I Will Destroy Your Favorite Rapper

With his next Hollywood blockbuster and an album coming in the next few weeks, Ludacris pumps his brakes on the cover of VIBE‘s new digital issue.

VIBE: Ludaversal is your first album in five years. How has that time affected your approach to this album?
Ludacris: I didn’t mean for it to be like this. I took a little time off because after seven consecutive albums you need to get inspired again to have some shit to write about. However, I didn’t mean for it to be five years—more like three. When we were shooting Furious 7, of course there was the untimely death of our friend Paul Walker. Production got shut down and everything got pushed back an entire year. In the end, everything ended up working out perfectly because I was able to get rid of some records and continue to record and make the greatest body of work possible.

You’ve said that this is one of your more personal records.
Yeah, Ludaversal is inviting you into my world. I’m definitely getting vulnerable, talking about subject matter I don’t really talk about. One song is called “Ocean Skies”; it’s about my father, with Monica singing on it. It’s talking about his alcoholism. The reason I wanted to finally do that is because I felt like it’s bigger than myself, bigger than my father. There are people out there that can relate—[I want] to encourage those individuals to spend as much time with your parents as you possibly can. Because one day they might be gone. There’s another record called “Grass is Always Greener,” which is definitely personal to me. I think everybody can relate because no matter what you’re doing, you’re always looking at something else like it’s better than what you have.