• September 11, 1977
• Christopher "Ludacris" Bridges wrote his first rap song at the age of 9 and joined an amateur rap group three years later. He eventually became the first Southern solo rapper to hit the big time, leading the "Dirty South" movement as rap expanded beyond the coasts.
• Before taking up rapping as a career, Ludacris worked as a DJ for Hot 97.5 (now 107.9) FM in Atlanta, where he went by Chris Lova Lova. He was instrumental in breaking hip-hop in the city, where rap was previously relegated to specialty shows.
• Ludacris started his own record label, Disturbing Tha Peace, to release his debut album, Incognegro, in 1999. A year later, he signed with Def Jam Recordings, which made Disturbing Tha Peace an imprint. His first Def Jam album was issued in 2000 and included many songs from Incognegro, so he called it Back For The First Time. It went on to sell over 3 million copies in America, thanks to the hits "What's Your Fantasy" and "Southern Hospitality."
• In 2016 Ludacris opened a restaurant, "Chicken + Beer," at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International airport, named after the title of his third album.
• He was the first act signed to Def Jam's subsidiary Def Jam South, which was run by Scarface of the Geto Boys. This was a big selling point for Luda, who had a lot of respect for Scarface and listened to his music growing up.
• Ludacris is also a successful actor, most notably playing Tej Parker in the Fast & Furious movie franchise, starting with 2 Fast 2 Furious in 2003. He got the gig when Ja Rule, who starred in the first movie, turned down a $500,000 offer to return.
  
  Director John Singleton later revealed that Ja Rule "was acting like he was too big for the sequel" and stopped returning his calls. So Singleton cast Ludacris instead even though he'd never met him before.
• Ludacris got engaged to Eudoxie Mbouguiengue during a holiday trip to Costa Rica in late 2014. The Atlanta rapper rented a private jet and surprised his girlfriend with a projected message on the grass below, which read, "Eudoxie will you marry me?"
  
  The pair tied the knot in a private ceremony a few days later.
• The rapper was offered a part in the 2007 Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe film American Gangster, but he turned it down so he could finish recording his 2006 album Release Therapy. "I actually won a Grammy for that album, so that's something I don't regret," Ludacris told Billboard magazine. "I set out to win Best Rap Album that year, and that's what I did. I can guarantee I would not have the album turned in on time if I took a month to do that movie."
• When Ludacris was 10 or 11 his stage name was "Kris Kringle." The preteen rapper changed it when he realized, "I could only rap about Christmas for so long."
• Asked during a Reddit AMA why he chose his stage name, Ludacris explained: "My first name is 'Chris' and if you look in the dictionary under the term 'ludicrous' then it means 'crazy, wild, ridiculous' - which pretty much explains everything about me."
• When he hosted Saturday Night Live in 2006, Kenan Thompson played "Rickdiculous," a childhood friend who claimed Ludacris stole his style. The following year, the TV series 30 Rock poked a little fun, naming a rap mogul character - played by LL Cool J - "Ridikolous."
• Luda's dad, Wayne Bridges, is childhood friends with the actor Denzel Washington. They grew up together in Mount Vernon, New York.

Comments: 1

• AnonymousI rember walking down austin blvd.. listening to vanilla ice.. when somebody told me to put in this tape Kris kringle.. who woulda thought he would turn into a rap god

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