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Ludacris
Ludacris attending the premiere of Max Payne, Hollywood, California on October 13, 2008
Background information
Birth name	Christopher Brian Bridges
Born	(1977-09-11) September 11, 1977 (age 34) Champaign, Illinois, U.S.
Origin	Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, actor
Years active	1998–present
Labels	Disturbing tha Peace, Def Jam, Def Jam South
Associated acts	DTP
Website	www.islanddefjam.com/artist/home.aspx?artistID=7310

Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977),^[1] better known by his stage name Ludacris, is an American rapper and actor. Along with his manager, Chaka Zulu, Ludacris is the co-founder of Disturbing tha Peace, an imprint distributed by Def Jam Recordings. Ludacris has won a Screen Actors Guild, Critic's Choice, MTV, and three Grammy Awards during his career. Along with fellow Atlantans Big Boi and Andre 3000 of OutKast, Ludacris was one of the first and most influential Dirty South artists to achieve mainstream success.

Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludacris moved to Atlanta, Georgia at age nine, where he began rapping. After a brief stint as a disc jockey, he released his debut album Back for the First Time in 2000, which contained the singles "Southern Hospitality" and "What's Your Fantasy". In 2001, he released Word of Mouf, followed by Chicken-n-Beer in 2003. He took a more serious approach with his next three albums, The Red Light District (2004), Release Therapy (2006), and Theater of the Mind (2008). His latest record, Battle of the Sexes, was released in 2010.

Early life[link]

Ludacris was born Christopher Brian Bridges in Champaign, Illinois, the only child of Roberta Shields and Wayne Brian Bridges.^[2][3] He is of African American and Native American descent.^[4][5] Bridges wrote his first rap song at age nine when moving to Atlanta, and joined an amateur rap group three years later.^[6] He attended Banneker High School in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated in 1996.^[1] From 1998 to 1999, he studied music management at Georgia State University.^[7]

Music career[link]

Radio DJ, Timbaland collaboration[link]

Bridges served as an intern and then as a disc jockey at Atlanta's Hot 97.5 (now Hot 107.9) under the name "Chris Lova Lova".^[8]

Ludacris collaborated with Timbaland on the track "Phat Rabbit" from his album Tim's Bio: Life from da Bassment. This song was a hit in many countries. It was later included on Ludacris's debut LP album Back for the First Time. In Ludacris' early music career he collaborated with Dallas Austin and Jermaine Dupri.

[edit] Incognegro and Back for the First Time (1998−2000)

In 1998, Ludacris began to record his debut album "Incognegro". It featured a unique style for southern rappers, with his wild rapping. Timbaland handled part of the production. Despite its poor sales, it was never deleted and is still sold today. Ludacris also appeared on Timbaland's 1998 debut on "Phat Rabbit," a track that would later be used on his re-issue of "Incognegro" called "Back For The First Time". Then in 2000, Ludacris released his major label debut, Back for the First Time, in October 2000. This album was actually a modified re-release of the album Incognegro, made in 1999. It was produced with the help of the underground producer Sessy Melia, whom he dated for a short while. The album reached as high as #4 on the U.S. Billboard 200, and was a major success. Ludacris made his mark on the industry with singles such as "Southern Hospitality" and "What's Your Fantasy", along with his first ever single the "Phat Rabbit", from two years prior. Guest appearances included 4-Ize, I-20, Shawnna, Pastor Troy, Timbaland, Trina, Foxy Brown, UGK, and others. Ludacris stated in an interview on MTV's hip hop program Direct Effect that he came up with his stage name based on his "split personality" that he considered "ridiculous" and "ludicrous".^[9]

[edit] Word of Mouf (2001)

Ludacris promptly completed his next album, Word of Mouf, and released it at the end of 2001. The video for the lead single, "Rollout (My Business)", was nominated for a 2002, and Ludacris performed it live at the awards' pre-show. He released singles "Saturday (Oooh Oooh)" with Sleepy Brown, "Move Bitch" with Mystikal and I-20, and "Area Codes" with Nate Dogg.

