Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977),[1] better known sejak 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 sejak Def jem Recordings. Ludacris has won the Screen Actors Guild, Critic's Choice, MTV, and Grammy Awards during his career.
Contents

* 1 Personal background
* 2 Muzik career
o 2.1 Radio DJ, Timbaland collaboration
o 2.2 Back for the First Time (2000)
o 2.3 Word of Mouf (2001)
o 2.4 Chicken-n-Beer (2003)
o 2.5 The Red Light District (2004)
o 2.6 Release Therapy (2006)
o 2.7 Theater of the Mind (2008)
o 2.8 Battle of the Sexes (2010)
o 2.9 Ludaversal (2011)
* 3 Ventures
* 4 Controversy
o 4.1 T.I.
o 4.2 Bill O'Reilly
o 4.3 2008 presidential election
* 5 Discography
* 6 Filmography
* 7 See also
* 8 References
* 9 External links

Personal background

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.[1] From 1998 to 1999, he studied Muzik management at Georgia State University.[7] In Feb. 2007, Bridges Lost his father to cancer.[8] Ludacris has a daughter named Karma with an Atlanta attorney named Christine White.[9][10]
Muzik career
Radio DJ, Timbaland collaboration

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".[11]

Ludacris collaborated with Timbaland on the track "Phat Rabbit" from his album Tim's Bio: Life from da Bassment. Is it later included on Ludacris's debut LP album Back for the First Time.
Back for the First Time (2000)
Main article: Back for the First Time

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 1998. 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".[12]
Word of Mouf (2001)
Main article: Word of Mouf

Ludacris promptly completed his seterusnya 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 VMA, 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.
Chicken-n-Beer (2003)
Main article: Chicken-n-Beer

During the spring of 2003, Ludacris returned to the Muzik 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 sejak either the urban atau pop audiences as his sebelumnya songs had been, and both Muzik video 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 seterusnya single, "Stand Up", which appeared on both Chicken-n-Beer as well as the soundtrack for the teen hip hop/dance movie, anda Got Served. Produced sejak Kanye West, "Stand Up" went on to become one of Ludacris' biggest mainstream hits to date, hitting the bahagian, atas 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 sejak 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 minit of fame," Ludacris berkata after the verdict.[13]

The album's seterusnya 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 bahagian, atas 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 anda Want". Ludacris received his first Grammy Award with Usher and Lil Jon for their hit single "Yeah!". Ludacris seterusnya released "Blow It Out", which was accompanied sejak a low-budget Muzik video.
The Red Light District (2004)
Main article: The Red Light District
Ludacris during a 2011 New Year's hari konsert in a Miami pantai nightclub

Chris Bridges took a lebih 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 jem 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 sejak 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 sejak 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 sejak 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.
Release Therapy (2006)
Main article: Release Therapy

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.[14] "Money Maker" reached number one on the BET program 106 & Park. It then went to become the rapper's saat number one single after 6 years[citation needed]. His saat single, "Grew Up a Screw Up", featuring Young Jeezy, dispels rumors that the two are atau 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 sebelumnya albums, and introduces a darker side. A change of hair accompanied this as he cut off his trademark braids for a lebih conventional "fade" cut. To promote the album, Ludacris returned to Saturday Night Live (as both host and musical guest) on November 18, 2006.
Theater of the Mind (2008)
Main article: Theater of the Mind

The Preview, a mixtape to pratonton 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; The 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 anda 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 hari as Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak, which took the number one spot.[15] His first single "What Them Girls Like", featuring Chris Brown and Sean Garrett, peaked at #33 on the Billboard 100. His saat single, "One lebih 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[16] due to be released in 2011.[17]
Battle of the Sexes (2010)
Main article: Battle of the Sexes (album)

Ludacris' seventh studio album was released on March 9, 2010, with his first promotional single for the album being "Everybody Drunk" which features Lil Scrappy, 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 depature 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.[18]
Ludaversal (2011)

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.[19]
Ventures

After the success of Back for the First Time, Ludacris started his own foundation. The Ludacris Foundation, started sejak Ludacris and Disturbing tha Peace CEO Chaka Zulu, is an organization that helps[20] middle and high school students motivate themselves in creative arts.

