Ludacris

Ludacris
Background information
Origin	Atlanta, Georgia
Years active	1999-present

Ludacris, aka Luda, (born Christopher Brian Bridges on September 11, 1977 in Champaign, Illinois) is a Grammy Award winning American rapper and actor. Born in Illinois, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia where he eventually made a name for himself, first as a Radio DJ and then as one of the most prominent Southern rappers.

Music career

Early years

Bridges began his music career as a radio personality and DJ as Chris Lova Lova on Hot 97.5, an urban radio station in Atlanta, Georgia. He made his recorded debut on "Phat Rabbit," a track from Timbaland's 1998 album Tim's Bio: Life from the Bassment. Although both Timbaland and Jermaine Dupri showed interest in signing Ludacris, he decided to release the album Incognegro independently in 1999. The album sold over 50,000 copies through the Atlanta based independent music distributor, Southern Music Distribution. The same year, he recorded the theme to the video game Madden NFL 2000. Scarface, an original member of the Geto Boys, signed Ludacris in 2000 to Def Jam Recordings, and created a new imprint, Def Jam South, around him.

Back for the First Time

File:Ludaback4firsttime-2000.jpgBack For The First Time (2004) Ludacris released his major label debut, Back for the First Time, in October 2000. The album reached as high as #4 on the charts, 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 "Phat Rabbit", from 2 years prior. Back for the First Time was the beginning of Ludacris's explosion to the top of the rap world.

Word of Mouf

Ludacris promptly completed his next album, Word Of Mouf and released it at the end of 2001. Its lead single, "Rollout (My Business)" was boycotted in many American video stations. Despite the controversy, the video was nominated for a 2003 VMA, and Luda performed it live at the awards' pre-show. Ludacris also toured with Papa Roach in 2002 after the release of their sophomore album lovehatetragedy. Ludacris reached a new level of notoriety when TV's Bill O'Reilly expressed outrage that Pepsi had hired Ludacris as a spokesman. O'Reilly repeatedly attacked Ludacris's foul language and called for a nation-wide boycott of Pepsi, who then fired Ludacris and hired Ozzy Osbourne's family instead.

Chicken-N-Beer

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 upcoming album, Chicken & 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 & Beer opened strongly, but without a popular single, the album fell quickly.

However, in the fall of 2003, Ludacris rebounded with his next single, "Stand Up", which appeared on both Chicken & Beer as well as the soundtrack for the teen hip-hop/dance movie, Honey. Produced by Kanye West, "Stand Up" went on to become Ludacris' biggest mainstream hit to date, hitting the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and garnering heavy airplay on mainstream pop, rhythmic, and urban radio stations, as well as on MTV, MTV2, and BET.

The album's next single, "Splash Waterfalls", was released in early 2004. Though not a pop hit, it became a success at urban radio and BET. It was Ludacris' most sexual video yet and an R&B remix that featured Raphael Saadiq and sampled Tony! Toni! Tone!'s "Whatever You Want". Luda next released "Blow It Out", a gritty song that had a heavily low-budget, gritty, and urban-looking music video, which was a huge departure from the colorful, sensual, R&B leanings depicted in "Splash Waterfalls". "Blow It Out" acted both as a scathing response to the aforementioned criticism levied by Bill O'Reilly and an expression of disgust at Pepsi's cowardice in the affair:

Shout out to Bill O'Reilly, I'm'a throw you a curve

You mad cause I'm a thief and got away with words

I'm'a start my own beverage, it'll calm your nerves

Pepsi's the New Generation?—Blow it out cha ass!

• On June 1, 2006, a federal jury found that "Stand Up" did not infringe on the copyright of a song called "Straight Like That" by a New Jersey group known as I.O.F. "I hope the plaintiffs enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame," Ludacris said after the verdict. "This whole experience is proof to me of why I will always fight for what I believe in."

The Red Light District

The fourth studio album from Ludacris. Although entirely different from the usual antics of the previous albums, Ludacris had taken a more mature approach to his album. Ludacris openly boasted that he may be the only rapper able to keep the Def Jam label afloat. Ludacris had recently filmed and recorded the single "Get Back" in which he was featured a muscle-bounded hulk who was being annoyed by the media and warned his critics to leave him alone. The follow-up single was the Austin Powers-inspired "The 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. Ludacris also filmed the video in which he pokes fun at O'Reilly's problems with Andrea Mackris (Hi Mr. O'Reilly / Hope all is well kiss the plaintiff and the wifey). Production credits come also from veteran producers Timbaland, Lil' Jon, The Medicine Men and legendary rapper Doug E. Fresh. Featured artists on the album include Nas, DJ Quik, DMX, Trick Daddy, and Disturbing Tha Peace newcomers Bobby Valentino (of Mista fame) and Dolla Boi and Small World. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard charts. And most recently the rapper had used his opportunity to start his own foundation. The Ludacris Foundation started by Ludacris and Chaka Zulu is an organization that helps young middle and high school students motivate themselves in creative arts. Ludacris also has a daughter by the name of Karma. Ludacris had also participated at the Super Bowl and is the spokesman for the Boost Mobile Phone ad-campaign. Ludacris also received his first Grammy Award with Usher and Lil Jon for their hit single "Yeah"

