Early life
Ludacris was born Christopher Brian Bridges in Champaign, Illinois to Roberta Shields and Wayne Bridges. His family moved to Atlanta, Georgia during his adolescence, where he attended Banneker High School. His father exposed him to a wide range of music in his earlier years. He is also a graduate of Georgia State University.
Music career
Early career
Ludacris first revealed his personality to local media as the radio DJ chris Lova Lova at Hot 97 (which later became Hot 107.9), an urban radio station in Atlanta, Georgia. Ludacris had his opportunity to gain commercial exposure when hip hop producer/rapper Timbaland heard him on Atlanta radio. Timbaland contacted and offered Ludacris to work with him at the radio station. Timbaland then produced a beat for Ludacris in the radio station. The two worked together and made Ludacris' recorded debut on "Phat Rabbit", a track from Timbaland's 1998 album Tim's Bio: Life from da Bassment.
Although both Timbaland and Jermaine Dupri showed interest in signing Ludacris, he decided to take matters into his own hands, and released the album Incognegro independently in 1999. The album sold over 50,000 copies, most of them sold out of the trunk of his car. Def Jam Records signed Ludacris in 2000, and created a new imprint, Def Jam South, around him. Def Jam then re-released a newer version of Incognegro, titled "Back for the First Time". The album launched Ludacris' career as a Southern rapper.
Back for the First Time
Ludicris released his major label debut, Back for the First Time, in November 2000. This album, which was actually a modified re-release of the album Incognegro, was produced with the help of the underground producer Sessy Melia, whom he also dated for a short while. 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 two years prior.
Word of Mouf
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 VMA, and Ludacris performed it live at the awards' pre-show. He also released singles "Move Bitch" with Mystikal & I-20, "Area Codes" with Nate Dogg, & "Saturday" with Sleepy Brown. Word of Mouf became Ludacris' best selling album to date.
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-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.
Stand Up
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, Honey. 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 of 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.
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". Ludacris also received his first Grammy Award with Usher and Lil Jon for their hit single "Yeah". Ludacris next released "Blow It Out", a gritty song with an urban, low-budget music video. A departure from the R&B leanings of "Splash Waterfalls", "Blow It Out" acted both as a response to the criticism levied by Bill O'Reilly and an attack on Pepsi's role in the affair.
The Red Light District
The fourth studio album from Ludacris. Although not 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 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 the long-running sketch show Saturday Night Live as a special guest performing with musical guest Sum 41 on a season 30 episode hosted by Paul Giamatti. He then rerecorded Get Back with Sum 41 to make a rock crossover single. 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. 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.
After the success of "The Red Light District", Ludacris then 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.
Pre-Release Therapy
Prior to the release of Release Therapy, Ludacris also had a mixtape album out called, "Pre-Release Therapy: The Truth Shall Set You Free", which is presented by DJ Green Lantern and Michael "5000" Watts.
Release Therapy
In an 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 formatted the CD to have two sides: a Release side and a Therapy side on one CD. With the Release side having songs that allow him to get everything off his chest and the Therapy side being just feel-good music, on the flip side it's extremely dark in mood. The first single, "Money Maker", which features Pharrell, was released to U.S. radio outlets on July 17, 2006. "Money Maker" reached number one on the BET 106 & Park. It then went to become Ludacris' second number one single after 6 years. His second single, "Runaway Love", would soon peak at number one on the U.S. Rap Billboard. His album then reached number 1 on the Billboard 200 album charts with sales of more than 300,000 in its first week. This album as well as the lead single "Money Maker" were also awarded Rap Album of the year and song, respectively during the 2007 Grammy Awards. With the release of this album, Ludacris marked a change in style in his career with his musical style. A change of hair accompanied this as he cut off his trademark braids for a more conventional "fade" cut. This was done to project a new image for the album. To promote the album, Ludacris returned to Saturday Night Live (as both host and musical guest) on November 18, 2006.
Other work
On July 7th, 2007, Ludacris performed at the American leg of Live Earth.
Disputes
Bill O'Reilly
Furthering the Pepsi controversy, in response to the signing of the Osbourne family, popular hip-hop music 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 apologize to Ludacris, they did agree to donate millions of dollars over several years to Russell Simmons Hip-Hop Summit Action Network.
Ludacris' song "Blow It Out" (from the Chicken & Beer album) acted as a scathing response to his critics, namely Bill O'Reilly.
In another song, "Hoes in My Room", he tells a story about anonymous prostitutes being left in his room, and at the end of the last verse says:
Then it got to my head and Somethin' remind me
I know who let 'em in, it was Bill O'Reilly.
Then, in 2004, in "Number 1 Spot"
''Respected highly, Hi Mr. O'Reilly.
''Hope all is well, kiss the plaintiff and the wifey.
When Ludacris hosted Saturday Night Live in 2006, a sketch involved O'Reilly telling a Def Jam executive that he will boycott Def Jam if Ludacris isn't fired. O'Reilly, played by Darrell Hammond, says that although his boycotts have had the opposite effect of his intention, Def Jam's sales will decrease dramatically.