In 2007 Matt Apfel,[21] a reality TV producer, had an idea for a tunjuk about mashups between peminat-peminat and rock stars. He sat down with Ludacris and Zulu and discovered that they wanted to do something similar. Out of this partnership, they started a new media distribution company called wemix.com.[22] Recently, WeMix.com announced a partnership with PhoneZoo to launch an innovative content distribution platform for new artists.[23] Recently, Ludacris has landed a new fragrance deal with TAG Body Spray. His own packaging of the spray is called Get Yours.

In January 2009, Ludacris collaborated with Norwegian cognac house Birkedal Hartmann to create Conjure cognac. Ludacris and Birkedal Hartmann's blender, Philippe B. Tiffon, selected a blend of ugni blanc grapes from various regions in cognac including Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne and Borderie. Conjure is a blend of forty eaux-de-vie and is aged in oak barrels that are up to fifty years old.[24] The bottle is decorated with female silhouettes.[25]
Controversy
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T.I.

Tensions began when T.I. saw Disturbing tha Peace rapper I-20's video in which a man wearing a baju with the words "Trap House,"[citation needed] was being beaten. T.I. believed the man's baju actually berkata "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.[26] T.I's record company wanted Ludacris to change his verse before they sanctioned it but Ludacris refused and T.I. was therefore replaced sejak 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 sejak Kevin Liles of Warner Muzik 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.[27]

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 anda Would" off Ludacris's sixth studio album, Theater of the Mind, and "On bahagian, atas of the World" off T.I.'s sixth studio album, Paper Trail. The original version of the latter had Kanye West.
Bill O'Reilly

On August 27, 2002, political pundit Bill O'Reilly called for all Americans to boycott Pepsi products,[28] saying that Ludacris' lyrics glamorize a "life of guns, violence, drugs and disrespect of women".[29] The seterusnya day, O'Reilly reported that Pepsi had fired Ludacris.[28]

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 they had made amends after a conversation between the two at a charity event.[30]
2008 presidential election

The song "Politics As Usual" from Ludacris' mixtape The pratonton has stirred controversy due to lyrics in the song criticizing: Reverend Jesse Jackson "Now Jesse talkin’ slick and apologizin’ for what?/ If anda berkata it then anda 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. belukar, bush "Yeah I berkata it, 'cuz belukar, bush is mentally handicapped/ Ball up all of his speeches and throw 'em just like Kandi wraps / 'Cuz what anda talkin' I hear nothin' even relevant / anda the worst of all 43 presidents"; Hillary Clinton "Hillary hated on you, so that jalang, perempuan jalang is irrelevant", in reference to Hillary's campaign komen-komen against Obama.[31]
Discography
Main article: Ludacris discography

Studio albums

* Back for the First Time (2000)
* Word of Mouf (2001)
* Chicken-n-Beer (2003)
* The Red Light District (2004)
* Release Therapy (2006)
* Theater of the Mind (2008)
* Battle of the Sexes (2010)
* Ludaversal (2011)[32]

Filmography
Film
tahun     Film     Role     Notes
2001     The Wash     as a customer 1     Minor Role
2003     2 Fast 2 Furious     Tej     Main Role
Lil' Pimp     Weathers     Supporting Role / Voice
Paper Chasers     Himself     Documentary film about the Hip hop scene, directed sejak Maxie Collier. Ludacris is seen and interviewed at various stages, just months before achieving major fame.
2004     Crash     Anthony     Main Role
2005     Hustle & Flow     Skinny Black     Supporting Role
2006     The hati, tengah-tengah of the Game     narrator     Main Role
2007     American Hustle     himself     Minor Role
Fred Claus     DJ Donnie     Supporting Role
2008     RocknRolla     Mickey     Main Role
Max Payne     Jim Bravura     Supporting role
2009     Ball Don't Lie     Julius     Main Role
Gamer     Humanz Brother     Main Role
2010     Repo Men     Man whose hati, tengah-tengah is being restarted     Minor Role
2011     Fast Five     Tej     Minor Role
2011     No Strings Attached     Wallace     Minor Role
Television
tahun     Title     Role     Notes
2006     Law & Order: Special Victims Unit     Darius Parker     "Venom" (season 7, episode 157)
2007     The Simpsons     himself     "You Kent Always Say What anda Want" (season 18, episode 22)
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit     Darius Parker     "Screwed" (season 8, episode 183)