Credit: NRK P3

Ludacris landed himself a hit single in 2003 with ‘Stand Up’, a track that went on to appear on his fourth album Chicken-n-Beer. But the record wouldn’t have been the chart-topping Hot 100 record it was if it wasn’t for Kanye West‘s genius.

Ye, who was on the boards for ‘Stand Up’, was just a young producer for Roc-a-Fella Records at the time and flew to Atlanta to get in the studio with Ludacris. Although he was one of the biggest rappers at that point, he had never had a number one single. Leave that to Kanye West to solve.

“We were in this studio called Doppler Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, and you know, it’s so dope to think about this memory because it was literally just me, Kanye and an engineer,” Luda told GQ. “He had his ASR-10 with him, he goes and gets these samples. And there are not many sounds in this song, it might be like six sounds, but he’s so particular when it comes to sonics.”

Ludacris talked about Kanye West’s greatness as a producer and how much he recognised the attention to detail he put into the beat. With just a few sounds, he was able to make the record stand out from the crowd.

“To think about how that can become a hit song because of how things pierce through the speakers in a certain way and making sure that every sound is perfect, lets you know how great of a producer and how much [attention] he pays to every detail,” he said.

He added, “I just remember being in the studio and “stand up” just came to me. I went in the car and then I started writing the first verse, and it was just out of this world. That was a record where I was like, ‘I know this is a hit record.'”

‘Stand Up’ was nominated for ‘Best Rap Solo Performance’ at the Grammys and topped the R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart for four weeks in a row. Chicago rapper Shawnna was featured on the song, having previously collaborated with Ludacris on ‘What’s Your Fantasy’ in 2000.

Not only was it a commercial success, but it also gave him the respect he was craving in the Def Jam offices in New York City. Some of the biggest names like Jay-Z and DMX were dominating at the time, but once ‘Stand Up’ came up, people couldn’t help but pay attention to what Ludacris was doing.

“I remember Irv Gotti coming up to us, ’cause we were all in the Def Jam building at the same time,” he said. “Everybody had their different offices, you had Murder Inc., you had Roc-a-Fella, you had ours, Disturbing Tha Peace. That record came out, Irv Gotti was like, ‘Yo! That’s what a fucking first single supposed to sound like, man!'”

He continued, “We didn’t get that much love from everybody until they started embracing us over time. I was the only Southern artist in the building, everybody was New Yorked the fuck out. DMX was in there, Jay-Z, Ja Rule, Murder Inc., Roc-a-Fella, it was all New York. So once ‘Stand Up’ came out, them muthafuckas was like, ‘We embrace you. Welcome to New York, muthafucka.'”

Ludacris went on to achieve another Hot 100 number one in 2006 with ‘Money Maker’ alongside Pharrell. Another Release Therapy single, the Mary J. Blige-featured ‘Runaway Love’, also peaked at number two.