The name Ludacris is huge in the Hip hop music for a reason. He is considered to be the pioneer of the Dirty Rap movement that took the industry by storm at the turn of the century. He is argued to be the most commercially successful southern rapper of the time and is given the credit of establishing this genre in the market. But who really is Ludacris and how did he become the superstar that he is now?
Born as Christopher Bridges in Champaign, Illinois, Ludacris wrote his first rap song when he was only none years old. However, his tryst with the hip hop music world did not happen until years after he moved to Atlanta and finished his education. It was the radio that earned him his big break. Ludacris used to work as a disc jockey at Atlanta-based urban station Hot 97.5 (which later became Hot 107.9). His popularity as DJ Chris Lova Lova kept expanding until he was noticed by Timbaland.
His acquaintance with this hip hop great landed him a feature in the song "Fat Rabbit" from his album from Timbaland’s 1998 album, “Tim’s Bio”. With such a high profile introduction to his credit, the road to stardom was laid for Ludacris. He recorded and independent album “Incognegro” and released it under his own label “Disturbing the peace”. The album was successful enough to break into the Billboard 200 and won him a recording contract with “Def Jam”. The recording company repackaged the album and released it under a new name “Back for the first time”.
The new album featured all the previous tracks from “Incognegro” and a few new Ludacris songs- a "Stick 'Em Up”, "Southern Hospitality" and a remix of his previously released song with Timbaland re-titled "Phat Rabbit". The album peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 and featured the hit single “What’s your fantasy?” His next album “Word of mouf” was ever more successful, spawning chart topping singles like "Area Codes," "Rollout (My Business)," "Saturday (Oooh Oooh!)," "Welcome to Atlanta," and "Move Bitch." The Ludacris music video for “Rollout” was even nominated for an award.
In 2002, Ludacris partnered with Def Jam to revive his record label “Disturbing the peace” and released a collaborative effort called “Golden grain”. The album featured various talented new artists that had been signed to the label. He also started receiving various acting roles and finally appeared in the movie “2 fast 2 furious”. The same year, his new album “Chicken-n-beer” peaked at number one on the charts and spawned series of hits, including the Hot 100 number one "Stand Up" and number six "Splash Waterfalls."
His later albums were considered as some of his more serious works. The albums “The red light district”, “Release therapy”, “Theatre of the mind” and “Battle of the sexes” marked a change in his musical style and the message that he was trying to deliver with his lyrics. Both albums featured smash hits like "Money Maker", "Runaway Love", “Get back” etc. Ludacris is truly is an all-in-one entertainer.
James Griffith is a freelance writer from London specialising in writing hiphop r&b music and uk grime music articles. Over the years he has developed an extensive knowledge of urban music and urban music artists and is considered one of the leading authorities on this subject. With a passion for Hip hop and R&B music since childhood, James Griffith brings great knowledge and a great understanding of this exciting music genre and his articles are both informative and entertaining too.