Ludacris Declares That 'All Respect Is Lost' For Chingy
The peace in Disturbing Tha Peace has been disrupted, and now Ludacris is telling Chingy to blow it out where the sun don't shine.
Over the summer, Chingy abruptly bolted the crew that helped him break into the game. The fire was fanned to the point of no return earlier this month, when the December issue of XXL magazine hit the stands. Chingy, who made the cover, revealed to the publication that he had monetary disputes with Chaka Zulu, a co-owner of DTP who was acting as Chingy's manager (without a contract).
"This is the first time we hear about his accusations, in a tabloid or through different media outlets, so all respect is lost," Ludacris revealed Thursday, sitting with Chaka Zulu in New York. "He keeps saying it's cool. It's not cool. ... It's completely over. Financially he still is signed to Disturbing Tha Peace, and we'll do what we have to do, but we don't want anybody representing the crew who's gonna make false accusations like that. We have no respect for this individual, basically."
Last week in New York, if you asked Ching-a-Ling about the conflict, he played the whole situation down as a strike toward independence.
"It wouldn't be no beef," Chingy answered when asked what would happen if Luda walked through the door. "I just seen him. It ain't like that. People think it's like that. If we was beefing, you would be hearing about it."
"It's a contract thing," Chingy further elaborated on his departure from the crew. "I don't want to get into that. Me and the management had our differences. Plus I'm trying to develop my business mind. Ain't nobody going to do for me like I'mma do for me. Ain't nobody gonna look out for me like I'mma look out for me. I had to step aside, start my own thing. Now I'm watching what's going on, giving my opinion and word. If something gets messed up, then blame it on me."
Chaka said he and his company EbonySon opened up the books twice for Chingy to dissect.
"Everybody from his lawyers to his accountants said there was no money missing," Zulu said. "There was no problem. From there we was like, 'Now can we sit down and talk?' We repeatedly said, 'Anytime you like to talk, let's discuss it. What's going on?' My thing is, [Chingy is] fabricating things to make everything make sense to the public. Don't put out false information."
"He has repeatedly come to us and said, 'I want to talk to you about this situation' and that's all he says; 'I want to talk to you.' He has never talked about it, and now he forces us to talk and speak out against him."
Besides the way his career was being handled, Chingy also said he felt he couldn't grow beyond being number two as long as he was with Disturbing Tha Peace.
"I started my own label, Slot-A-Lot records," he said. "And I had a crew who I wanted to push too. I wasn't really doing that. I don't want to stay down here. I'm trying to grow. I'm trying to elevate, so I'm trying to kick things off."
"That's ludicrous," Ludacris laughed when asked whether there was any jealousy toward Chingy.
"You can tell when somebody's a leader or not," Luda continued. "What was given to him, you can make your own situation out of it. That was perfectly fine. We're gonna encourage you to do that. Nobody wants to be an artist for the rest of their lives. We want you to make entrepreneurial moves -- that's what business is all about.
"I'm the CEO of the company. I'm also an artist, but I sign artists with the expectation of every single artist being as big as they can possibly be. That's what makes me happy, because we are a family. You can still internally do your own thing, but still be a part of the family. No one's going to pigeonhole you. We're here to make you as successful as possible because it in turn makes us successful."
Chingy says he's been in talks with 50 Cent to make his Git It Boyz the lead act from a G-Unit South label. Chingy has also signed his little sister to Slot-A-Lot.
Meanwhile, Ludacris is concentrating on his new LP, The Red Light District, due December 7 (see [article id="1492921"]"Ludacris LP Salutes Austin Powers, Takes Aim At Bill O'Reilly"[/article]).