Background

Christopher Brian Bridges was born on September 11, 1977, in Champaign, Illinois, the only child of Roberta Shields and Wayne Brian Bridges.

Education

His family later moved to the Chicago area, where he attended Emerson Middle School in Oak Park and Oak Park & River Forest High School for one year. He then 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.

Career

Ludacris had his first brush with stardom in 1998 with a guest verse on Timbaland’s debut album — Tim’s Bio: Life from Da Bassment — rhyming on the track "Phat Rabbit." He was already recording his debut album, Incognegro, with production from Jermaine Dupri, Bangladesh and Organized Noize, which he released independently on his own Disturbing Tha Peace label in May 2000. Much of the material on the album would be repackaged for his major label debut, Back for the First Time, after he was signed to Def Jam South in 2000, including the hit single "What’s Your Fantasy." The song was remixed for the new album, with additional guest verses from Trina and Foxy Brown, while the second single, the Neptunes-produced and Pharrell-featuring "Southern Hospitality," was another new addition. The album reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200, eventually selling more than 3 million copies. Rolling Stone picked up on Ludacris' lively rap style, calling him “that rare brand of rapper who shows you his skills as much as he tells you about them.”

Ludacris kept the charge going in 2001 with his next album, Word of Mouf. Its lead single, "Rollout (My Business)," was nominated for a Grammy and followed up by three more singles. Collaborations with Nate Dogg and Twista made the album a lively affair that racked up more than 3 million sales in the U.S. alone. Critics again singled out Ludacris’ verbal dexterity, with the Los Angeles Times praising him for keeping "the laughs coming, injecting some sort of humor into nearly every line of the 19 songs.”

Ludacris showcased the artists signed to his DTP label on his 2002 compilation Golden Grain, including a then-unknown MC called Tity Boi who would later go on to find fame as 2 Chainz. Ludacris struck an advertising deal with Pepsi around this time, which erupted into minor scandal when the Fox News host Bill O’Reilly called for a boycott of the drink for choosing someone who used obscene lyrics. Pepsi subsequently dropped Ludacris, but after action by Russell Simmons’ Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, the company eventually agreed to make $3 million in donations to urban charities.

That same year, Ludacris starred as Tej Parker in 2 Fast 2 Furious, the sequel to The Fast and the Furious. According to its director, John Singleton, Ludacris was cast in 2002 after fellow rapper Ja Rule, who was in the original movie, “got too big for himself” and turned it down. Ludacris would also go on to appear in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth installments of the series, and has many other TV and film credits to his name.

Nas and DMX were among the guests on The Red Light District in 2004, another No. 1 album. Ludacris received his first Grammy award in 2005 — having been previously nominated more than a dozen times — for "Yeah!," a collaboration with Usher. Ludacris would pick up two more Grammys in 2007, for his single "Money Maker" and album Release Therapy. His first concept album, it interspersed party and dance tracks with more reflective and political moments although maintaining, as The New Yorker concluded, “a concise demonstration of his midnight-blue humor and bumptious oratory.”

Throughout 2012, Ludacris released 3 singles "Stairway To Heaven ", Representin and Rest of My Life, all of which were scrapped after the songs underperformed and the recording process for his upcoming album Ludaversal stalled.

On May 24, 2013, Ludacris released a mixtape entitled #IDGAF. He had been releasing a new song on Fridays as he is calling these releases IDGAF Fridays. These songs, in order of release, were "Raised In The South" featuring rapper Young Jeezy, released on April 19. That release was followed by "If I Ain't Fucked Up" on April 26, "9 Times Out Of 10" featuring rappers French Montana & Que on May 3, "Speak Into The Mic" on May 10, and "I Don't Give A Fuck" on May 17. The last song was released a week before the release of the mixtape. The mixtape had almost 60,000 downloads via datpiff.com within the first day. Ludacris reprised his role as Tej in the blockbuster movie Fast & Furious 6, which opened during Memorial Day Weekend, May 2013. Ludacris had this to say about his upcoming new album: "I think every album is like a progression, I'm working with different producers. Usher, We definitely have this album which is a great thing. Ne-Yo is also on the album and I have producers like David Guetta, we have Stargate, have trainees. [The] Kelly Rowland single just came out that you need to check out. It's called 'Representing'".

In March 2017, Ludacris confirmed that he was working on his ninth studio album in an interview with Complex magazine.

