Ludacris Breaks Down His 9 Favorite Rap Lyrics of All Time

What's going on, ladies and gentlemen?

I go by the name of Ludacris.

I'm here to break down some gold bars

from my favorite rappers.

Right now, I'm gonna pay some homage to

the one and only Pimp C, may he rest in peace,

one of my favorite rappers of all time.

It was a song from C-Murder.

It was called Akickdoe.

And there were four bars that are very memorable to me.

They are a part of my DNA, a part of my childhood.

He said, The game's fucked up,

and I ain't got no friends

and I done spent my last $70,000 on a drop-top Benz.

Cause I'm a trill nigga,

down to put the .45 to his Hilfiger.

The greatest four bars in rap ever.

Why?

Just because he meant every goddamn word that he said.

When you get in this rap game,

you're starting to lose friends.

You have success, you start to get money.

Money and friends, it's just, it's very difficult to

mix business and pleasure.

Then when he said,

I spent my last $70,000 on a drop-top Benz,

sometimes you want to live

like tomorrow's not promised today.

That's what he meant,

'cause I'm gonna shine today.

When he says trill, obviously UGK coined this term trill,

which is true and real mixed together.

And then he said, I'm down to put the .45 to his Hilfiger.

A lot of rappers in this game talk a lot about violence

and shooting people and guns,

but he's one of the individuals that's really down to do it,

really down to kill someone if he had to.

So yeah, they were the trillest

four bars of rap music to me.

I got another one from Pimp C.

From the song Wood Wheel, literally

one of my favorite songs of all time.

Pimp C started off the song by saying,

I'm up early,

my niggas don't sell dope after nighttime.

Love choppin' blades, rollin' hoopties,

movin' dope through the pipeline.

Pimp C bitch, holla at yo' bitch,

now yo' bitch on my team.

Gotta find that sticky green

lace up with promethazine.

Candy sweets, a candy bitch you lookin' at a candy boy.

I done came down Main and popped trunk,

hit the switch on my candy toy.

We all young ghetto boys,

that's why we act this way.

Tryin' to see a million dollars,

hopin' these niggas don't blast today.

There's so many different meanings in that there.

So, UGK, Pimp C, and Bun B, they've been drinking lean

since way before any of the rappers

that you could possibly remember

and some of the H-Town rappers, right.

So, when he said, laced up with promethazine,

this is years before you started hearing people like

Lil Wayne and other individuals say it.

Again, he's coming from a mindset

of a young man from the hood, where he's saying,

We all just tryin' to see a million dollars.

And it was funny when he started off the song by saying,

We up early.

The early bird gets the worm when it comes to selling dope.

A lot of people you know that sell dope after dark,

not his crew.

They sell dope early, all throughout the day.

Also, when he was saying, Candy sweets,

candy bitch you lookin' at a candy boy, my candy toy,

and all this talk about candy,

that originated in H-Town.

And UGK were definitely some of the first individuals

to really make it known on a grand scale.

And he was really just talking about his culture.

Hip-hop is all about talking about where you from

and what goes on in your hood.

No matter where you're from,

all hoods obviously have similarities.

It's like we're all the same person.

We just from different hoods.

And so, to hear the slight differences

that may go on in the culture of the hood

in Port Arthur or Houston, Texas,

it's just good to know because

we all doing certain drugs,

now this is the drug of choice.

It happens to be in this particular neighborhood.

Andre 3000 on the song Elevators from Outkast.

True I got more fans than the average man

but not enough loot to last me to the end of the week.

I live by the beat like you live check to check.

If you don't move your feet, then I don't eat,

so we like neck to neck.

Andre 3000 is a rapper's rapper.

He not only speaks from an industry perspective,

but he speaks just from a perspective of everyday life.

He's basically saying that a fan came up to him

and was like, Man, I know you guys make so much money.

And so, Andre is replying to him on a level of,

listen man, we can only make money

if the fans love our music.

Therefore, we have to put so much into making sure

that you guys are riding to your cars listening to it,

that you're dancing to it.

The moment that the fans don't like any of our songs

is the moment that we're out of business,

so yes, that money comes and it goes.

And that's why we have to continue to record.

One of my favorite verses from Eminem,

from the song, 'Till I Collapse, featuring Nate Dogg.

I just feel like he spazzed the hell out on this record.

My thoughts are sporadic.

I act like I'm an addict.

I rap like I'm addicted to smack like I'm Kim Mathers.

But I don't wanna go forth and back in constant battles.

The fact is I would rather sit back and bomb some rappers.

So this is like a full-blown attack I'm launchin' at 'em.

The track is on some battlin' raps who want some static.

Cause I don't really think

that the fact that I'm Slim matters.

A plaque and platinum status is wack

if I'm not the baddest.

He says a lot of different things in that verse

that are just all over the place.

The ending line is basically like,

it doesn't matter how many records you sell.

If you don't have respect in this game,

then it means absolutely nothing.

Just everything about that verse is incredible to me.

From a critic's standpoint,

from someone who wants to sing along standpoint,

the cadences, the rhythm, the flow, everything,

one of the best verses ever.

Ten Crack Commandments by Notorious B.I.G., Biggie.