[edit] Chicken-n-Beer (2003)

During the spring of 2003, Ludacris returned to the music scene after a brief hiatus with a new single, "Act a Fool", from the 2 Fast 2 Furious soundtrack. At around the same time, he released the lead single from his album Chicken-n-Beer, called "P-Poppin" (short for "Pussy Poppin'"). Neither of his new singles were as well received by either the urban or pop audiences as his previous songs had been, and both music videos received only limited airplay. Chicken-N-Beer opened strongly, but without a popular single, the album fell quickly. Guest appearances include Playaz Circle, Chingy, Snoop Dogg, 8Ball & MJG, Lil' Flip, I-20, Lil Fate, and Shawnna.

In the fall of 2003, Ludacris rebounded with his next single, "Stand Up", which appeared on both Chicken-n-Beer as well as the soundtrack for the teen hip hop/dance movie, You Got Served. Produced by Kanye West, "Stand Up" went on to become one of Ludacris' biggest mainstream hits to date, hitting the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 garnering heavy airplay on mainstream pop, rhythmic, and urban radio stations, as well as on MTV, MTV2, and BET. Ludacris was sued by a New Jersey group called I.O.F. who claimed that "Stand Up" used a hook from one of their songs, but in June 2006, a jury found that the song did not violate copyrights. "I hope the plaintiffs enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame," Ludacris said after the verdict.^[10]

The album's next single, "Splash Waterfalls", was released in early 2004. A huge pop hit (despite its steamy video and explicit, adult-oriented lyrical content and themes), it subsequently became a success at urban radio and BET, and is the only time he has produced two consecutive top 10 singles from a solo album,^{[citation needed]} except for Release Therapy (an unedited version of the video could only be viewed on BET's Uncut program). It was Ludacris' most sexual video yet, an R&B remix that featured Raphael Saadiq and sampled Tony! Toni! Tone!'s "Whatever You Want". Ludacris received his first Grammy Award with Usher and Lil Jon for their hit single "Yeah!". Ludacris next released "Blow It Out", which was accompanied by a low-budget music video.

[edit] The Red Light District (2004)

Ludacris during a 2011 New Year's Day concert in a Miami Beach nightclub

Chris Bridges took a more mature approach to his fourth album, The Red Light District. Sohail Khalid helped produce this album with various artists such as T.I., Lil Flip and Bun B. Ludacris openly boasted that he may be the only rapper able to keep the Def Jam label afloat on the opening track. Ludacris filmed and recorded the single "Get Back" in which he was featured as a muscle-bound hulk who was being annoyed by the media and warned critics to leave him alone. He first appeared on Saturday Night Live as a special guest performing with musical guest Sum 41 on a season 30 episode hosted by Paul Giamatti. He then recorded "Get Back" with Sum 41 to make a rock crossover single. The follow-up single was the Austin Powers-inspired "Number One Spot". It was produced by New York City's Hot 97 personality DJ Green Lantern. It used the Quincy Jones sample of "Soul Bossa Nova" and sped it up to the tempo of Ludacris' rap flow. Featured artists on the album include Nas, DJ Quik, DMX, Trick Daddy, Sleepy Brown, and Disturbing tha Peace newcomers Bobby Valentino, Dolla Boi, and Small World. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard charts.

[edit] Release Therapy (2006)

In an issue of XXL, Ludacris was placed in the number nine spot for the most anticipated albums of 2006, for Release Therapy. The album Release Therapy was released on September 26, 2006. Ludacris formatted the CD to have two sides: a Release side and a Therapy side on a single CD. Guest appearances include Pharrell Williams, R. Kelly, Young Jeezy, Mary J. Blige, Field Mob, Bobby Valentino, Pimp C, C-Murder, and Beanie Sigel. The first single, "Money Maker", which features Pharrell Williams, was released to U.S. radio outlets on July 17, 2006.^[11] "Money Maker" reached number one on the BET program 106 & Park. It then went to become the rapper's second number one single after 6 years^{[citation needed]}. His second single, "Grew Up a Screw Up", featuring Young Jeezy, dispels rumors that the two are or ever were in a dispute. His third single, "Runaway Love", soon peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Tracks and won Best Collaboration in the 2007 BET Awards. His album then reached number one on the Billboard 200 album charts with sales of 309,000 in its first week. With the release of this album, Ludacris marked a change in style in his career with his musical style. The new album itself features a departure of the lighthearted mood of his previous albums, and introduces a darker side. A change of hair accompanied this as he cut off his trademark braids for a more conventional "fade" cut. To promote the album, Ludacris returned to Saturday Night Live (as both host and musical guest) on November 18, 2006.