Release Therapy

In a recent issue of XXL, a hip-hop based magazine, 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 is going to format the cd to have two sides, a Release side and a Therapy side. With the Release side having songs that allow him to get everything off his chest and the Therapy side being just feel-good music. A song titled "War With God" is one of the confirmed tracks from the upcoming album. The first single, "Money Maker", which features Pharrell, was released to U.S. radio outlets on July 17. Others songs will be : "Tell It Like It Is" (Produced by Elaborate Musik Workshop), "Runaway Love" (Feat. Mary J. Blige) and Woozy (Feat. R. Kelly)[1] "Money Maker" reached number one on the BET 106 & Park Countdown for the first time on September 15, 2006.

The album was leaked to the internet on the 19th of September 2006.

Acting career

File:2 Fast 2 Furious film.jpg

Ludacris (bottom center) appeared in a contributed to the soundtrack for the movie 2 Fast 2 Furious

Ludacris has been acting in film since The Wash in 2001, but his big break came in 2005, where he received critical praise for his roles in the Oscar-winning films Hustle & Flow and Crash. Crash includes an ironic sequence where Ludacris's character is dismissive of hip-hop music. Interestingly, in both films, he is physically beaten by characters played by Terrence Howard. He is occasionally credited as "Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges". On January 29, 2006 he was awarded with a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture for his work in the film Crash. Ludacris also starred in 2 Fast 2 Furious, and appeared in the March 28, 2006 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Ludacris narrated the 2006 Ward Serrill basketball documentary "Heart of the Game."

Ludacris recently cut his trademark braids off to project a new image for his upcoming album, Release Therapy.

Disputes

Furthering the controversy, in response to the signing of the Osbourne family, popular music hip-hop mogul, Russell Simmons, organized a boycott against the company. Simmons demanded an apology from Pepsi to Ludacris and a 5 million dollar donation to one of Ludacris' charities. Eventually Simmons and Pepsi settled on an agreement to stop the boycott, right before it was to officially begin-- while Pepsi did not formally apologise to Ludacris, they did agree to donate millions of dollars over years to Russel Simmon Hip-Hop Summit Action Network.[2] [3]

Ludacris' song "Blow It Out" (from the Chicken & Beer album), acted as a scathing response to his critics, namely O'Reilly.

In another song, "Hoes in My Room", he tells a story about anonymous prostitues being left in his room, and at the end of the last verse he says:

Then it got to my head and Somethin' remind me

I know who let 'em in, it was Bill O'Reily.

Then, in 2004, in "Number 1 Spot"

Respected highly, Hi Mr. O'Reilly.

Hope all is well, kiss the plaintiff and the wifey.

In a 2006 interview with GQ magazine, Ludacris criticized Oprah Winfrey about his appearance on her show with the cast of the film Crash. [4] During the interview, the conversation veered from the movie and Winfrey chose to speak on Ludacris' lyrical content, which he felt was unfair as he was visiting her show in the capacity of an actor and not a rapper. Also, Ludacris was upset that some of his responses were later edited from the show's airing. He was later joined by other rappers such as 50 Cent, Ice Cube and Killer Mike who argued that Winfrey had an anti-hip hop bias.

Winfrey responded by saying that she's opposed to rap lyrics that "marginalize women," but enjoys some artists, including Kanye West, who appeared on her show. She said she spoke with Ludracris backstage after his appearance to explain her position and said she understood that his music was for entertainment purposes, but that some of his listeners might take it literally. Ludacris later said the media had blown his comments out of proportion and said he respects Winfrey and considers her "a great individual."[5]

In 2004, before the release of his debut album Straight Outta Ca$hville, Nashville, Tennessee native and G-Unit member Young Buck would enlist the services of fellow Atlanta emcee T.I., also known as T.I.P. in his native Bankhead neighborhood of westside Atlanta. They would create a track entitled "Stomp" amid growing tension between Buck's good friend Ludacris and T.I. On the track, T.I. takes subliminal shots at Ludacris including the line "me gettin' beat down, that's ludicrous." Buck, immediately sensing the tension, decided before releasing the track to notify Ludacris that T.I. had mentioned him since he didn't want to position himself as encouraging T.I.'s actions. Ludacris hears the track and asks Buck if he can add his own verse to which Buck agrees. The results end up being costly for T.I. as he is berated throughout Ludacris' verse and called out by name in his last line. Representatives from T.I. notify Buck that T.I.'s vocals will not be cleared for the album unless T.I. is allowed to change his verse, and also have Ludacris change his. Buck refuses this offer and T.I. prohibits his vocals from being used. Buck has hypeman and fellow rapper D-Tay replace T.I. on the song and D-Tay himself is eventually replaced by The Game on the official release.