I've been in this game for years, it made me a animal.

There's rules to this shit,

I wrote me a manual,

a step-by-step booklet for you to get

your game on track, not your wig pushed back.

Rule numero uno: never let no one know

how much dough you hold cause you know

the cheddar breed jealousy 'specially

if yo' man fucked up, get yo' ass stuck up.

Obviously, this song had an impact

for so many different reasons.

Hip-hop music is all about putting people on the game.

He's just kinda giving you the extreme tips

to not get killed and to not get caught by the police

because he's been doing it for so long.

At the end of the day, it caused a lot of controversy,

but he was just speaking from experience.

There's no one in this world

that could have put it more blatant,

more direct in the way that Biggie did.

People still don't listen to that advice til this day.

Everybody wants to let everybody know

how much money they have.

That's a mistake that a lot of people make.

One of my favorite, if not my favorite 16 bars in hip-hop,

yes that is a strong statement,

but this is my opinion, so fuck what you think.

Cam'ron, off the Come Home With Me album,

the name of the track is The Roc (Just Fire).

Just Blaze produced the track.

You got Beanie Sigel on the record.

You have Memphis Bleek on the record.

Cam'ron rounds it up and goes last.

Oh my god.

Just listen to what I'm about to tell you guys.

He says, Go 'head stupid niggas, go fuck wit' them chicks.

I'm the third little piggy, I'm-a fuck wit' them bricks.

Better yet the bakery, I got pies and cakes.

Niggas think doublin' is turnin' five to eight.

I turn eight to 20, 20 to 100, 100 to 1000,

that to 100,000.

In front of housin', closed the mall down, dog,

no one's allowed in.

I'm coppin' everything, I'm done wit' browsin'.

It's the top don glock palm dot com,

get your shit rocked ma like Hasim Rahman.

And I'm extra scary, CEOs all the frontin' ain't necessary.

I fuck they secretaries,

all for information, it ain't necessary.

They in love like the 14th of February,

play 'em like April 1st right before I slide off.

It could be March 2nd sound like July 4th.

How do you start off a verse and rap better than that?

I'm the third little piggy, I'm-a fuck with some bricks.

I fucking love it, I fucking love this verse, man.

He's just basically saying, cash first, women later.

There's so many elements to this verse

that are dope for so many reasons because

he's laying the foundation of what rap music,

drug dealers, hustlers, rappers are--

He's basically saying everything,

the foundation of what this is made off of,

and he's teaching you, he's educating you.

He's telling you about how he feels

and not only about getting cash,

about working, about women, about his women.

Yeah, get your shit rocked ma like Hasim Rahman.

Everybody knows how huge this guy's eye was

when he was in the boxing ring, that epic fight,

so yeah, nobody wants to get their shit rocked like that.

Cam'ron is one of my favorites

just because he's kinda like me,

a lot of wit, a lot of humor.

He set a precedent, and I think he lets people know

he's not afraid to say whatever the fuck is on his mind.

He's still like that to this day.

So, I got one of my mine.

This is the four bars of fury

that a lot of people remember from me

from Mouthing Off off my first album.

People still come up to me til this day and say,

I make niggas eat dirt and fart dust.

Then give you a $80 gift certificate to Pussies R Us.

I eat the whole pie, leave nothing but the crust,

so you can feel what it's like with instinct but no guts,

a sack with no nuts or a mack with no sluts.

Give me a full-body massage, I still can't be touched.

All I can say is that

where the fuck does this shit come from?

There's no place called Pussies R Us.

Even if there were, it's not like

people are gonna give gift certificates to this place.

Only me, only I could have done that, humbly speaking.

That's what makes me me.

Man, Ludaversal's like my favorite album.

There was one song called Lyrical Healing

that I started off and said,

So many rappers actin' sensitive.

Ya'll should start a pussy ass nigga initiative

Cause even when I'm not mic'd up, I'll fuck your life up.

Come to your show when ya crowdsurfin' and hold a knife up.

I tell your momma you ain't shit, I hope you all skydive

and land in an alligator pit.

I was thinking, man, everybody's so sensitive these days.

Rappers are tweefing.

I don't even call it beefing anymore.

It's like you on Twitter and you beefing.

I personally can never understand that.

If your emotions are that strong towards another person,

why are you using your thumbs?

Go see this person.

That's how you settle things like face to face.

Last one, Beast Mode.

This is the greatest shit ever.

In a black Rolls Royce, Dark Knight like Batman.

Everywhere you turn the ghost follows like Pac-Man.

And I sleep with the John Dillinger

and always keep an eye half-open like Forest Whitaker.

I'm saying I sleep with my gun,

like when you sleep, you always keep an eye open.

But I'm saying I keep an eye half-open like Forest Whitaker

at all times, so nothing gets past me.

I don't even know how Forest Whitaker felt about that line,

but he had to listen to it and be like,

I can't even be mad at that.

That was a fucking phenomenal rap line.

I'm my biggest fan.

I'm talking about a lot of lyrics

from a lot of different people here today.

Ludacris is Ludacris's biggest fan, period.

So, there you have it.

Those are my gold bars.

Agree with them or disagree,

I don't give a fuck what you think

because they're my personal favorites.