The internet may have declared Chris “Ludacris” Bridges the winner of his Verzuz battle against Cornell “Nelly” Haynes on the strength of his catalog alone, but some questionable lyrics on a new song he debuted during the faceoff has some fans on the fence, which he addressed during a recent interview.
Ludacris pulled out hit on top of hit from his bag of lyrical tricks during the Instagram Live battle against Nelly on May 16 and all was going well until he decided to drop some new hotness on viewers during the show. When Luda premiered an unreleased track featuring Lil Wayne called “Silence of the Lambs,” viewers were caught off-guard when he seemed to shout out R. Kelly and Bill Cosby at the beginning of the track.
“The world’s screwed and n—-s pouring drinks like Bill Huxtable/I love R. Kelly, but around my daughters I’m not comfortable,” he raps in the opening of the song.
The Atlanta-based rapper joined the TV and radio host to talk about the successful Verzuz battle, which garnered over 400,000 views and addressed the controversy during the interview. When Tigger asked Luda — around the 32:59 mark of the interview — what he meant by the lyrics the “Yeah!” lyricist expertly flipped the question back to the host.
“Yeah, sometimes when you speak on records, you speaking like it’s just me and you having a conversation as friends,” answered Ludacris. “You know, you just speaking and just being honest. I saw that a lot of people kind of misconstrued or didn’t like really understand what it was that I was saying, but again, Tig, you’re a very smart man. Let me just ask you what did you think I meant when I said that?”
The former “Rap City” host, who is also a friend of Luda’s, responded with his interpretation of the message. “Knowing you the way I know you, you probably meant I love his music and what he brought to the table, but I am a father of daughters and you not gon’ be around my daughters,” he replied.
Luda agreed, calling Tigger a “smart man” and stating that he hit the nail on the head. “You a smart man bro…It’s that simple. It’s that simple there’s nothing else to put to it. It’s that simple.”
The immediate reaction to the lyrics wasn’t great, to put it lightly, but only time will tell as to whether or not the explanation is enough for fans to give him a pass.
Luda went on to say that he’s looking to drop the final version of the track this week, as well as a song featuring Chance the Rapper, which he teased will come after the release of “Silence of the Lambs.”
