2 Chainz To Serve As A&R For "Ludaversal"

Ludacris' relationship with several former members of his Disturbing Tha Peace camp has soured, but he and 2 Chainz appear to still have a great working camaraderie. 2 Chainz revealed in a recent interview that he will be serving as A&R on Luda's upcoming album Ludaversal.

"My job is to give him beats from my perspective, from where I come from," 2 Chainz explained. "I have a long history of club shows and rocking out and he's a more venue artist. So I'm just trying to give him some looks from my eyes and perspective."

"I'm just submitting beats from my eyes, different from what Luda usually does, that's why he hired me," he said. "Me and Luda are definitely two different artists. So, it will be different. I do a lot of clubs. So I'm just submitting 2 Chainz s***. Different things I think he would need or doesn't f*** with."

DJ Drama Discusses "We In This B**ch"

DJ Drama opened up about putting together an all-star collabo featuring the biggest names in Atlanta hip hop. The new release of T.I., Ludacris, Future and Young Jeezy's "We In This B*tch" music video has generated a tremendous amount of buzz; and Drama says the track was a moment for the city.

"It's always the people that make the decision [on how good something is], but I definitely knew I had something special," Drama told SOHH, "And even the way the record came together, you know, it had no other choice but to be special. From me getting the beats from Kane [Beatz], which took about a year, to the idea of the hook coming to me and giving it to Future, with the space that he's in right now. And then me getting Tip, Jeezy and Luda on one record, what it means to Atlanta and me repping for the city and me making that vision. It definitely is a special record and I'm glad to be a part of it. It's exciting, especially for what it means to the culture."

Ludacris & T.I. Headline Music Midtown

T.I. and Ludacris have been announced as among the headliners for Atlanta's 2012 Music Midtown Festival. The two-day event takes place September 21st and 22nd in Atlanta's Piedmont Park. The festival made its much-celebrated return to the city in 2011 after several years on hiatus.

T.I. and the Foo FIghters are among the headliners on Saturday, the 21st; with Ludacris headlining on Sunday along with Pearl Jam and more; including Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Van Hunt, Civil Twilight and O’Brother.

During its first relaunch last year, the festival was only a one-day showcase. This year makes its return as a two-day event.

Ludacris Starring In New Movie

Rapper/actor Ludacris has reportedly been tapped to star in an upcoming film called Parking Lot Pimpin'. The movie reportedly centers around two friends who take a late night joyride after one of them (Luda's character) breaks up with his girlfriend.

No other participants' names have currently been revealed to the media regarding the film.

Filming is expected to begin in April. Ludacris has appeared in two of the popular Fast & the Furious films, Hustle and Flowand the Oscar-winning film Crashand on several television shows.

Ludacris Supports Nicki Minaj?

Hip hop superstar Ludacris has made it clear who he's rooting for at this year's Grammy awards. The Atlanta rapper says that he wants his "My Chick Bad" co-star Nicki Minaj to take home Best New Artist honors at the awards show.

Luda is a big fan of Nicki and has rooted for her career thus far.

"I'm looking forward to seeing Nicki Minaj. I love her. I'm glad I got a chance to work with her. I'm extremely proud of her," he said. "She's just scratching the surface of what she's capable of. So, Nicki: keep doing your thing, girl."

Ludacris Announces Album Release Date

Hip hop superstar Ludacris has announced that his upcoming album, Ludaversal, is slated to be released in May. Luda also revealed that he will be reuniting with frequent collaborator Usher on the project, as well as several other 'surprise' guests.

“Usher is one person that I've already worked with," he says. "And in terms of other artists, you can say that there's going to be a lot of surprises on here."

“I've pretty much collected about 80 percent of the beats that I need and I've started writing ideas on them. First I have to love the beat, absolutely love it,” he said. “It's been a minute since I've been away from music, and there is just so much to talk about… So [the album] is mostly about my personal life, my travels, my experiences, rumors, gossip -- you know, everything coming together in one."

