Word of Mouf is the third studio album by American rapper Ludacris. It was released on November 27, 2001, through Disturbing tha Peace and Def Jam South.
Recording sessions took place at PatchWerk Recording Studios, Dungeon Recording Studios and Noontime in Atlanta, Manhattan Center Studios, The Hit Factory and Quad Recording in New York, Hypnotized Minds Studio in Memphis and The Medicine Cabinet in Baton Rouge. Production was handled by Bangladesh, Jazze Pha, Organized Noize, I-20, Jook, KLC, Mike Johnson, P. King "The Specialist", Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, and Ludacris himself, who also served as executive producer together with Chaka Zulu. It features guest appearances from Fate Wilson, I-20, 4-Ize, Chimere, Jagged Edge, Jazze Pha, Keon Bryce, Mystikal, Nate Dogg, Shawnna, Sleepy Brown, Three 6 Mafia and Twista.
It was supported with four charted singles: "Rollout (My Business)", "Area Codes", "Move Bitch", and "Saturday (Oooh! Ooooh!)". Ludacris took part in the second edition of the Anger Management Tour in the summer of 2002. Headlined by Eminem along with support from Papa Roach, Xzibit, X-Ecutioners and Bionic Jive. It was his sole Tour where he toured alongside rap acts and rock acts in the same package.
The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards, but lost to The Eminem Show.
Critical reception
Word of Mouf was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 67 based on eight reviews.
In his mixed review, AllMusic's Jason Birchmeier called the album a "superstar affair that aims for mass appeal with a broad array of different styles" and enjoyed "witty puns and sly innuendoes" displayed in songs such as "Area Codes". On November 30, 2022, the album was certified four times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling 4,000,000 units in the US alone.
The album reached number 30 on the Canadian Albums and number 6 on the Canadian R&B Albums charts, and by June 27, 2002, was received platinum certification by Canadian Recording Industry Association for the sales of 100,000 copies in Canada.
In the United Kingdom, Word of Mouf peaked at number 57 on the UK Albums Chart, number 12 on the UK R&B Albums, and also number 74 on the Scottish Albums charts. It was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry on July 22, 2013, selling 100,000 copies in the UK.
Track listing
;Sample credits
- Track 7 contains a sample of "Do It ('Til You're Satisfied)" written by Billy Nichols and performed by B. T. Express.
- Track 8 contains excerpt from the composition "I Forgot to Be Your Lover" written by William Bell and Booker T. Jones and performed by William Bell.
;Notes
- Track 6, 9 and 11 are omitted from the clean version of the album.
- Track 18 is a bonus track containing "Welcome to Atlanta" as a hidden track that begins at 4:25 and lasts for 3:23 bringing the total time for track 18 to 7:48.
Personnel
- Christopher "Ludacris" Bridges – vocals, producer <small>(tracks: 6, 11)</small>, executive producer
- Mimi – additional vocals <small>(track 1)</small>
- Tauheed "Titty Boy" Epps – additional vocals <small>(track 1)</small>
- Shondrae "Bangladesh" Crawford – additional vocals <small>(track 1)</small>, producer <small>(tracks: 1, 3, 15, 16, 18)</small>
- Shawty – additional vocals <small>(track 1)</small>
- Bobby "I-20" Sandimanie – vocals <small>(tracks: 3, 10, 15, 18)</small>, producer <small>(tracks: 6, 11)</small>
- Arbie "Lil' Fate" Wilson – vocals <small>(tracks: 3, 5, 8, 15)</small>
- Paul "DJ Paul" Beauregard – vocals <small>(track 3)</small>
- Darnell "Crunchy Black" Carlton – vocals <small>(track 3)</small>
- Jordan "Juicy J" Houston – vocals <small>(track 3)</small>
- Brad "Scarface" Jordan – additional vocals <small>(track 4)</small>
- Nathaniel "Nate Dogg" Hale – vocals <small>(track 7)</small>
- Keon Bryce – vocals <small>(track 8)</small>
- Michael "Mystikal" Tyler – vocals <small>(track 10)</small>
