Ludacris: Many eggs, many baskets.
It’s less than an hour before
Christopher “Ludacris” Bridges is scheduled to hit the stage with Justin Bieber
at The Apollo Theater, but his mind is miles away from music. Lounging on a
dressing room countertop in a t-shirt and jeans, he’s gazing intently at the
pair of sleek headphones in his hands, which just happen to bear his name—Soul
By Ludacris.
“I rap at least once a year that I’m
on one of the FORBES lists, and that’s a great thing,” he says. “This is part
of the reason, this here.”
For the versatile Ludacris, “part of
the reason” is certainly the right phrase. He’s one of the most diversified
artists on this year’s Hip-Hop Cash Kings list, ranking No. 10 with $12
million in earnings over the past year, pulling in cash from those Soul
headphones, a cognac line called Conjure, voiceovers for RadioShack, music
sales, roles in films including Fast Five and New Year’s Eve, and
other ventures.
Ludacris is also one of hip-hop’s
most consistent earners. Since his 2000 major label debut, every one of his
seven studio albums has sold at least 500,000 copies. He’s made the Cash Kings
list in each of its six years, racking up $80 million over that period—more
than T.I. or Eminem. And he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
“When we talk about building brands,
we’re not in it for the short run,” he says. “It’s not about getting in and
hurrying up and trying to sell something … We get offers all the time; that
doesn’t mean we take every offer that comes to us.”
Some readers might be surprised to
hear that sort of talk from an artist whose oeuvre includes songs like “Move
Bitch (Get Out The Way)” and “(You’s a) Ho.” But for Ludacris, who was studying
for a degree in business management at Georgia State University when his career
started to take off, that’s just part of the dichotomy.
“It’s almost the same as someone
working in an office building from nine to five, and then on the weekends they
go partying,” he says. “Every human being has different sides to themselves,
and they showcase their emotions in different ways … I’d be doing fans a
disservice if I only showed one side of myself.”
Ludacris got his start showing both
of those sides at an Atlanta radio station, where he began as an intern and by
the late 1990s had launched his career as a radio personality, using the name
“Chris Lova Lova.” He also had an affinity for rhyme, but couldn’t convince
anyone to sign him at first.
So from 1998 to 1999, Ludacris
recorded and independently released his debut album, Incognegro,
launching his own label, Disturbing Tha Peace, with his managers Chaka Zulu and
Jeff Dixon. The album sold tens of thousands of copies—many from the trunk of
his own car—more than enough to earn the attention of the major labels.
“Nobody believed in Ludacris, so
Ludacris put out his own album; you can’t get more businessman than that,” says
Kevin Liles, the former Def Jam President who eventually signed the rapper.
“He’s engaging, he’s personable. That right there was part of his foundation to
be in different businesses. Because to be diversified in business, you have to
be a diversified person.”
Once ensconced at Def Jam, Ludacris’
career continued to soar. His first studio album, Back for the First Time,
sold 133,000 copies in its opening week in 2000, eventually moving more than 3
million units. His second, 2001’s Word of Mouf, performed twice as well
out of the gate and would go on to sell nearly 4 million copies; his third, Chicken-n-Beer,
debuted with sales of 429,000 in 2003 and also went on to gain multiplatinum
certification.
That same year, he launched his film
career in earnest with a lead role in the car racing flick 2 Fast 2 Furious
(he’d go on to star in four more installments of the series and is set for a
yet another). After he picked up an Academy Award as part of the cast of Crash
in 2004, it had become clear that he was more than just a rapper—and corporate
partners have taken notice.
“He gets it,” says Dixon, who still
manages Ludacris along with Chaka Zulu. “I don’t have to sit there—he can go
talk at the correspondents’ dinner. He’s just a great pitchman.”
In recent years, Ludacris added Soul
By Ludacris and Conjure cognac to his portfolio, taking a small equity state in
the former and half of the latter. And then there was his guest verse on
Bieber’s breakthrough hit, “Baby,” which has since racked up more than 750
million YouTube views, more than any other video in history (Ludacris politely
declined to give specifics on what sort of royalties he gets, saying only that
they’re “non-stop” and “continuously flowing.”) Next up: A new album, Ludaversal,
due out this fall.
“I traveled the world over the last
two years, I got to see a lot of things and had a lot of experiences,” he says.
“That’s what Ludaversal is all about. Really kind of being vulnerable
and letting you into my life … People are definitely going to understand a lot
more about the personal side of Chris Bridges when they hear this album.”
In the meantime, Ludacris is trying
to pass along the entrepreneurial torch. He’s helped his daughter, Karma, start
an educational website called KarmasWorld.com (“She’s the CEO at age 10,” says
the rapper, who owns the site himself). On the site, youngsters can hear
stories about Karma’s interplanetary detective agency, play carnival-style math
games and listen to science-themed songs like “Spacetacular.”
Still, on a night when he’s the
featured artist for an even better-known headliner, Ludacris is reminded of
another reason he’s earned his daughter’s admiration.
“Her father is a hero because he’s
Ludacris,” he says. “But I’m damn near just as much of a hero because I’m on a
song with Justin Bieber.”
As diversified a dad as he is a
businessman, that suits Ludacris just fine.
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