Ciara originally said she wanted to keep the guest list to a minimum for her next album, Basic Instinct. But The-Dream can be pretty convincing.
The hitmaking songwriter suggested CiCi reteam with Ludacris, and the result was the steamy "Ride," the first single from Basic Instinct.
"I brought Luda in, because I felt like her and Luda have had so much success together, they just sound right together," The-Dream told MTV News from the set of his "Make Up Bag" video. "Especially on that record, 'Ride,' that's the first record me and Trick did [for her new album]. It sounded like Luda, and it sounded like Ciara. So [we] blessed the summertime with both of them.
"She has a point she's trying to prove," he added. "But I don't think she meant it literally like that. She's just trying to do as much as she can to regain her status. And I think she's did a good job of doing it."
Ciara and Ludacris first worked together on her debut album on the song "Oh." The Atlanta rapper recently tapped her to appear on the remix for his "How Low," alongside Pitbull.
Luda said he and singer work well together, calling their efforts "history."
"Man, we always pick the right songs to do together," Luda told MTV News over the weekend in Los Angeles, where he performed at KIIS-FM's annual Wango Tango festival. "She always gives me the right songs; I always give her the right songs. We were actually just talking about that today. So I'm just glad that we have that many collaborations under our belts. ... We'll continue to make history."
Have you seen the video for Ciara’s new single “Ride” on BET?
Actually, no one has.
The R&B singer responded to HipHollywood.com about rumors the music video channel had banned the video because it’s too racy.
In it, the athletic songstress appears scantily clad and gyrating while singing lyrics such as “They love the way I ride it.” The video also features the rapper Ludacris.
Ciara confirmed to HipHollywood.com that BET is not showing her video, and offered a solution.
“If there’s a way to edit a version for [BET] I would definitely do it,” she said. “My fans have actually given me a lot of support.”
Fans have gone so far as to launch a “twitition” calling for BET to reverse the ban on the video.
“We have been recently notified that Ciara's new Music Video "Ride" is not being showed on B.E.T because it's too sexual,” says a statement on the fan site Forever Ciara. (Spelling and punctuation are as they appear in the post.) “Note that they play Trey Songz "Invented Sex" [where he is having sex with a woman in the video] Trey Songz "Neighbors Know My Name" [Having sex DIFFERENT woman].”
“I think that B.E.T is over analyzing this or is just being disrespectful to Ciara,” the statement continues. “MTV and VH1 is playing "Ride" and so are other stations. What are you B.E.T going to do about this because as a fan and Representative of Ciara you are being UNFAIR!”
Fans are then directed to the Twitter page petition.
BET reportedly earlier banned a video by artist Teiarra Mari for being too provocative. In the past, the channel has also been criticized for the sexual nature of some rap videos.
The network did not respond to requests from CNN for comment.
Yeah it looks wrong. I had to type it into Google to make sure I wasn't crazy.