Although T.I. was removed, the street cut featuring him and Ludacris had already been leaked to DJs in Atlanta and New York. T.I. was unable to stop the track's distribution throughout the streets of the nation at this point. It is widely accepted that T.I. "lost" this battle with Ludacris easily being the victor. The beef between Ludacris and T.I. was then put to an end behind closed doors as T.I. said that the problems between them have ceased.

In 2006 however, T.I. would release his highly anticipated fourth solo album entitled KING. In his Just Blaze produced track titled "I'm Talkin To You," T.I. lyrically attacks one or more unknown targets who have widely been speculated to be either Ludacris, New Orleans emcee Lil Wayne, or Houston rapper Lil' Flip (whom T.I. also had beef with but has since ended their animosity behind closed doors) or a combination of all three. It is still unknown whether or not T.I. was in fact battling Ludacris again or anyone else for that matter at all. A closer listen to the song, however proves that T.I. isnt dissing Ludacris. In one of T.I.s lines he quotes "had it out with 'Cris, but he still my nigga...sat down civilized talked about it like niggas", alluding to the sit down that he and Ludacris had to end their beef. As a matter of fact during the taping of MTV's My Block 'Atlanta', T.I. and Ludacris are shown greeting each other respectfully.

In July of 2006, a track entitled "War with God" would see Ludacris return after some time off in movies. In the track, Ludacris goes on the offensive against an unknown rapper who has sold drugs, and makes repeated references to shooting guns in his songs, isn't as rich as he (Ludacris) and likes to give himself titles - all very well known characteristics and facts directly relating to T.I and Young Jeezy (or countless other less popular rappers) or the newcoming rappers Yung Joc and Young Dro. In this instance it also unknown whether or not Ludacris is indeed aiming his disses at Young Jeezy, T.I. or if the track is even a song recorded recently. Ludacris recently stated that the song was deeper than just a diss, and the song is more about him than anyone else, it's showing that he isn't just the 'cartoon entertainer' type rapper that he has always been portrayed as, when asked about who specific rhymes were aimed at he said "The guilty will speak". The track has been confirmed to be a selection from Ludacris' upcoming album Release Therapy this September. The song is not aimed at Young Jeezy as he features on the latest album.

Discography

Solo Albums

Album cover	Album information
File:LudacrisIncognegro.jpg	Incognegro Released: October 14, 1999 Chart positions: #179 US RIAA certification: Singles: "Phat Rabbit"
	Back for the First Time Released: November 4, 2000 Chart positions: #4 US RIAA certification: 4x Platinum Singles: "What's Your Fantasy", "Southern Hospitality"
	Word of Mouf Released: December 15, 2001 Chart positions: #3 US RIAA certification: 3x Platinum Singles: "Rollout (My Business)", "Area Codes", "Welcome To Atanta", "Saturday (Oooh Oooh!)", "Move Bitch"
	Chicken -N- Beer Released: October 25, 2003 Chart positions: #1 US RIAA certification: 3x Platinum Singles: "Stand Up", "Splash Waterfalls", "Diamond In The Back", "Blow It Out"
File:Ludacris-red-light-district.jpg	The Red Light District Released: December 9, 2004 Chart positions: #1 US RIAA certification: 4x Platinum Singles: "Get Back", "Number One Spot", "Potion", "Pimpin All Over the World"
	Release Therapy Released: September 26, 2006 Chart positions: to be released RIAA certification: to be released Singles: "Money Maker", "Ultimate Satisfaction" (featuring Field Mob)

Disturbing Tha Peace Albums

Album cover	Album information
File:DTPGoldenGrain.jpg	Golden Grain Released: September 10, 2002 Chart positions: #89 US RIAA description: Singles: "Growing Pains (Do It Again Remix)"
File:Luda.JPG	Ludacris Presents: Disturbing tha Peace Released: December 13, 2005 Chart positions: #11 US RIAA description: Gold Singles: "Georgia", "Gettin' Some", "DTP For Life"