Achievements

• Ludacris has won Screen Actors Guild, Critic's Choice, MTV, and Grammy Awards. Along with fellow Atlanta-based rappers Big Boi and André 3000 of OutKast, Ludacris was one of the first and most influential "Dirty South" rappers to achieve mainstream success during the early 2000s. In 2014, Ludacris was featured in Forbes list titled "Hip-Hop Cash Kings", as he earned $8 million.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Furious 7

    ( )

    2015
  • The Wash 2001
  • The Fast & The Furious 2003
  • Paper Chasers 2005
  • Hustle & Flow 2005
  • Fred Claus 2007
  • Rocknrolla 2008
  • Show Dogs 2017

• music

  • Incognegro 1999
  • Back For The First Time 2000
  • Word Of Mouf Explicit Lyrics 2001
  • Chicken N Beer Explicit Lyrics 2003
  • The Red Light District 2004
  • Release Therapy 2006
  • Theater Of The Mind 2008
  • Battle Of The Sexes 2010
  • Ludaversal (Deluxe) 2015

Religion

Ludacris doesn’t talk about religion much. He’s a Christian, but he’s not over-the-top about it. He rarely says anything about his faith to the press, but his philanthropic foundation states that its programs are rooted in “spirituality,” among other things. He talks about Jesus, God, and Christianity in a fair number of his songs.

Politics

Ludacris supported Barack Obama. Ludacris has a history with Obama that started in 2006. The then-senator met with Ludacris to discuss “youth empowerment” while the rapper was in Chicago to launch a campaign to raise HIV and AIDS awareness among the city’s youth.

And his support for the president hasn’t waned during the 2012 campaign. Aside from the support he’s shown Obama on his Twitter account, Ludacris presented the president with a custom set of headphones at a fundraising event. It appears the rapper is smitten.

But supporting Obama isn’t the only liberal cause Ludacris supports. He is also involved in environmental, conservation, and climate change awareness. His foundation, the Ludacris Foundation, works to empower youth through education and experience, and to “uplift families, communities and foster economic development.

Views

Ludacris strives for new educational ideals and forms of relationships. He is a person who wants to reform love, marriage, the environment and politics with his ideals.

Quotations: “I'm a perfectionist, so I always feel there's room for improvement.”

“I always look for something that I haven't necessarily done yet because I like to expand my body of work.”

“I'm just basically spillin' out my emotions to the world. 'Cause rap is about emotion. And I want you to feel what I'm feelin', 'cause that's what it's all about.”

“We [musicians] are comfortable in front of the camera doing music videos, and it's almost a form of acting when we're doing music videos. We're acting out our own thoughts and what we've written down on paper.”

“It's a ho wide world that we living in.”

“I don't necessarily do anything just for the money. I do it for the passion and I do it for the love, because I'm still hungry. So if I want to do music, it's not necessarily motivated because of monetary value. It's more about the passion and the love, and I think that's where music should come from, the heart, not necessarily just to cash a check.”

“Keep in mind, when you hit rock bottom, there ain't nowhere to go but up, baby.”

“Life is short if you don't notice it'll pass you by, That's why my head is in the clouds trying to pass the sky.”

“Education is extremely important, especially in my business, the music business.”

"And we jolly green giants cuz we smoke so much broccoli."

"My work is like my vacation, so in a way every day is like Saturday."

"I've always had an affinity and a passion for cars and that whole car culture."

"I love technology. We can be our own DJs wherever we go."

"I've never been a cocky individual, but I am very confident."

Personality

Ludacris is known as a philanthropist. He started the Ludacris Foundation at the beginning of his music career in 2002. 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.

Physical Characteristics: Ludacris is 5' 7" (170 cm.) tall.

Interests

• Airplanes, cars

• Politicians

  Barack Obama

• Sport & Clubs

  basketball

• Music & Bands

  rap

Connections

Ludacris has a daughter named Karma Bridges (born August 2001) from a relationship with an attorney from Atlanta. Since 2009 he has been dating Gabonese model Eudoxie Mbouguiengue. In early June 2015, Eudoxie announced that the couple had welcomed a baby girl.

Father:

Wayne Brian Bridges

Mother:

Roberta Shields

Daughter:

Karma Bridges

Wife:

Eudoxie Mbouguiengue

Daughter:

Cadence Bridges

colleague:

Jeremih

Jeremih Felton, better known by his mononym Jeremih, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer.

colleague:

Ciara Princess Harris

colleague:

Usher

Usher Raymond IV is an American singer, songwriter and dancer.

Friend:

William Roberts II

References

• Ludacris
• Black Men's Urban Ink Magazine #99 Ludacris and Lil Scrappy Inked Prophet, Tattoos From The Dirty South, NFL Ink Al Harris and More
• Ludacris: Hip-hop Mogul
• DON DIVA Magazine Issue 14 CHICAGO'S VICE LORDS & WILLIE LLOYD, Ludacris, Twista
• HIGH TIMES July 2017 HYDRO vs SOIL, Ludacris, Patrick Stewart, Tom Marshall