Ludacris Closing Straits Restaurant

Rapper/entrepreneur Ludacris will be closing his restaurant, Straits Atlanta. The eatery is Luda's first entry into the restaurant business, but following his announcement that he plans to open a new restaurant called Chicken-N-Beer at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, he will be closing Strait's doors.

"As I continue to learn and evolve as a businessman, I am extremely excited to put my restaurateur footprint into a new venture inside the busiest international airport in the United States, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport," said Luda. "Straits was a great segue into the industry and with Chicken N Beer I can create my own concept. I look forward to expanding my creativity and driving to a much higher plane."

Straits Atlanta opened in 2008 in Atlanta's Midtown neighborhood.

EXCLUSIVE: Jay-Z's 40/40 Denied

HipHopBlog has learned that hip hop mogul Jay-Z's bid to put a 40/40 Club in the Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport has been denied. Atlanta's city council decided against the venture and voted it down after 9 hours of debate.

It has been suggested that prospects for Jay's Atlanta 40/40 Club were already dim; as it was not recommended by the office of Mayor Kasim Reed. This, despite the fact that Jay-Z spent significant time with Reid as he lobbied for the contract.

Jay announced the proposed venture early in 2011. It should be noted that fellow hip hop star Ludacris revealed that he will be opening his own restaurant, Chicken & Beer, at Hartsfield Jackson. The airport is the busiest in the world.

Big Sean Still Not Mad At Ludacris?

Big Sean still refuses to dive into a war of words with Ludacris. Luda dissed Sean and Drake on his track "Badaboom," but Big Sean isn't taking the bait.

Reitering his stance from earlier this year, Sean wishes Ludacris well and claims he bears no ill will towards the Atlanta rap superstar.

“If somebody says something bad about me, I’m like oh well. But the fact that it was a year later and he’s still hanging onto it," he says. "But you know, it’s all love. I ain’t got nothing against dude at all, for real. I hope he has a great year for real.”

Ghostface Killah On Luda/Drake Feud

Ghostface Killah addressed the feud between veteran rapper Ludacris and Young Money star Drake. Ghost, for his part, dismissed the subliminal disses between the two rappers and says hip hop stars with influence should be focused on bigger things than beefing.

"It is what it is, it's rap music. I'm not trying to get into any little kid sh*t. You know what I mean," he said in an interview. "I'm a grown man, B. You know what I mean? Grown men do grown men things. We don't got no time. We gotta get this money, man. Unless these n*ggas are already sitting on it, you know what I mean, but enough of that. You know what I mean? We should be getting at the real enemy, you know what I mean? That had us oppressed for all those years. Not at each other right now."

Drake Responds To Ludacris

The fallout continues from Ludacris subliminal diss track "Badaboom." The Atlanta rapper accused fellow stars Big Sean and Drake of stealing his rhyme style and calling it their own. After Ludacris got all of hip hop's attention last week with the release of "Badaboom," Sean responded to the diss by downplaying and saying that he never meant any disrespect to the veteran emcee.

Now, Drake has also succinctly let his feelings be known regarding the controversy.

"@BigSean You awlready know. I wish they'd just let young n***as live...respect always," Drake tweeted to Big Sean last night (November 21.)

There hasn't been any 'official' response on record from Drake or Big Sean.

Bill O'Reilly Donated To Ludacris?

Rapper Ludacris revealed that his arch-nemesis, FOX News pundit Bill O'Reilly, donated money to the Atlanta star's Ludacris Foundation after the two ran into each other at a White House event. The two sparred via the media for years, but Luda says O'Reilly was forced to put up or shut up.

