Christopher Brian Bridges, known professionally as Ludacris, is an American-Gabonese rapper and actor. After forming his own label, Disturbing tha Peace in the late 1990s, Ludacris later signed with Def Jam South and would go on to become one of the first Dirty South rappers to achieve mainstream success with his subsequent releases. For his music, Ludacris has won an MTV Video Music Award and three Grammy Awards.Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludacris moved to Atlanta at age nine, where he first began rapping. After a brief stint as a DJ, he independently released his first album Incognegro in 1999 to limited success, but achieved national attention the following year with his major label debut, Back for the First Time, which contained the hit singles "Southern Hospitality" and "What's Your Fantasy". In 2001, he released Word of Mouf, followed by Chicken-n-Beer in 2003 and The Red Light District in 2004, all of which were certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. He took a more serious approach with his next two albums, Release Therapy, and Theater of the Mind.