Chris "Ludacris" Bridges

Several hip hop artists have gone on to make movies. Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur made films that stayed within the hip hop genre.  Ice Cube, Ice T and Queen Latifah crossed over to mainstream movies and sometimes TV.  Ludacris, often using his real name Chris Bridges, has made a smooth transition to several movies, most notably "Crash" and "Hustle and Flow."  In fact, he’s appeared in 12 movies.  This hip hop star can act.

Ludacris has sold over 17 million records in the U.S. and 24 million worldwide, making him the highest-selling Southern hip hop solo artist of all time.  He was born in Champaign, Illinois and grew up in Atlanta.  He wrote his first rap song at age 9,  joined a rap group at 12 and later worked at an Atlanta hip hop radio station.  His first major debut record was Back For The First Time in 2000.  He said in an MTV interview that his stage name came from his "split personality" that he considered ludicrous.  (What, he couldn't have spelled it right for his audience?)

The albums that followed included Word of Mouf, Chicken-n-Beer, The Red Light District, Release Therapy and Theater of the Mind.  He has won SAG, Critic's Choice, MTV and Grammy Awards.

In 2002 Bill O'Reilly criticized Ludacris' lyrics "glamorizing" guns, violence and drugs.  He called for a boycott of Pepsi because Ludacris was involved in their advertising. Pepsi did fire him, but he makes frequent snide references to O'Reilly on his albums.  Hey O'Reilly, a lot of people are listening to Ludacris!  The guy is very cool, but that's the coolest thing he's ever done.