Ludacris is under fire once again. This time he’s targeted by
activist groups who claimed the rapper exploited and degraded several women
by having them walk around without any clothing at the release party for his
latest album The Red Light District in Atlanta, Georgia.
Instead of denying the claims the MC, birthed Christopher Bridges, openly defended
his decision, stating that the women who were hired were strippers courting
entertainment, rather than embarrassment.
"It was tasteful. We just wanted to give the guys and the girls a little
eye candy," Ludacris told connectmusic.com. "Nothing bad went on."
In addition he went on to state that the entire concept was a strategic business
move to develop a buzz throughout the city.
"With my party, we kinda had it themed out," Ludacris continued. "It
was more like a marketing strategy. You had girls walking around and it was
tasteful. It [was] like the talk of the town."
In related news, Ludacris is scheduled to appear at a settlement conference
February 4 alongside Kanye West to negotiate an agreement between the two and
New Jersey based rap collective, I.O.F.
The group filed a copyright-infringement suit against Def Jam
in April of 2004 stating that Luda and West allegedly jacked the chorus off
of one of their songs "Straight Like That" and featured it on Luda’s
2003 smash single "Stand Up."
The Group says that they distributed copies of their demo, which included "Stright
Like That" to both Ludacris and West.
As of press time, representatives from the Island Def Jam Music
Group were unavailable for comment.