[edit] Theater of the Mind (2008)

The Preview, a mixtape to preview the album was released on July 28, 2008. Theater of the Mind, released on November 24, 2008, and in April 2008, the single "Let's Stay Together" appeared on xxlmag.com; supposedly from the new album ("Let's Stay Together" was expected to but was released as a bonus track on the CD). A song with Small World called "Pinky Shinin" was expected to be on the album, but it was dropped. In an interview with Complex Magazine he stated that Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, T.I., Plies, Common, T-Pain, Jay-Z, Nas and The Game will be on the album; Game is featured in a track with Willy Northpole titled "Call Up the Homies". T.I. was on the album on a track called "Wish You Would" squashing the long feud between them. The album debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 with 213,493 sold first week. The album was released the same day as Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak, which took the number one spot.^[12] His first single "What Them Girls Like", featuring Chris Brown and Sean Garrett, peaked at #33 on the Billboard 100. His second single, "One More Drink", featuring T-Pain, peaked at #24 on the Billboard 100. The third official single is "Nasty Girl", featuring Plies. He confirmed a "sequel" titled Ludaversal^[13] due to be released in 2012.^[14]

[edit] Battle of the Sexes (2010)

Ludacris' seventh studio album was released on March 9, 2010, with his first promotional single for the album being "Everybody Drunk" which features Callum Smith, originally featuring Shawnna. The first concept idea of the album was to have Ludacris and Shawnna battle it out on the album back–to–back, but this was later axed upon Shawnna's departure from Disturbing tha Peace, ending her contract on Ludacris' label and joining T-Pain's Nappy Boy Entertainment label. The first official single released from Battle of the Sexes was "How Low", which was released on December 8, 2009. The follow–up single was "My Chick Bad", released on February 23, 2010. The third single is "Sex Room", peaking at #69 on the Billboard 100. Ludacris’s Battle of the Sexes entered the chart at No. 1, with 137,000 sales in the first week. The album is currently certified gold.^[15]

[edit] Ludaversal (2012)

On August 15, 2010, Ludacris tweeted that he is currently back in the studio with The Neptunes working on his eighth studio album, Ludaversal, his "sequel" album to Theater of the Mind.^[16] On July 7, 2011, according to his Facebook, he recently went to Paris, France to work on Ludaversal.^[17] On May 29, 2012 Ludacris released the lead single off of Ludaversal titled Jingalin.

Personal life[link]

Ludacris has a daughter named Karma Bridges from a previous relationship.^[18]

In February 2007, Bridges lost his father to cancer. He is the co-owner of Conjure Cognac liquor and Soul headphones.^[19]

Philanthropy[link]

In 2011, Ludacris joined a joint effort between Dosomething.org and Better World Books to collect books to help restock library shelves in New Orleans. He filmed a public service announcement in support of the Epic Book Drive.^[20] Chris "Ludacris" Bridges also started the Ludacris Foundation at the beginning of his music career back in 2001. The aim of the foundation is to inspire the youth through education, memorable experiences and helping the youth help themselves. The focus is what Ludacris calls the "3Ls": Leadership and Education, Living Healthy Lifestyles, and LudaCares.^[21]

Controversy[link]

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T.I.[link]

