Theater of the Mind

Theater of the Mind
Studio album by Ludacris
Released	November 22, 2008 (2008-11-22) (See release dates)
Recorded	January 2, 2007 – September 13, 2008
Genre	Hip hop
Length	60:15
Label	Disturbing tha Peace, Def Jam
Producer	DJ Premier, 9th Wonder, Clinton Sparks & Kamau Georges, Sean Garrett, Wyldfyer, Scott Storch, Trackmasters, Don Cannon, StreetRunner, Swizz Beatz, Darkchild, DJ Toomp, The Runners
Ludacris chronology
Release Therapy (2006) Theater of the Mind (2008) Battle of the Sexes (2010) Singles from Theater of the Mind "What Them Girls Like" Released: August 7, 2008 "One More Drink" Released: October 28, 2008 "Nasty Girl" Released: January 20, 2009

Theater of the Mind is the sixth studio album by American hip hop artist Ludacris. It was released on November 22, 2008. Ludacris calls the album "theatrical."

Background

The album was slated for release on October 21, but was pushed back to November 22. In April 2008, a song named "Let's Stay Together" appeared on xxlmag.com; supposedly from the new album. It is now an iTunes bonus song on Theater of the Mind. Toomp has worked on this album. T.I. appeared on a track called "Wish You Would".

The album cover was released on October 24, 2008 at wemix.com. The cover is an homage to Sly and The Family Stone's Life album, which had the band appearing as all the cinemas goers in the picture. Ludacris planned on releasing a sequel to this album in 2009.

In ’09, I’m definitely dropping another album. I’m working on a Battle of the Sexes album and a Theater of the Mind 2. With Battle of the Sexes, I’m trying to do some stuff with Shawnna."

Ludacris has been talking to T.I. and Young Jeezy about a tour together.

"I haven't confirmed anything yet. It's little talks here and there. But I'll put it out there: I would love to do a tour where it's me, T.I. and [Young] Jeezy. Me, Tip and Jeezy would be outrageous. But nothing is confirmed at the moment."

Guests

Ludacris stated before the release of the album that, rather than featuring "guests", the tracks would have "co-stars", in keeping with the concept of the album as a "movie". "Co-stars" on Theater of the Mind include Nas, Plies, Jay-Z, T.I., Common, T-Pain, Willy Northpole, Rick Ross, Playaz Circle, Ving Rhames, Chris Rock, Spike Lee, Chris Brown, Sean Garrett, Lil Wayne, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Jamie Foxx, and The Game.

The Preview

Ludacris released a "Gangsta Grillz" mixtape with DJ Drama called The Preview. The mixtape was released as a download on July 28, 2008. This mixtape is known for the disses toward George Bush, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain.

Leaks

On October 24, 2008, three songs from Theater of the Mind, "Do the Right Thing", featuring Common and Spike Lee, "I Do It for Hip Hop", featuring Jay-Z and Nas, and "Last of a Dying Breed", featuring Lil Wayne were leaked to the Internet. Ludacris commented on the situation:

Although I don't know where the leaks came from, the 3 songs leaked to the Internet today were unfinished tracks and premature versions of songs. I'm glad that my fans are excited about the new project, but to get the final masterpiece, the album Theater of the Mind premieres on November 24.

Singles

Official singles

• The first official single is "What Them Girls Like", featuring Chris Brown & Sean Garrett. The single peaked at #33 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• The second official single is "One More Drink", featuring T-Pain, peaking at #24 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• The third single is confirmed to be "Nasty Girl", featuring Plies.

Other songs

• The first promo single is "Wish You Would", featuring T.I..
• The second promo single is "Undisputed", featuring Floyd Mayweather Jr..
• The song "Last of a Dying Breed", featuring Lil Wayne, peaked at #65 on the Billboard 100.

Reception

Chart performance

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	2008
The A.V. Club	(B) 2008
Billboard	(favorable) 2008
Blender	2008
The Boston Globe	(favorable) 2008
Entertainment Weekly	(B) 2008
Now	2008
Pitchfork Media	(5.3/10) 2009
Rolling Stone	2008
XXL	(XL) 2008
Slant Magazine	[1]