- Patrick "Sleepy" Brown – vocals <small>(track 12)</small>, producer <small>(tracks: 5, 12)</small>
- Phalon "Jazze Pha" Alexander – additional background vocals <small>(track 7)</small>, vocals <small>(track 13)</small>, producer <small>(tracks: 7, 13)</small>
- Vennessa Rolle – additional vocals <small>(track 13)</small>
- Dimitrius "Meet Meet" Stevens – additional vocals <small>(track 13)</small>
- Jeff A. Williams – additional vocals <small>(track 13)</small>
- Al D. Dickerson – additional vocals <small>(track 13)</small>
- Parrish D. Williams – additional vocals <small>(track 13)</small>
- Gospel Pasalmist Roxyedock – additional vocals <small>(track 13)</small>
- Devynaire Soul – additional vocals <small>(track 13)</small>
- Nard Holston – additional vocals <small>(track 13)</small>
- Tony "4-Ize" Hayes III – vocals <small>(track 14)</small>, additional vocals <small>(track 16)</small>
- Rashawnna "Shawnna" Guy – vocals <small>(track 15)</small>
- Carl "Twista" Mitchell – vocals <small>(track 16)</small>
- Jagged Edge – vocals <small>(track 16)</small>
- Langston "Faizon Love" Santisima – additional vocals <small>(track 16)</small>
- Chimere Scott – additional vocals <small>(track 17)</small>
- Calvin Loatman – guitar <small>(track 5)</small>
- Marvin "Chanz" Parkman – piano <small>(track 5)</small>
- Ray Murray – bass <small>(track 5)</small>, producer <small>(tracks: 5, 12)</small>
- DJ JayCee – scratches <small>(track 5)</small>
- Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley – producer <small>(track 2)</small>
- Kasseem "Swizz Beatz" Dean – producer <small>(track 4)</small>
- Rico Wade – producer <small>(tracks: 5, 12)</small>
- Peter "P. King 'The Specialist'" Francis – producer <small>(track 8)</small>
- Mike Johnson – producer <small>(track 9)</small>
- Craig "KLC" Lawson – producer & mixing <small>(track 10)</small>
- Torrey "Jook" Cook – producer <small>(track 17)</small>
- Kevin Parker – recording <small>(track 1)</small>
- Jimmy Douglass – recording & mixing <small>(track 2)</small>
- Derrick Williams – recording <small>(tracks: 2, 16)</small>
- Josh Butler – recording <small>(tracks: 3, 16)</small>
- Chris Theis – recording <small>(track 4)</small>
- Sean Davis – recording <small>(track 5)</small>
- Ramone Campbell – recording <small>(track 5)</small>
- AJ Wolfe – recording <small>(track 7)</small>
- Michael "Mike Fresh" Wilson – recording <small>(tracks: 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18)</small>, mixing <small>(track 18)</small>
- Jason Rome – recording <small>(track 13)</small>
- Bill Importico – recording <small>(track 16)</small>
- Ismel "Nino" Ramos – recording <small>(track 17)</small>
- Ken "Duro" Ifill – mixing <small>(tracks: 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 15–18)</small>
- Pat Viala – mixing <small>(track 4)</small>
- Jason Staten – recording assistant <small>(tracks: 3, 8)</small>
- Rob Herrera – recording assistant <small>(track 4)</small>
- Malcolm Gossett – recording assistant <small>(track 10)</small>
- Kin Bengoa – recording assistant <small>(track 16)</small>
- Chaka Zulu – executive producer
- Tia Johnson – art direction, design
- Butch Belair – photography
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (2001–2002)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
! scope="row"|Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
|30
|-
! scope="row"|Canadian R&B Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
|6
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (2002)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
| 108
|-
! scope="row"| Canadian R&B Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
| 20
|-
! scope="row"| Canadian Rap Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
| 9
|-
! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 10
|-
! scope="row"| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)
| 2
|}
Certifications
See also
- List of Billboard number-one R&B albums of 2001