“Long story short, there’s nothing he could do. I think he talks about certain people but he never thinks he’s going to meet these people in person - let alone the type of events and the circles that he’s in, that these rappers are sometimes going to be in those same circles,” he said. “He started talking to me about he heard about a lot of the charity work I’ve done with the Ludacris Foundation. This is how he eased into it. He was like, ‘Yeah man, I hear you’ve done good work and I think that maybe I should make a donation to your foundation.’ This is how he got me to calm down. I’m like, ‘You want to make a donation?’ I was like, ‘Well what do I need to do to make that happen immediately, like ASAP?’”

“I can’t let everybody know how much the donation was, but at the end of the day, after all of this craziness, Bill O’Reilly ended up writing a check to me to my foundation after approaching him in person,” Luda said.

Big Sean Responds To Ludacris

Rapper Big Sean is addressing the buzz surrounding Ludacris' "Badaboom" track, which supposedly disses Sean and fellow rap star Drake. Sean tried to downplay the dispute between he and Ludacris over who originated what Sean dubbed the 'Supa Dupa' flow.

"Ya'll sure [the song] is about me? 'Cause I didn't hear no name or nothing, " he said. "I ain't got no problems with Luda, I never did. I think he's referring to an interview I did over a year ago. Literally over a year ago. But in the interview I said he's a legend. I respect people who is ahead of me. I respect OGs and the Gs in general. The only thing I said--[the interviewers] was telling me about the "Supa Dupa" flow. They call it the Supa Dupa flow because on Big Sean my second mixtape I had a flow on there where I was using one word to describe another word in a punchline form."

"I feel like Drake made it more popular on the song 'Forever.' A lot of people thought Drake made that up and this was new, and Drake was like, 'I could trace that back to Big Sean actually on his mixtape. That's where I first heard it. I think that's where a lot of emcees got it from,'" he continued. "That's what Drake said. So people was telling me, 'This is your flow.' And I'm like, 'Alright.'"

"I'm pretty sure it was done before [Luda] but I'm just saying where it came from now," Sean added. "We talkin' about now…I'm not trying to debate and say, 'I was the first to do this ever.' I'm just saying that's just where it was between us. So [some interviewers] asked me, 'What's a good example of [the Supa Dupa flow] and what's a bad example of it?' And I think I said [Luda's] 'balloons' line. But I'm telling you this was over a year ago. I can't believe this was something that's been lingering this long…I don't have no problems with Luda. I didn't even know he cared that much, for a year, to be thinking about what I said in interviews…I think Luda is the best, I think he's a legend."

Ludacris Disses Big Sean & Drake?

Ludacris just released his "1.21 Gigawatts" mixtape, and his track "Badaboom" has already garnered its fair share of controversy. If Luda was looking to make a noisy re-entrance into the game after a lengthy hiatus, he definitely accomplished just that.

Luda fires some shots at Big Sean and Drake for co-opting the "Supa Dupa" flow style and claiming they invented it.

“Counterfeit rappers say I’m stealing they flows / But I can’t steal what you never made up, b*tch! / Y’all some duplicate rap cloning n***as / I manufacture you hoes put on your makeup, b*tch!” he raps. “Let me explain, nothing’s been new since Big Daddy Kane / Flows been recycled passed around to different names. “Eleven years and still counting / And y’all get a couple of hit records, make some noise and have the nerve to start shouting?” he continues. “You lyin’ to yaself, just admit it / May not like the way I used it, but you know you ain’t invent it, boy / Do your research before you make a claim so bogus that’s disrespecting pioneers in the game.” Big Sean has claimed that he invented the flow--which he named--and Drake popularized.

Milla Jovovich Praises "Badaboom"

Ludacris' fiery track "Badaboom" has been getting a lot of attention online. The veteran rapper takes shots at youngsters Drake and Big Sean on the song, and the entire Web seems to be buzzing over the Atlanta superstar's take-no-prisoners return to hip hop.

One fan, apparently, is Hollywood actress Milla Jovovich.

Milla tweeted her praise of the track, which samples a clip from her hit 1995 film The 5th Element.

"How cool is this?! Jovovich tweeted. "Ludacris using "5th element" in his song!"