You’ve stayed out of the beef for most of your career. The only really notable one you had was with T.I. Have you spoken to him since he started dealing with his legal woes?

Ludacris: No, I have not, but of course God bless him and his family.

Since you’re both Atlanta heavyweights, could you see yourself picking up the slack when he has to go away for a year?

Ludacris: Well, I never looked at it the way you put it. We’re both great artists from Atlanta and I feel like there are other great artists out of Atlanta. I always look at it on a worldly level and continue to put out good music sporadically or whenever I can. Mostly, I put out music every year. I’ve been doing a couple movies for the past year, so it kind of slowed me down a little bit as far as the music is concerned. But for the most part I’m going to stay consistent and I hope he does the same.

Earlier this year, 50 clashed with Bill O’Reilly. Did that take any of the burden off you?

Ludacris: There were rappers that were talked about before Mr. O’Reilly talked about me, and there were plenty of rappers that were talked about after. So, I never felt that it was necessarily a burden. I just took it on as a challenge and I never felt like he was just pointing the finger towards me. He’s pointing the finger at anybody that he feels is relevant in hip-hop.

Recently, a lot of rappers have been dropping tributes to Sean Bell. How do you feel about that case and how that went down?

Ludacris: I feel that it’s an injustice, 100 percent. The one thing that I do, is before I start speaking out about something is to get all the information gathered, because I would like to understand exactly what’s going on. People just automatically hear that these officers were acquitted, and...obviously it sounds like an injustice, and I do believe it is, but I’d like to gather more information myself before I take a stance and start putting out songs, and things of that nature. But I think that we have a long way to go in this world, as far as cases like this and the way that they’ve gone. I’m looking forward to an appeal in that case.

Would you ever leave rap alone altogether to focus on your other ventures?

Ludacris: No—I’m taking part in a lot of other things; I still love music as number one. Rap is what got me here. My passion is 100 percent still in it. I’m very blessed to be involved in many other things and diversifying businesses and real estate and acting. But do not get it twisted, rap music is what I love to do and I will continue doing it, especially with the lack of good music. I can have something to do with putting more good music back on the streets. Home // CELEBRITIES // WEB EXCLUSIVE // Ludacris