Ludacris

American rapper and actor Ludacris (Christopher Brian Bridges) was born on September, 11 1977. Aged nine, he wrote and performed his first rap song. He started his music career as DJ of one of the Atlanta radio stations. It was the time when Timbaland offered him cooperation. Ludacris participated in the creation of Timbaland’s Tim’s Bio: Life from da Basement (1998) recording the song Phat Rabbit. After that, he decided to produce and distribute his own album, Incognegro, by himself. Acting by all means, the young rapper managed to sell over 50 000 copies. In 2000, Ludacris signed a contract with Def Jam to release a new edition of his debut work. The album was called Back for the First Time and featured four new songs. This release was not an excellent seller, but got the rapper’s some audience. The following year, Ludacris acted in his first movie, The Wash, along with Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre and Xzibit, and finished the creation of his new album, Word of Mouth (2001). It featured the singe Rollout (My Business) with the promo video nominated for VMA. The singer was also nominated for Grammy, yet defeated by Eminem.

After a long pause, Ludacris came back with the performance in 2 Fast 2 Furious and the single Act a Fool written for this movie. It was followed by the release of another single, P-Poppin and the long player Chicken – N-Beer (2003), both having moderate sales. Things changed after the production of the single Stand Up, featured on the soundtrack to You Got Served. It became the rapper’s biggest hip to head Top 100 on Billboard and have heavy play on leading national music channels. Ludacris met 2004 with his sexiest single Splash Waterfalls and his first Grammy for participation in Usher’s Yeah. The new album, The Red Light District (2004), hit the top of the Billboard album chart in a week. The next step to the overwhelming glory was performing Get Back with the punk rock band Sum 41 for the Saturday Night Live. The single featuring this song was a good commercial success inspiring the rapper to found a fund to promote arts among children.

2005 was a brilliant period for Ludacris as an actor. He acted in the critically acclaimed Hustle & Flow, and Crash, the latter being an Oscar winner. The long anticipated fifth album by Ludacris, Release Therapy was released in September 2006. It was a big commercial success and received the platinum certificate in a short while. Besides, this work earned the rapper his first Grammy for the best rap album. The booklet of this album announced the title of the subsequent work, Theater of the Mind. It was released in 2008. For the first ten years of his music career Ludacris gained the reputation of one of the leading rap performers in addition to an extremely controversial personality in the showbiz. Several times, his lyrics became subjects of hot disputes and strong accusations. He was condemned for propaganda of violence, sexual inequality and offensive lines addressing the American politicians of the modern times. The new album Battle Of The Sexes appeared in the shops in 2010.