Ludacris

A lot of people know Chris Bridges, a.k.a. Ludacris, as one of the original voices of the Dirty South, the southern fried rapper who asked "What's Your Fantasy?" and built his Disturbing Tha Peace label into one of hip-hop's biggest success stories. Thanks to political commentator Bill O'Reilly, who famously harangued Pepsi for choosing Ludacris as a spokesman, he also acquired a rep for foul-mouthed lyrics -- somewhat undeserved, since most rappers sling their share of four-letter words and Ludacris' profanity is tame compared to some.

But what you may not know is that Ludacris is also a great community leader and philanthropist, a man who's been given the keys to Atlanta in recognition for his charitable work through the Ludacris Foundation. Here, he talks to ARTISTdirect about his foundation work, his new album The Red Light District, and what makes Atlanta such a hip-hop hotbed.

First we want to congratulate you on the two Source Awards you just got.

Yeah, man, thank you. That was my first time winning a solo award, so it did feel pretty good.

That surprises me. I can’t believe that’s the first time you’ve won as a solo act.

Yeah, well, being a solo artist, I was always put in the same category as Eminem and Nelly and people like that for the past four years, so it was just hard to crack through. I was never really upset, I was just like, hopefully one will come soon. I look at it as, this is where my career starts.

Give us two words that describe your new album.

Innovative and...versatile.

Disturbing Tha Peace has got albums coming out left and right these days. You’ve just released debut solo albums from Shawnna and I-20. You pleased with how things are going for them?

There are technical things involved that I’m not as happy about, but that’s like, behind the scenes….Besides that, I’m very happy with the both of them and how much work they put in, and I’m very happy with their albums as a finished product.

I want to ask you about your work with the Ludacris Foundation, which I think is something that maybe people don’t know enough about. Can you tell us a little bit about how the foundation got started and what it’s accomplished?

I had been doing a lot of community work ever since I worked at that radio station about five years ago. That being said, I kinda just started my own thing with helping kids help themselves. I do everything from donating money to different charities that help out kids to lending my own celebrity. We go all across the country, not just Atlanta. We donated money to housing developments, we go into hospitals and visit children, into rehabilitative centers. We fed the homeless in Miami, we donated money to Boys and Girls Clubs in New York, we donated money to places in Chicago, Detroit.

That's awesome. And I'm sure that's part of why you got the keys to Atlanta from the mayor this year.

Yeah. Not the real keys, though. I need the real keys so I can bust into all the fine-ass women's homes in Atlanta, Georgia. But besides that, it did feel good. (That was a joke, by the way.)

The most obvious question for anyone to ask you is: How do you find time to do everything? You run your own record label, a charitable foundation, you're a recording artist, an actor, and now you're even a video game character…

I have help, man, no one man can do it by himself. I have a great team, from Chaka Zulu to Jeff Dixon, and my whole staff. I just have a good team. It's not me by myself.

So somewhere in there you do find time to sleep.

Oh, yeah. Sometimes.

Atlanta is the hottest thing going in rap music right now. What is it about the scene there that produces so much talent?

A lot of people around the country don't know how many independent albums the South puts out before they become worldwide. Practice makes perfect. We've had time to make our little mistakes doing independent albums which only sell like, thousands of records. So a lot of record companies come and they see that we're doing it on our own, and they just give us money to continue doing what we're doing, only on a larger scale. And there's a lot of artists doing that. A lot of Atlanta artists, from Lil Jon to myself to the Ying Yang Twins, we all started out doing independent albums. So I really attribute our success to that.

Speaking of Lil Jon, what's that guy like in person?

Real cool and calm….Him and I are the same person in that, on stage or in front of the camera we're just really wild, and then off-camera we're kinda laid-back and chill. He's not always hype, and I'm not always hype like that. We have a business side and then we have a stage side. Both [sides] are definitely our personalities, but we're not just wild as sh** 24 hours a day. Nobody's like that.

So you guys are pretty good friends then, you and Lil Jon?

Hell yeah, man.

Is there a little bit of a friendly rivalry there? The two kings of the Dirty South trying to outdo each other?

Well, seeing as I think our music is completely different, I wouldn't necessarily say that. But yeah, there's friendly competition with everybody. I'm competing against rock 'n' roll artists, too, if you wanna say that. But there's rumors of a Lil Jon, Ludacris and Usher album to come, so we'll see what we can make of that.

So Ludacris might go crunk?

Well, I have a crunk song on my album with Lil Jon on there.

Have you got any film projects coming up that you want to talk about? [Note: This interview was done before Crash and Hustle and Flow hit theatres.]

Two movies. There's one called Hustle and Flow, produced by John Singleton. He's known for making really classic urban movies, I would say. And not only that, this is his first time bringing it to the South. I just think it's gonna be something everyone's gonna love. Terrence Howard is the lead, and it's all about him as a Memphis pimp trying to make a demo tape and break into the music industry. Which sounds ridiculous, but just seeing the movie, it'll change your whole perspective. Both these movies should be coming out in the summer of 2005. The other movie's called Crash, and it [focuses] on racial discrimination in everyday life. That particular movie has a lot of people in it, from Matt Damon to Sandra Bullock, Brendan Fraser, Larenz Tate, Thandie Newton, Loretta Devine…it's an all-star cast, so it's gonna be a really good drama movie.

It sounds like it's a more dramatic project for you than, say, "2 Fast 2 Furious."

Exactly, 'cause I like to be versatile. That's my whole thing, I don't wanna do the same things over and over again. So this is completely different from "2 Fast 2 Furious." Completely different.

