The cover is an homage to Sly and The Family Stone's Life album, which had the band appearing as all the cinemas goers in the picture.

[6] "Co-stars" on Theater of the Mind include Nas, Plies, Jay-Z, T.I., Common, T-Pain, Willy Northpole, Rick Ross, Playaz Circle, Ving Rhames, Chris Rock, Spike Lee, Chris Brown, Sean Garrett, Lil Wayne, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Jamie Foxx, and The Game.

I'm glad that my fans are excited about the new project, but to get the final masterpiece, the album Theater of the Mind premieres on November 24.

Addi Stewart from NOW praised the cinematic concept throughout the record, from its title to the vast majority of featured artists on every track.

"[16] Josh Eells of Blender felt the lyrical content making up the whole concept record was lacking and too complacent for Luda, saying that "Punch line for punch line, Luda is still the best in the business, but these sex jams and hater disses feel too flat and perfunctory for his thousand-watt personality."

He concluded that after the final track "the whole thing seems less like an album than a branding exercise—an obligatory effort to keep the “hip-hop star” line on his CV.

but felt they were only decent retreads of Luda's previous material and lacked the strengths found in his guest verses on other people's records.

[13] Robert Christgau cited "I Do It for Hip Hop" as a "choice cut",[15] indicating a good song on "an album that isn't worth your time or money.

"[22] Ian Cohen, writing for Pitchfork, commended the first third for its lyrical boasts, criticized the middle portion's "one dimensionality" and "woefully underdeveloped" party jams and found the final half's hip-hop checklist tracks passable if the listeners can stomach the logic behind them, saying that "[W]hile Theater isn't quite as dire as the above may indicate, like every other Ludacris record, it doesn't grow on you-- in fact, it actually contracts.