Singles

Year	Song	U.S. Hot 100	U.S. R&B	U.S. Rap	UK singles	Album
2000	"What's Your Fantasy" (featuring Shawnna)	21	10	12	19	Back for the First Time
2000	"Southern Hospitality"	23	6	5	-	Back for the First Time
2001	"One Minute Man" (Missy Elliott featuring Ludacris)	15	8	-	10	Miss E ...So Addictive
2001	"Area Codes" (featuring Nate Dogg)	24	10	7	25	Word of Mouf Rush Hour 2 (OST)
2001	"Fatty Girl" (with LL Cool J and Keith Murray)	87	32	6	-	FUBU - The Good Life He's Keith Murray
2001	"Roll Out (My Business)"	17	7	20	20	Word of Mouf
2002	"Move Bitch" (featuring Mystikal and I-20)	10	3	3	-	Word of Mouf
2002	"Saturday (Oooh Oooh)" (featuring Sleepy Brown)	22	10	4	31	Word of Mouf
2002	"Welcome To Atlanta" (Jermaine Dupri featuring Ludacris)	35	15	-	-	Word of Mouf Instructions
2002	"Growing Pains (Do It Again) Remix" (Ludacris and DTP featuring Scarface)	-	81	45	-	Golden Grain
2003	"Act a Fool"	32	20	10	-	2 Fast 2 Furious (OST)
2003	"Holidae In" (Chingy featuring Snoop Dogg and Ludacris)	3	2	2	35	Jackpot
2003	"Gossip Folks" (Missy Elliott featuring Ludacris)	8	-	-	9	Under Construction
2003	"Stand Up" (featuring Shawnna)	1	1	1	14	Chicken-N-Beer
2004	"Splash Waterfalls" (featuring Sandy Coffee)	6	2	3	-	Chicken-N-Beer
2004	"Diamond in the Back"	94	51	-	-	Chicken-N-Beer
2004	"Blow It Out"	79	65	45	-	Chicken-N-Beer
2004	"Yeah!" (Usher featuring Ludacris and Lil Jon)	1	1	1	1	Confessions
2004	"Get Back"	13	9	5	30	The Red Light District
2005	"Number One Spot"	19	8	6	30	The Red Light District
2005	"Lovers and Friends" (Lil Jon featuring Usher and Ludacris)	3	2	-	10	Crunk Juice
2005	"Potion"	-	65	-	-	The Red Light District
2005	"Oh" (Ciara featuring Ludacris)	2	6	-	4	Goodies
2005	"Pimpin' All Over the World" (featuring Bobby Valentino)	9	5	2	-	The Red Light District
2005	"Unpredictable" (Jamie Foxx featuring Ludacris)	9	2	-	16	Unpredictable
2005	"Georgia" (Ludacris and Field Mob featuring Jamie Foxx)	39	31	21	-	Ludacris Presents: Disturbing tha Peace Light Poles and Pine Trees
2006	"Money Maker" (featuring Pharrell)	2	2	2	-	Release Therapy
2006	"Grew up a Screw Up" (featuring Young Jeezy)	-	-	-	-	Release Therapy

See also

• List of number-one hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart

Filmography

• The Wash (2001)
• 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
• Lil Pimp (2003)
• Crash (2005)
• Hustle & Flow (2005)
• The Heart of the Game (2006) [Narrator]
• Ballers (2007)

Grammy Awards

Category	Genre	Song	Year	Result
Best Rap Solo Performance	Rap	"Number 1 Spot"	2006	Nominated
Best R&B Song	R&B	"Yeah!"	2005	Nominated
Record of the Year	General	"Yeah!"	2005	Nominated
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration	Rap	"Yeah"	2005	Won
Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television Special	Motion Picture	"Act A Fool"	2004	Nominated
Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group	Rap	"Gossip Folks"	2004	Nominated
Best Male Rap Solo Performance	Rap	"Stand Up"	2004	Nominated
Best Rap Album	Rap	Word of Mouf	2003	Nominated
Best Male Rap Solo Performance	Rap	"Roll Out (My Business)"	2003	Nominated
Best Short Form Music Video	Music Video	"One Minute Man"	2002	Nominated
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration	Rap	"Area Codes"	2002	Nominated
Best Rap Album	Rap	Back For the First Time	2001	Nominated

Trivia

• Ludacris' uncle is the stepfather of R & B singer Monica.
• Attended Benjamin Banneker Alternative High School located in Atlanta. He later attended Georgia State University. [6]
• Ludacris is a pun on the term ludicrous. Presumably, it is a portmanteau between ludicrous and Chris.

External links

• Official website
• Disturbing Tha Peace Records
• Ludacris On Myspace
• The Ludacris Foundation
• Ludacris at IMDb
• Ludacris Lyrics