Ludacris says he’s a “pusher” when it comes to his 4 daughters

welcome to So Mini Paths, Yahoo Life parenthood series on the joys and challenges of raising children.

Speaking to Yahoo Life just days before announcing the July 28 birth of baby girl Chance Oyali Bridges, Ludacris didn’t suggest he had already added a fourth daughter to his offspring (“I’m going to be happy whatever the universe brings to me, “he said of the possibility of having his first son). But the rapper and actor also known as Chris Bridges couldn’t hide his “joy” at being a family man, gushing: “You never know how much love is possible.”

So it’s fitting that his new ad as the face of Jif’s Project Lil Jif campaign is a family affair, with his eldest daughter Karma Bridges, 20, making an appearance in the spot directed by Dave Meyers. While he has a soft spot for peanut butter – spreading it over French toast, pancakes, apples and s’mores or enjoying it straight from a spoon – the campaign is also an opportunity to showcase her brand new song, “Butter ATL”.

Here the F9 The star opens up about her return to the recording studio, loving the life of a daddy girl and teaching her kids to set goals – and take care of their money.

Your daughter Karma appeared in the commercial. Do you give him any advice on how to navigate this industry?

Nor does she give me advice on what’s cool [laughs]. The reason she’s even in the ad is because she tells me what’s hot. All dads – it doesn’t matter if you are a hip-hop superstar or not – there will come that day, where you thought for the rest of your life that you would tell your kids what’s hot in music and then someday you will. you realize that they are the ones who must tell you. So yeah, I’m telling her how to navigate, but it’s more about being a person of your word and doing what she says and says what she does. And I think it’s also about being a great person when it comes to socializing and being comfortable in your own skin. You can have fun with [this industry], as long as you are creative and treat people the way you want. So we both give each other some advice.

The story continues

Jif ad pits you against like the old school rapper [with up-and-comer Gunna representing the new school] Are you an old school dad? Do you read the latest parenting theories or do what you were raised with?

I think with this advertising and with parenting you have to take a new and old approach no matter how young or how old you are. It’s like the best of both worlds; it’s all about balance. The first thing I tried to teach my kids and was taught is to set goals, because if [you’re] no, there is no navigation in this world. You are sort of in the hands of what the world wants to do for you, as opposed to what you want to do for the world. When you have a very clear idea of ​​what exactly you’re trying to accomplish, setting deadlines for yourself and setting precedents, I think that’s one of the most important things to teach … individuals, so that they have a navigation system to know where they are going.

You have been acting for much of the past few years. How does it feel to come back to the music for “Butter ATL”?

It was awesome. You’ve hit the nail on the head: when you have the opportunity to do both, which are dreams come true for me, [but] if you do one, the other pulls away a little bit. As I finished 10 whole albums and celebrated 20 years of my first album, I thought it was OK to take the time and shoot a few movies. And it just makes me realize how bored I am and I love my number one passion and my number one love, which is music. So when the universe reunited me with Jif – the only thing I eat everyday is peanut butter, ever since I was a kid and I never tire of it – it was collaboration and partnership dream for me. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. This song was inspired by everything that has happened, the idea of ​​publicity and my love for Jif since I was a child.

What’s your favorite part about being a daddy girl?

My favorite part is how I melt into their arms and it’s hard for me to say no to them. I am the sweet daddy; they give me a certain smile or a certain look … Their mothers must be the ones who are hard on them and it is always me who pushes them. So I think that’s the favorite part because I never thought I would be like this. I’m an only child, so I never thought I’d have so many children, but it’s a joy. You never know how much love is possible. It’s amazing … the amount of love in my house is something I never imagined. I wouldn’t say it never seemed impossible; I never dreamed of it because I didn’t know it could be given and received every day.

You have another baby to wait any day. How are you feeling and hoping for a boy?

I’m extremely excited, and like every other time, I’m going to be happy with whatever the universe brings to me for sure. Having daughters so far is the reason I put together all these different creative platforms coming out, like this one. The world of Karma [animated series] coming out on Netflix this fall. And then I have a platform called KidNation which is for kids. If I hadn’t had daughters, these things wouldn’t have happened. So I let them guide me and inspire me in what I’m supposed to do in terms of legacy at this point in my career.

Your Ludacris Foundation includes programs to empower young girls. As a father, how do you work to empower your daughters at home?

Oh man, I empower them every day. I think they are very confident in who they are and obviously loving themselves is the most important [thing]. Tell them that they all have special gifts and that they are all different and that they are not necessarily trying to compete against each other, but that they are very unique in every sense of the word with their abilities and find out what they’re really good at doing. And then love and support each other and [knowing that] they are stronger together than apart. These are just a few of the things I try to instill in them.

Two of them are 6 and 7 so I just want to instill that early on and really make them understand about money and saving and how to spend. They now have small credit cards and they have an app where they learn money. And I like it because schools don’t necessarily teach these things – and that’s something that happened during the pandemic, it’s just being more practical with our kids and teaching them certain things. that may not be part of their daily schedule.

When did you start giving them an allowance?

All of this has happened in the past year. I don’t want to rush them into adulthood so I’m trying to follow a very fine line slowly introducing some things that I know will be useful as they get older and still letting them be kids as well. .

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Want to get lifestyle and wellness news delivered to your inbox? register here for the Yahoo Life newsletter.