The tour launched in style August 31 with an invitation-only performance at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom, and then moved on to New Orleans the next night for the official opening show.

A handful of other currently scheduled tour dates are capped off by a show featuring Common and Shareefa at the Vanderbilt University Homecoming Celebration October 20. Shareefa is among the up-and-coming young artists, many of whom are signed to Ludacris’ Disturbing Tha Peace Records, who will share the opening spot on his tour.

Besides giving a critically acclaimed performance in the film “Crash,” and touring both on his own and with other rap superstars, Ludacris has spent the past two years constructing a music studio, which he named Luda-Plex, in his Atlanta mansion. He credits the studio with helping to inspire a work ethic that led to the creation of more than thirty songs during Release Therapy’s recording sessions.

The rapper told MTV News, “One of the pluses of having my own studio is I can wake up and come right downstairs and record a verse. I mean, what more do you want out of life? The work ethic is crazy because once you get tired, it’s not like you have to drive home or anything like that.”

Ludacris describes the album as his most mature and personal release yet. In statement on his web site he said, “Going into the studio to make Release Therapy, I felt like a wiser, more intelligent person. That was part of the vibe I wanted to bring across on the record, a more personal side that many have not seen. I know this is my fifth album, but I feel as though this is the first time I’ve ever exposed this much of myself.”