Ludacris, Leader of H.U.M.A.N.Z.

ILLUSTRATION by LUKE MCGARRY

The huge Ludacris news now is that the Atlanta rapper is gong to open a high-end Singaporean diner—there’s a new album scheduled for this year, too, but the restaurant is probably going to be ready for your American dollars first. Plus two Luda movies, one regular (Guy Ritchie crime story) and one ridiculous (Luda leads the H.U.M.A.N.Z. resistance in a sinister real-life version of the Sims, which would work if Richard Kelly was in to direct) and both ready for Bill O’Reilly rage, if Bill O’Reilly is desperate for ratings jumps. If only he flew helicopters, too, Ludacris would be fully in charge of the Kristofferson tradition of American musical everythingism: write, record, act, and maintain a quality racket on the side, and “What’s Your Fantasy?” is another way to say “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” anyway. Promised album Theater of the Mind is camouflaged now—early rumors had Paris Hilton and Premier both contributing, which can’t probably be true—but confirmed track “Down in Tha Durty” starts as a Link Wray line over low-end that would shake flakes off drywall, and more months to wait for more tracks like that is reasonable for all parties involved. And if you’d like, you can arrange to eat one of Ludacris’ stingray dishes in the meantime.

LUDACRIS THE WALTER PYRAMID AT CAL STATE LONG BEACH | ATHERTON AND MERIDIAN BETWEEN PALO VERDES AND BELLFLOWER | LONG BEACH 90840 | SAT 8PM, ALL AGES, $35-55 | CSULB.EDU

Tags: cal state long beach, hip hop, Long Beach, ludacris, Music