About Ludacris
Christopher Brian Bridges , known professionally as Ludacris , is an American rapper and actor. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludacris moved to Atlanta, Georgia, at age nine, where he first began rapping. Starting out with a brief stint as a DJ, he formed his own record label, Disturbing tha Peace in the late 1990s to independently release his debut studio album Incognegro . After its single, "What's Your Fantasy" , became a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, the album was re-released by Def Jam Recordings as his major label debut, Back for the First Time . The latter album peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 and spawned his second top 40 single, "Southern Hospitality" .
Ludacris' following albums, Word of Mouf , Chicken-n-Beer and The Red Light District , were each met with continued success and received multi-platinum certifications by the Recording Industry Association of America . His fifth and sixth albums, Release Therapy and Theater of the Mind , explored more serious subject matter than its predecessors. His seventh album, Battle of the Sexes featured a return to the more lighthearted tone of his earlier albums. Throughout his career, Ludacris has scored two number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 as a lead artist: "Stand Up" and "Money Maker" , as well as three singles which did so as a guest performer: Usher's "Yeah!" in 2004, Fergie's "Glamorous" in 2007, and Taio Cruz's "Break Your Heart" in 2009. The following year, he guest featured on Justin Bieber's single "Baby", which remains one of the highest-certified singles of all time in the United States.
Ludacris is cited as one of the first Dirty South rappers to achieve mainstream success in the early 2000s. Throughout his career, he has won three Grammy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Critic's Choice Award and an MTV Video Music Award. Outside of music, he has portrayed the character Tej Parker in the Fast & Furious film series—first appearing in its second film, 2 Fast 2 Furious . His other notable acting roles include Crash , Gamer , and New Year's Eve . In 2021, he created and starred in the children's animated series Karma's World for Netflix. Ludacris is also a private pilot.
Born Christopher Brian Bridges in Champaign, Illinois, Ludacris moved to Oak Park as a teenager. After attending Oak Park River Forest High School in ninth grade, Ludacris moved to Centreville, Virginia, and attended Centreville High School for one year. He attended Banneker High School in Atlanta, Georgia, and graduated in 1995. From 1998 to 1999, he studied music management at Georgia State University. Ludacris' parents are both African American. His great-great-grandfather was a Choctaw. In an interview with A. J. Jacobs, Ludacris learned that his great-grandmother had said one of his great-great-grandfathers, who is a white Englishman, was probably Jewish. Ludacris is also a distant cousin of the comedian Richard Pryor. He wrote his first rap song at age nine when moving to Atlanta and joined an amateur rap group three years later.
Ludacris served as an intern and then a DJ at Atlanta's Hot 97.5 under the name "Chris Lova Lova". During his radio career, Ludacris met music producer Timbaland, whose album Tim's Bio: Life from da Bassment would feature Ludacris on the track "Phat Rabbit" .
Speaking with MTV's hip hop show Direct Effect in 2000, Ludacris explained his stage name was a play on the word "ludicrous".
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