Ludacris
Christopher Brian Bridges, or Ludacris, launched his music career as a DJ on one of the radiostations of Atlanta. His talent and enthusiasm captured the attention of the producer Timbaland, who saw a radio worker as a future rap-star. He offered to Christopher to work with him.Ludacris accepted the proposal and became a sound participant of Timbaland's track record entitled Phat Rabbit in 1998. And soon after, he recorded his solo album Incognegro, consisting of 16 songs. He listed in the American Billboard 200 and peaked at number 68 in Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums of the same magazine Billboard.
In total, the album sold about 50 000 copies that was not bad for the work of the little-known singer. However, Ludacris kept on working and signed a contract with Def Jam in 2000. He re-released his first work under the symbolic title Back for the First Time. Apart from old songs, it included four new tracks. Despite law sales of the album, it brought Ludacris his first fans.
The musician’s third album was much more successful. In 2001, after the rapper’s debut in acting, Ludacris recorded a single featuring Nate Dogg that became a soundtrack to the part two of the famous film Rush Hour, and released his third album Word of Mouf. He made several videoclips, including the video to the track “Rollout (My Business)” and it was nominated for MTV Video Music Awards. Ludacris tried to earn a Grammy but he was left behind by no other than Eminem.
Then, Ludacris focused on acting for a couple of years, starring in various films (including the well-known movie 2 Fast 2 Furious) with other rappers and alone. But in 2003, he returned to the music and his (already numerous) fans could enjoy the musician’s new album Chicken & Beer. Although this album was not very popular, the singer’s career continued. After releasing a single “Stand Up”, it went up in the world as namely this song became Ludacris’ first superhit and peaked at number one in Billboard 100. A year later, in 2004, he finally received his first long-expected Grammy.
In 2005, the rapper continued his acting career and starred in such famous film as Crash and increased the number of his fans. Then, he returned to music again and released his fifth album Release Therapy, which was destined to be successful. The album topped Billboard 200, became platinum, and received a Grammy for The Best Rap Album. Ludacris, with his persistence and outrageous image, became, eventually, one of the most known rappers in the US as well as throughout the world.
Ludacris still carries on the active creative work, releasing new albums and singles. The release of his last full-featured studio album, entitled Ludaversal, is slated for 2011.
