Ludacris

When rap's Dirty South movement broke nationwide in the late '90s and early 2000s, Ludacris rode it to immediate widespread popularity, becoming arguably the most commercially successful Southern rapper of the time. The entirety of the aughts found the rapper scoring hit after mainstream hit and selling platinum numbers of records like 2001's Word of Mouf and 2003's Chicken -N- Beer. He quickly became a multifaceted superstar, making multiple film and television appearances while staying active in music with consistent guest features on other artists' tracks and albums of his own like 2015's Ludaversal.

Born Christopher Bridges on September 11, 1977, in Champaign, Illinois, 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