Tensions began when T.I. saw Disturbing tha Peace rapper I-20's video in which a man wearing a shirt with the words "Trap House,"^{[citation needed]} was being beaten. T.I. believed the man's shirt actually said "Trap Muzik," perhaps interpreting this to be a reference to his album of the same name. Later, former G-Unit artist Young Buck asked these two fellow Southern rappers to appear on his new record on the track "Stomp". T.I. recorded a verse, which contained a line that Young Buck considered to be a subliminal insult towards Ludacris "Me gettin' beat down?/That's ludicrous/". Young Buck spoke to Ludacris about his interpretation of the event. Ludacris then later recorded a verse that can be found on the album, "Straight Outta Cashville".^[22] T.I's record company wanted Ludacris to change his verse before they sanctioned it but Ludacris refused and T.I. was therefore replaced by Game on the album version.

On June 24, 2007 at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood, California, T.I. was involved in a physical altercation. During a luncheon held by Kevin Liles of Warner Music Group (parent company of T.I.'s label, Atlantic Records), the MC got into a fight with Ludacris' manager Chaka Zulu. According to witnesses, T.I. punched Zulu in the face and choked him and a small, brief melee ensued.^[23]

T.I. was awarded honors for Best Hip-Hop Artist at the BET Awards, and took the opportunity to apologize for his scuffle with Disturbing tha Peace executive Chaka Zulu earlier in the week. While accepting his award, he expressed regret over the situation. "They say it's a fine line between brilliance and insanity," he said, in an apparent reference to his troublesome alter ego, T.I.P. During the broadcast, cameras showed his onetime rival Ludacris smiling in the audience.

The two rappers have resolved their disagreement and have collaborated on two songs: "Wish You Would" off Ludacris's sixth studio album, Theater of the Mind, and "On Top of the World" off T.I.'s sixth studio album, Paper Trail. The original version of the latter had Kanye West.

Bill O'Reilly[link]

On August 27, 2002, political pundit Bill O'Reilly called for all Americans to boycott Pepsi products,^[24] saying that Ludacris' lyrics glamorize a "life of guns, violence, drugs and disrespect of women".^[25] The next day, O'Reilly reported that Pepsi had fired Ludacris.^[24]

This is referenced in the 2003 songs "Hoes In My Room" as well as "Blow It Out" from Chicken n'Beer. Three years later, this would be referenced again in the song "Number One Spot".

In an interview with RadarOnline.com in 2010, Ludacris stated that he and O'Reilly had made amends after having a conversation at a charity event.^[26]

2008 presidential election[link]

The song "Politics As Usual" from Ludacris' mixtape The Preview has stirred controversy due to lyrics in the song criticizing: Jesse Jackson "Now Jesse talkin' slick and apologizin' for what?/ If you said it then you meant it", (in reference to Jackson stating that he would "like to cut Obama's nuts off"); John McCain "McCain don’t belong in any chair unless he’s paralyzed"; President George W. Bush "Yeah I said it, 'cuz Bush is mentally handicapped/ Ball up all of his speeches and throw 'em just like candy wraps / 'Cuz what you talkin' I hear nothin' even relevant / you the worst of all 43 presidents"; Hillary Clinton "Hillary hated on you, so that bitch is irrelevant", in reference to Hillary's campaign comments against Obama.^[27]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• 2000: Back for the First Time
• 2001: Word of Mouf
• 2003: Chicken-n-Beer
• 2004: The Red Light District
• 2006: Release Therapy
• 2008: Theater of the Mind
• 2010: Battle of the Sexes
• 2012: Ludaversal^[28]

Mixtapes

• 2006: DTP Takeover...It's An Epidemic (Hosted by DJ Storm)
• 2006: Pre-Release Therapy (Hosted by DJ Green Lantern & Michael "5000" Watts)
• 2007: The Truth Shall Set You Free (Hosted by DJ Green Lantern)
• 2008: The Preview" (Hosted by DJ Drama)
• 2010: Conjure: A Hustler's Spirit"
• 2011: 1.21 Gigawatts: Back To The First Time

Filmography[link]

See also[link]

• List of artists who reached number one in the United States
• List of awards and nominations received by Ludacris
• List of best-charting U.S. music artists

References[link]