I do see kind of a car theme in a lot of your films. "The Wash," "2 Fast 2 Furious," I guess in "Crash" you play a carjacker…

That's funny you say that, I never looked at it like that. That wasn't premeditated.

Do you collect or race cars yourself?

I collect those little cars, like the model cars.

What else do you do in your free time, if you have any?

I really like to chill and watch movies. Spend time with my daughter, she's three years old. And I love to eat food, even though I can't cook with a damn.

What's been your proudest moment as a performer or a community leader?

My proudest moment was starting the Ludacris Foundation and being able to give back in large amounts to a lot of different charities.

Click here to order your copy of Ludacris' new album The Red Light District today!

When the Dirty South movement broke nationwide at the turn of the century, Ludacris rode it to immediate widespread popularity, becoming arguably the most commercially successful Southern rapper of the time. In 2000 the Atlanta-based rapper signed to Def Jam's newly established Southern rap subsidiary, Def Jam South, and became the label's flagship Dirty South artist. Def Jam repackaged his underground album Incognegro (2000) as Back for the First Time (2000) and issued "What's Your Fantasy?" as its lead single. The song soon became a national hit, beginning a long string of hits that would include Billboard Hot 100 number ones ("Stand Up," "Money Maker") and Top Tens ("Move Bitch," "Splash Waterfalls," "Pimpin' All Over the World," "Runaway Love"), as well as a bunch of Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Top Tens ("Southern Hospitality," "Area Codes," "Rollout [My Business]," "Saturday [Oooh Oooh!]," "Get Back," "Number One Spot"). Plus, Ludacris became a reliable featured guest, gracing Top Tens for Missy Elliott ("One Minute Man," "Gossip Folks"), Mariah Carey ("Loverboy"), LL Cool J ("Fatty Girl"), Chingy ("Holidae In"), Usher ("Yeah!"), Ciara ("Oh"), Jamie Foxx ("Unpredictable"), Fergie ("Glamorous"), and others. Moreover, Ludacris established himself as a versatile actor, notably appearing in such mainstream films as 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), Crash (2005), and Fred Claus (2007), among other films and TV series. Along with associate Chaka Zulu, Ludacris also founded his own boutique label at Def Jam, Disturbing tha Peace (aka DTP), which released albums by such diverse rap/R&B acts as Shawnna, Bobby Valentino, Field Mob, and Playaz Circle.

Born Christopher Bridges on September 11, 1977, in Champaign, IL, Ludacris moved to Atlanta during his high school years and attended Banneker High School there. He then studied at Georgia State University. His entry into the rap industry came via radio; he worked as a disc jockey at Atlanta-based urban station Hot 97.5 (which later became Hot 107.9), where he was known as DJ Chris Lova Lova, and this was how he became acquainted with Timbaland. The producer featured Ludacris (then billed as Ludichris) on the song "Fat Rabbit" from his album Tim's Bio (1998), and with such a high-profile feature to his credit, the groundwork was laid for the rapper. Ludacris proceeded to record an independent album, Incognegro (2000), which he in turn released regionally himself, on the label Disturbing tha Peace. Ludacris primarily worked with producer Shondrae for the album, though also with Organized Noize, the acclaimed production team behind the early albums of OutKast and Goodie Mob. Incognegro sold well enough to break into the Billboard 200, and Ludacris was approached by Scarface of the Geto Boys, who as a representative of Def Jam was interested in negotiating a recording contract.

In late 2000, Def Jam repackaged Incognegro and released it as Back for the First Time, adding a few new songs: a U.G.K. collaboration ("Stick 'Em Up"), a Neptunes production ("Southern Hospitality"), and a remix of his previously released song with Timbaland (retitled "Phat Rabbit"). The album's lead single, "What's Your Fantasy?," became a major hit nationally, peaking at number 21 on the Hot 100, and the follow-up single, "Southern Hospitality," was similarly popular, charting at number 23. This pair of hits helped drive sales of Back for the First Time, which climbed all the way to number four on the Billboard 200. The follow-up album, Word of Mouf (2001), was an even greater success for Ludacris, charting at number three and spawning a series of hit singles that carried over well into 2002: "Area Codes," "Rollout (My Business)," "Saturday (Oooh Oooh!)," "Welcome to Atlanta," and "Move Bitch." After these singles had run their course, a collaborative album, Golden Grain (2002), was released, showcasing the assembly of talent signed to Ludacris' revived Disturbing tha Peace label, which was now in partnership with Def Jam. The following year was a busy one for Ludacris, as he appeared in the film 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and released his third album, Chicken -N- Beer (2003), his first to reach number one on the Billboard 200. Chicken -N- Beer brought with it another series of hits, including the Hot 100 number one "Stand Up" and number six "Splash Waterfalls."

Ludacris continued his output the following year, with The Red Light District (2004), another number one album loaded with hit singles ("Get Back," "Number One Spot," "Pimpin' All Over the World"). Disturbing tha Peace (2005), a second collaborative album featuring the label's roster of talent, was Ludacris' only release for the year, and he kept a relatively low profile until the release of Release Therapy (2006), an introspective album on which he vowed that he would be taken more seriously than in the past. Another chart-topper, Release Therapy included only two Hot 100-charting singles, yet both were smashes: "Money Maker" (number one), "Runaway Love" (number two). In 2007, Ludacris got a lot of airplay as the featured guest on Fergie's number one hit "Glamorous. A year later a mixtape with DJ Drama called the Preview preceded the November release of Theater of the Mind. The long list of guest stars included director Spike Lee and comedian/actor Chris Rock. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide