Illinois Ludacris, American actor/rapper from Champaign, Illinois Ludacris, founder of ‘Disturbing tha Peace,’ a brother-distributor by Def Jam Recordings.
Many people have probably seen him in hip-hop shows and music videos though people generally know him from the movie Fast & Furious’ franchise if you happen to be a movie lover.
As of 2020, Ludacris’ net worth is estimated to be a whopping $25 million, making him one of the world’s top 100 wealthiest rappers!
Name: Ludacris aka Christopher Bridges
Birthdate: September 11, 1977 (age 43, the present year 2020)
Country: United States of America
Did you know: Ludacris is a self-proclaimed germaphobe.
Education: Georgia State University, Oak Park and River Forest High School
Place of birth: Champaign, Illinois
Zodiac sign: Virgo
Early Life
Born on September 11, 1977, in Champaign, Illinois, he grew up as a single child. Ludacris moved to Atlanta during his high school years then attended Banneker High School there.
He then continued his studies at Georgia State University. Essentially, the family moved around a lot, and he attended a large number of schools.
Ludacris began writing raps when he was nine years old and joined a rap group when he was twelve. After graduating high school, Luda then pursued music studies at Georgia State University.
He worked as a DJ at an Atlanta-based station called Hot 97.5 (which later got rebranded as Hot 107.9). This was his entry into the rap industry, via radio, where he was famously known as “DJ Chris Lova Lova”, this later got him acquainted with Timbaland around the early-mid 2000s.
Producer Timbaland featured Christopher Bridges (hashed him as Ludacris) on a track called “Fat Rabbit” from his album Tim’s Bio (1998), and with such a high-profile artist to Luda’s first portfolio, the stepping stones were set for the rapper.
Disturbing the Peace Records
“Incognegro” was ready for release back in 2000, and with no major label to back or consider it, Ludacris then started his label, Disturbing Tha Peace (DTP) records. Signed exclusively to Def Jam, Disturbing Tha Peace became a franchise imprint of Def Jam, catering to artists in the dirty-gritty south rap-style scene.
This label later achieved a new height, bringing artists such as 2 Chainz and Chingy into the mainstream charts. The DTP’s current roster now includes artists like Playaz Circle, Shareefa, and Willie Northpole.
The rapper’s next two albums, ‘Word of Mouf and Chicken-n-Beer”. The second album was less popular than the first due to the lack of successful or catchy singles. However, Ludacris had ended up as a household name by the end of 2003. A number of singles from both albums were enough to gain traction and push Ludacris’ career forward. Music videos were especially useful tools to gain attention, which kept the rapper in the limelight. This got him nominated for a Grammy during the time. He collaborated with influential rappers and hip hop artists such as Snoop Dogg, Chingy, and Kanye West.
Ludacris’ fourth album, ‘The Red Light District,’ debuted number one spot on the Billboard charts with significant DMX, T.I., and Nas. In 2006, Ludacris then released his fifth album, ‘Release Therapy’.
He continued his way of collaborating with other artists and producing tracks and hit singles. The most notable track, “Money Maker,” became a number-one hit single. The ’Release Therapy’ album also got itself to number one spot on the Billboard album charts after selling 309,000 copies.
Acting Career
Luda’s acting career started in 2003 when landed the main role in the movie “2 Fast 2 Furious.” Since then, Ludacris has appeared in several films such as Crash” “Hustle & Flow,” and “Gamer.”
Luda’s persona then became a useful feature in the Fast and Furious franchise due to the other characters’ chemistry and its action genre. This got him appearing in the later franchise (due to storyline) Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, and Fast & Furious 7.
Highlights
Here are some of the unforgettable highlights from Ludacris’ music career:
Albums:
- Back For the First Time (2000)
- Word of Mouf (2001)
- Chicken-n-Beer (2003)
- The Red Light District (2004)
- Disturbing Tha Peace (2005)
- Release Therapy (2006)
- Theatre of the Mind (2008)
As Well as his motion picture flicks
Movies:
- 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
- Hustle & Flow (2005)
- Fast Five (2011)
- Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
- Furious 7 (2015)
- The Fate of the Furious (2017)
- John Henry (2020)
- F9 (2021)
Endorsements
On the receiving end of several major endorsement deals throughout Ludacris’ career, commercials for Puma, advertisements for Pepsi, and the more recent voice-overs for Radio Shack. Unfortunately, Luda’s Pepsi deal turned to the center of controversy when Pepsi had to take down his ads off the air around 2002 due to the comments and concerns from political guru Bill O’Reilly mentioning that Ludacris was providing a bad influence for youth.
To avoid any more backlash towards the hip-hop wide boycott for their misjudgment, Pepsi paid $3 million to Ludacris’ charity called “the Ludacris Foundation,” and then offered to re-shoot Ludacris’ ads. However, the rapper refused.
Business Ventures
Ludacris is one of hip-hop’s most versatile and diversified, and lucrative businessmen. A liquor connoisseur, co-owning the very well-known Conjure Cognac. While other rappers such as P-Diddy also claim partial ownership of other liquor brands.
However, Ludacris claims to have even more contributions to the creation of Conjure. In 2010, he mentioned in Hot 107.9 that the liquor brand “isn’t just something he just attached his name to brand and boot” Luda helped handcraft the entire thing.”
Like Dr. Dre, Ludacris also has his audio equipment, headsets, earphones, and speakers, called “Soul by Ludacris.” iThis is n contrast to his co-ownership regarding Conjure. Ludacris only has partial equity in his headphone company. Moreover, the company has also been a significant revenue source for Ludacris, placing out around $12 million net to Ludacris’ earnings in 2012.
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