Upon winning the Grammy for Best Rap Album on February 11, 2007, Ludacris included in his thank-yous a "special shout-out to Bill O'Reilly".
The following day Bill O'Reilly responded on his show with a less than enthusiastic response. He soon began criticizing Ludacris' Grammy win. O'Reilly did not appreciate his lyrics.
Oprah Winfrey
In a 2006 interview with GQ magazine, Ludacris criticized Oprah Winfrey about his appearance on her show with the cast of the film Crash. 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 has an anti-hip hop bias.
Winfrey responded by saying that she's opposed to rap lyrics that "marginalize women," but enjoys some artists, including Jay-Z and Kanye West, who appeared on her show. She said she spoke with Ludacris 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". At the 2007 Grammy awards, Ludacris gave a special shout-out to Oprah Winfrey and on "Freedom of Preach" a song on "Release Therapy" he said "Forgive Oprah for editing most my comments out of her show".
T.I.
In 2004, before releasing his debut album Straight Outta Ca$hville, Nashville native and G-Unit member Young Buck would enlist the services of fellow Atlanta M.C. T.I., also known as T.I.P. in his native Bankhead neighborhood of west side 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 heard the track and asked Buck if he could add his own verse; to which Buck agreed. 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. notified Buck that T.I.'s vocals would not be cleared for the album unless T.I. is allowed to change his verse, and also have Ludacris change his. Buck refused this offer and T.I. prohibited his vocals from being used. Buck had Hypeman and fellow rapper D-Tay replace T.I. on the song; D-Tay himself was eventually replaced by Compton rapper The Game on the official release.
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 New Orleans rapper 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. isn't 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 dispute. As a matter of fact during the taping of MTV's My Block 'Atlanta', T.I. and Ludacris are shown greeting each other respectfully. Also in T.I.'s movie ATL one of Ludacris songs is in the movie.
Ludacris won the Grammy for Best Rap Album in 2007, beating T.I's King album. To this T.I. has stated "I had the album of the year whether I won a grammy for it or not. I think numbers show that. I think that if you go out to anybody on the streets and ask them, they'll tell you.
"I think that it's a no-brainer. You ask him (Ludacris), he'll probably tell you the same thing. Come on, man, who in hip-hop doesn't know that? "If you a supporter of hip-hop, who doesn't know that King is the only platinum album that dropped last year... that was platinum by the time the new-year's bell rung? At 12:01, January 1, 2007, who had the hottest album of the year? I think it's unanimous."
T.I. further expressed his feelings on this matter his song "You Know What It Is", featuring Wyclef Jean, which is the second single off of his upcoming album T.I. vs T.I.P.: "Had the album of the year nigga, Grammy or not."
Also, it has been reported that there was an altercation between T.I. and Ludacris' manager, Chaka Zulu, at the Make It Happen Visionary Leadership Awards Brunch on June 24, 2007. T.I. has since apologized at the 2007 BET Awards during his thank you speech after winning the best hip-hop artist of the year.
Others
In July 2006, a track entitled "War with God" would see Ludacris,big D,hassle,f.p.s 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 new coming rappers Yung Joc and Young Dro. In this instance it is unknown whether or not Ludacris is indeed aiming his offences at Young Jeezy,shane allen of ware MASS, T.I. or if the track is even a song recorded recently. Ludacris recently stated that the song was deeper than just an offence, 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 was confirmed as a selection from Ludacris' album Release Therapy.
It is believed that he's referencing the song "The Mobb" by Lil' Wayne. He also mentions Tha Carter III and the label disputes that he and other former Cash Money Records artists had involving royalty money. He also mentions that his resume isn't limited to mixtapes. "War with God" uses a beat written by Don Cheegro and Dirty Harry. He states his relationship with Chingy in his song "Tell It Like it Is".
''What's worse than havin' no money is havin' it and losin' it
''What's worse than havin' some money is grabbin' and abusin' it
''We never took no money from Chingy, thought I was cool wit him
''I wish his ass well, but I don't want nothin' to do with him
At .56 seconds in War with God if you listen closely you can hear Ludacris calling out Chingy's name.
In SOHH.com's pre-VMA Interview, Ludacris responded to an interview question, "Man we heard, 'War With God' and when we heard it, [they said that you said] it was about you". Ludacris replied, "Man, somebody misquoted me talking about...they misquoted me saying it was about me. What I was telling them was that I devote a lot of information about myself, and I think they're taking that in. I'm not battling myself on the record, that's ridiculous. What happens is you got a lot of people taking subliminal shots, but nobody ever says my name. I'm not for sure, so that record is like my way of taking subliminal shots right back. Don't get it misquoted, don't get it messed up. That's basically what it is man. It's like, you know, like I said I do devote a lot of information about myself on there. I started to wreck it up by saying I'm the best, and there's nothing you could do about it. [They say] I've never done this I've never done that, so you know when you look into it, it's a lot more records where it comes from on the album, September 26, Release Therapy, where it's the most personal album I've done. It's nothing but honesty so you can criticize it all you want to but at the end of the day you got to respect it cause I'm coming straight from the heart. [I'm] just telling the truth, [and] that's all you gotta know.
Ludicris
