Leaving all the “Chicken and Beer ” and “Word of Mouf” behind him Ludacris tells Billboard he’s been in the lab hardcore prepping his his new album “Theater of the Mind,” which is currently slated for a September release.  Ordinarily I would encourage Luda fans to get hype but how can they when its obvious he’s not devoting his full attention to the project.

In addition to working on the album, Luda whose real name is Chris Bridges is commuting to Toronto where he’s filming the highly anticipated video game adaptation flick “Max Payne.”  Based on the popular Rockstar video game franchise, “Max Payne” features Luda as NYPD Deputy Police Chief Jim Bravura opposite Mark Wahlberg who plays the lead.

In addition to shooting for Payne, Ludacris is also prepping for the Oct. 31 premier of Guy Ritchie’s Russian Mafia flick “RocknRolla” where he stars as “Roman” where he re-unites with Thandie Newton and stars opposite the far more accomplished, Jeremy Piven. If that wasn’t enough he’s also promoting a Tribeca Film Festival flick called ‘Balls Don’t Lie‘ where he stars with Isaiah Washington about a talented orphaned basketball star.

So with all the acting going on its not surprising that he described his album as film-worthy and “theatrical.”  Although first single has yet to be selected, (no surprise) the album features “Let’s Stay Together,” produced by DJ Paul of Three6 Mafia and production Dre & Vidal, 9th wonder (which should be flame), Ice Drake and DJ Don Cannon.

Even without all the distraction I would have said the album is probably going to be mediocre at best…but since in my experience, men (outside of 50 cent) don’t multi-task well so expect a huge flop on this one.  Luda prove me wrong.  Look for Mike to post trailers for Max Payne as soon as they’re available.