Though the album was well received by music critics, it debuted at number five on the Billboard 200, selling 214,000 copies in its first week, making it his sixth top 5 album. It was his first album since 2000's Back for the First Time and 2001's Word of Mouf to not reach number one status, and his lowest charting album in his career. As of March 2010, the album has sold about 671,000 copies, achieving a gold certification.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Intro"	Bridges, Harr, Jackson	The Runners	1:55
2.	"Undisputed" (featuring Floyd "Money" Mayweather)	Bridges, Cannon, Hunter, Verdi	Don Cannon	4:33
3.	"Wish You Would" (featuring T.I.)	Bridges, Davis, Harris, Utley	DJ Toomp, 8TRIX	4:47
4.	"One More Drink" (featuring T-Pain)	Barnes, Olivier, Bowen, Bridges, Mosely	Trackmasters	3:41
5.	"Call Up the Homies" (featuring Game and Willy Northpole)	Adams, Bridges, Sparks, Taylor	Clinton Sparks, Kamau Georges	4:04
6.	"Southern Gangsta" (featuring Rick Ross, Playaz Circle and Ving Rhames)	Bridges, Conyers, Epps, Roberts, Warwar	StreetRunner	4:34
7.	"Everybody Hates Chris" (featuring Chris Rock)	Bridges, Bristol, Cannon, Robinson	Don Cannon	4:54
8.	"What Them Girls Like" (featuring Chris Brown and Sean Garrett)	Bridges, Garrett, Jerkins	Darkchild, Sean Garrett (co)	4:02
9.	"Nasty Girl" (featuring Plies)	Bridges, Dean, Washington	Swizz Beatz	4:32
10.	"Contagious" (featuring Jamie Foxx)	Boyd, Bridges, Storch	Scott Storch	4:45
11.	"Last of a Dying Breed" (featuring Lil Wayne)	Barrier, Bridges, Carter, Coleman, Donaggio, Fowler, Griffin, Pallavicini	Wyldfyer	4:10
12.	"MVP"	Bridges, Martin	DJ Premier	3:50
13.	"I Do It for Hip Hop" (featuring Nas and Jay-Z)	Bridges, Carter, Coleman, Fowler, Jones	Wyldfyer	5:22
14.	"Do the Right Thang" (featuring Common and Spike Lee)	Bridges, Douthit, Lynn, Verocai	9th Wonder	5:14

iTunes Store bonus tracks
No.	Title	Producer(s)	Length
15.	"Let's Stay Together"	Three 6 Mafia	4:22
16.	"Press the Start Button"	Dre & Vidal	4:00

• "Press the Start Button" its only released for the iTunes Dutch version

Sample credits

• "Undisputed" contains samples of "We'll Find a Way", performed by Edwin Starr
• "One More Drink", contains samples of "Take That To The Bank", performed by Shalamar
• "Everybody Hates Chris", contains samples of "It Takes a Whole Lotta Man for a Woman Like Me", performed by Gladys Knight & the Pips
• "Last of a Dying Breed", contains samples of "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me", performed by Dusty Springfield, and "Eric B. Is President", performed by Eric B. & Rakim
• "MVP", contains samples of Virgo, performed by Nas, "DTP for Life" performed by Disturbing tha Peace, and "All Night Long", performed by Mary Jane Girls
• "I Do It for Hip Hop", contains samples of Long Red, performed by Mountain
• "Do the Right Thang", contains samples of Na Boca Do Sol, performed by Arthur Verocai
• "Let's Stay Together", contains samples of Everybody's Breakin' Up, performed by Billy Paul

Personnel

• Joseph Alexander – keyboards
• Wayne Allison – engineer
• Chris Atlas – marketing
• Ken Bailey – A&R
• Christian Baker – engineer
• Dru Betts – vocals
• Leslie Brathwaite – mixing
• Don Cannon – engineer, score
• Andrew Coleman – engineer
• Jeff Dixon – executive producer
• DJ Premier – score
• Mike Donaldson – editing
• 8TRIX – score
• Jose "Zeek" Fendrick – A&R
• Zach Fisher – engineer
• Morgan Garcia – engineer
• Sean Garrett – score
• Kamau Georges – background vocals, mixing, score
• Jason Goldstein – mixing
• Don Goodrick – assistant

• Inaam Haq – engineer
• Artemus Jenkins – video director
• Eric Jensen – engineer
• Rodney Jerkins – score
• E. Jones – keyboards, keyboard arrangements
• Terese Joseph – A&R
• Doug Joswick – package production
• Gimel "Young Guru" Katon – mixing
• Erik Madrid – assistant
• Brandon Pena – mixing
• Mike Miller – assistant
• Aiyisha Obafemi Mitchell – marketing
• Nick Nastasi – assistant
• Rich Nice – A&R
• 9th Wonder – keyboard arrangements
• Erica Novich – A&R
• Dave Pensado – mixing
• Christian Plata – assistant
• Poke & Tone – drums
• Will Ragland – art direction, design
• Orlando Rashid – engineer
• Charles Roane – mixing
• J. Peter Robinson – art direction, design

• The Runners – score
• Glenn Schick – mastering
• Derrick Selby – engineer
• Clinton Sparks – score
• Chris Stanford – photography
• Scott Storch – score
• Crystal Streets – stylist
• Swizz Beatz – score
• Neo Tanusakdi – engineer
• Sean Taylor – A&R
• Justin Trawick – assistant
• Javier Valverde – engineer
• Miles Walker – engineer
• Brian Warwick – engineer
• Finis "KY" White – engineer
• Mike "Hitman" Wilson – engineer
• Wyldfyre – score
• Keke and Amy — production coordination
• Mayne Zane – background vocals
• Chaka Zulu – executive producer

Release dates

Country	Date
Switzerland, Jamaica	December 4, 2008
United Kingdom	November 24, 2009
United States, Australia, Canada, Japan	November 24, 2008
Poland	December 9, 2008
Mexico	December 11, 2008
South Africa	January 18, 2009
Egypt	October 2, 2008
Ireland	February 15, 2009
Italy	February 9, 2009
India, Argentina, France, Germany, Greece, Brazil	November 16, 2008
New Zealand	March 5, 2009
Middle East, Costa Rica	January 16, 2009

Charts

Chart (2008)	Peak position
Canadian Albums Chart	22
Swiss Albums Chart	46
U.S. Billboard 200	5
U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums	2
U.S. Billboard Top Rap Albums	1