Move Bitch

Album: Word of Mouf (2001)
Charted: 10
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Songfacts®:

  • "Move Bitch" is a rallying cry for anyone with someone in their way. Ludacris says the "bitch" can be a guy or a girl - anyone keeping you from where you need to be.

    The title phrase quickly entered the popular lexicon, used to vent frustrations at anyone with too leisurely a pace, like slow drivers in the fast lane.
  • The word "bitch" has been used, uncensored, in plenty of rock and pop songs, for example:

    "The Bitch Is Back" by Elton John (1974)
    "Bitch" by Meredith Brooks (1997)
    "Work Bitch" by Britney Spears (2013)

    But knowing a rap song couldn't get away with it, Ludacris removed "bitch" from the radio edit (titled "Move B---h"), replacing it with various sound effects so we hear "move..." followed by a scream or whip. We can blame this on the '90s rappers who used "bitch" to refer specifically to women in a very derogatory way.
  • After this song took off, the comedian Chris Rock did a bit about how hard it was becoming to defend rap music. In the old days, Rock claimed, groups like Public Enemy had a lot of meaning in their songs, but there's not much you can say about this one: "Well you see, the bitch is in his way, and he needs her to move."
  • The rappers Mystikal and I-20 are both featured on this song. Mystikal had hits a few years earlier with "Shake Ya Ass" and "Danger (Been So Long)," but his career was derailed in 2004 when he was sent to jail on sexual assault chartes. I-20 was signed to Ludacris' Disturbing Tha Peace label. He released an album of his own in 2004 but it didn't get much attention.
  • Ludacris landed his first hit in 2000 with "What's Your Fantasy" from his second album, Back For The First Time. "Move Bitch" is part of his next album, Word Of Mouf, released in 2001. It was while before the song was released as a single - about nine months after the album came out, but it became his biggest hit to the point, charting at #10. He kept the momentum going with his next album, Chicken-n-Beer, which includes his first #1 hit, "Stand Up."
  • On August 19, 2017, "Move Bitch" was repurposed to "Move Trump" during an anti-hate march in Atlanta. Ludacris approved: he posted video along with the hashtag #MoveTrump.

    The song resurfaced at a 2020 New York City police brutality protest when demonstrators shouted it at police who had set up a barricade.

    Ludacris was pleased to see his song being used in protests and also quite surprised.
  • When Ludacris appeared on the Drink Champs podcast in 2024, he answered the burning question, Did the bitch ever move?

    "That bitch never moved," he said. "I'll be honest, I don't want her to move. That s--t is a movement. As long as she don't move, people are gonna continue to tell her to move! The moment they move, she might stop."
  • Erik White directed the music video along with Luda's manager Chaka Zulu. Like many Ludacris videos, it takes place at a club that's jumping. NBA star Jalen Rose makes an appearance. The video uses the clean version of the song.
  • The crowd goes bananas when Ludacris plays "Move Bitch" in concert. They always shouts out the chorus, so he'll sometimes just hold out the microphone and let them sing it. Inevitably, a mosh pit forms during the song that only the bravest of fans dare enter - lots of 'bos are thrown.
  • Ludacris told People that he was in the car when he wrote he wrote this song. "It was inspired by being in traffic," he said.

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