Ludacris

Rapper

Name at birth: Christopher Bridges

Ludacris is the stage name of Chris Bridges, a rapper from Atlanta, Georgia who became a video and radio star after the success of his 2000 album Back for the First Time. Bridges began his career as a radio DJ in Atlanta, where he was known on the air as Chris Lova Lova. His self-produced record, Incognegro led to a contract with the Def Jam South record label and was remade into Back for the First Time. He second release, Word of Mouf (2001) was also a hit, and Ludacris rose in the ranks of young rappers in radio and MTV rotation. In 2003 Ludacris released Chicken and Beer and appeared in a small role in the feature film 2 Fast 2 Furious (starring Paul Walker). He also appeared as Skinny Black in the movie Hustle and Flow (2005, starring Terrence Howard) and had a small role in the drama Crash (2004, with Don Cheadle). In 2006 he changed his look and presented himself as having grown from "the clown prince of rap" into a mature artist. He released a new album, Release Therapy, and was back on the charts again with the single "Money Maker."

Extra credit: His career got a boost in 2002 when TV's Bill O'Reilly expressed outrage that Pepsi had hired Ludacris as a spokesman. O'Reilly criticized Ludacris's foul language and called for a boycott of Pepsi, who then fired Ludacris and hired Ozzy Osbourne's family instead... Ludacris has collaborated in the studio with several other hip-hop stars, including Missy Elliott, 50 Cent, Mariah Carey and Mary J. Blige... He has toured with Busta Rhymes and Eminem.