's on the radio or not, whether it's a single or not."
