Ludacris had it all planned out. Meticulous and strategic about every move, Christopher Bridges applied for a radio internship in the late ‘90s after studying music management at Georgia State. Under the name “Chris Lova Lova,” the Atlanta native quickly secured himself a time slot after showing a determined work ethic, a pattern that would prove to not only jumpstart his career, but make it last.

“‘Ludacris’ wasn’t an appropriate name for the morning radio so I went with ‘Chris Lova Lova,’” Bridges says, remembering his early days in Atlanta.  Holding down the 6:00 p.m. slot with DJ Poon Daddy at Atlanta’s Hot 97, Ludacris was working hard, trying to get noticed. He would go to the famous Patchwerk studios, where everyone from Outkast to TLC had worked, and record drops for Hot 97 when other DJs were too busy, ultimately making his voice the most prevalent on the airwaves throughout the day.

Knowing that working at the radio station would only help his chances of becoming a successful rapper, Ludacris used every opportunity he could. “I always wanted to be a rapper.” he says. “I actually went to the radio station to get signed. It was a plan that I had way before because I knew so many producers came to the radio station so I figured if I made a place there it would only be a matter of time before I got the right people to listen.”

Constantly recording and making contacts every day, Ludacris was positioning himself to make the album that would ignite his career. That album was the independently released, Incognegro, which he recorded at Patchwerk, of course. Powered by the raunchy single, “What’s Your Fantasy,” Luda went on to sell 70,000 copies at $7 a pop, enough to get the attention of legendary rapper and the president of Def Jam South, Scarface, who signed him to a seven-figure deal.

Even as an indie project, Incognegro’s quality was evident in the fact that for his major label debut, he only added four new songs to it, and simply retitled it, Back For The First Time. With his deep, smooth voice and energetic delivery, Ludacris made an impression on everyone he met. Selling over 130,000 records of Back For The First Time in its first week, Ludacris was 2000’s breakout rap star.

THE PLAYERS

Ludacris: Starting out as a radio DJ known as “Chris Lova Lova” on Atlanta’s Hot 97.5, Ludacris always had his sights set on becoming a rapper. He has sold more than 20 million records in the U.S. alone. Luda has also branched out and acted in the hugely successful Fast and the Furious franchise, as well as opening up restaurants and producing beverages and other products. He and his manager, Chaka Zulu, are the founders of Disturbing Tha Peace Records.

Chaka Zulu: Getting into the radio business in the early ‘90s, Chaka Zulu worked his way up from the mailroom and an internship at Jive to working with regional DJs and street teams. He landed a job as the program director at Hot 97.5 in Atlanta, the radio station that would feature “Chris Lova Lova.” Ludacris’ one and only manager, he is a co-founder of Disturbing Tha Peace Records.

Scarface: Former Geto Boys member, the Houston-born rapper and producer was also appointed as the Head of Def Jam South by Russell Simmons. Ludacris would be the first artist he signed.

Shawnna: Landing a verse on the breakout single “What’s Your Fantasy,” the Chicago-based rapper met Ludacris while on a press tour in Atlanta. The two would go on to make more songs together and she was eventually signed to Disturbing Tha Peace Records.

Curtis Daniel III: Manager and part-owner of Patchwerk Record Studios in Atlanta. Stars like Outkast, 50 Cent, Nas, Chris Brown and Diddy have all recorded at Patchwerk. Opening in 1994, Patchwerk was the place in Atlanta to record and be seen.

Sleepy Brown: Writer, producer and artist, Sleepy Brown has penned hits for TLC and Outkast. Part of the acclaimed production crew Organized Noise, Ludacris enlisted the hit maker to help with Incognegro.

Bangladesh: Once a go-to barber in Atlanta, Bangladesh has since become a go-to producer for today’s top hip-hop and R&B acts. Incognegro was also Bangladesh’s first record producing hits. He has since done Lil Wayne’s “A Milli” and worked with Beyonce, Usher, Rihanna, Ke$ha and Nicki Minaj.

THE STORY

Chaka Zulu: He first came to the station to get his music played and then got a job as a DJ.  He inadvertently became the voice of the station without even nobody really knowing. So it's like the morning show had one of his drops and then he did everyone’s drops so you heard him on the station all the time. So he really was smart with how he attacked it. And then he just stayed in the station and worked. And while he was doing that, he would just use the studio and he was out there grinding.

Chris was trying to figure it out. Trying to save some money, make some money. We finally gave him his own show. It was a one-hour show every Sunday called “Future Flavors.” And I actually named the show because there was a “Future Flavors” in New York. So you know—I was just basically all up for creating it down in Atlanta. He and Poon became so popular that we had make them the primetime slot, which was 6-10 p.m. every day of the week.

Scarface: I used to live in Atlanta and when I was an artist. We would go to the radio station if we had a single and go see Chris Lova Lova and Poon Daddy.  He was still at the radio station but starting to bubble. I didn’t even know he could rap. I just knew he was a funny dude on the radio. He was hilarious.

Sleepy Brown: I met Luda at the radio station, but I knew him as “Chris Lova Lova.” He had a tone, it was confident.

Chaka: He wanted me to be his manager, always asking me questions about copywriting. At first I just gave him the benefit of my knowledge, but one day he was like, “I want you to be my manager,” and, well, I said, “Yes.” I never, ever wanted to be a manager, but we started rocking. It was a developmental process because at the time he didn’t really have a lot of music. We made a demo and shopped it for like a year.

Hanging out and recording at Atlanta’s most popular studio, Patchwerk, Ludacris saved his money and time, and started to record tracks for Incognegro. “Some artists just record and record and record until songs fall into place and rhythm. I didn’t have a plan, really, it just came together,” he says of his “non-plan” for Incognegro. But Curtis Daniel remembers Ludacris having a plan: “I think he came in here because we already had a name after doing Outkast’s “Elevators” and Goodie Mob’s album. We had credibility. He used to come, driving up in his Acura every day and pay every day. I always joke with Chris even when he comes in now that we don’t make any money off him. He is quick, he is organized, he would probably spend an hour and half where some people spend 13 hours. He and [an engineer] Mike spent like 4 hours mixing it.

Chaka: He literally would write all his music in the car or wherever it is he did it. And he would only go in the studio when it was time to record. So he might be in there an hour and knock out three songs. And that's why his mindset was––even to this day he don't like to just sit in the studio.

Sleepy: Luda is fast in the studio, he likes to get it done and on to the next one.

Ludacris: I didn’t have the money to waste so every penny I had I had to reinvest back into myself. I only had a certain amount of money and I had to make it work. I’m not one of the guys that has 1,000 people in the studio in there wasting time. No, I come prepared. I come in there to utilize the equipment that I don’t have. So I come in, record, get it done within an hour or two, pay for that hour or two and that’s it. Time is money and money is time.

Curtis:  He had the hustle. That was the biggest part. He wouldn’t be high, he wouldn’t drink and he wouldn’t be late. He wasn’t sitting in the break room, no messing around. He has always been a professional, always had the work ethic, always been on time. He and Chaka got it tight, it works.

Ludacris: There were a lot of sacrifices I had to make. One that comes to mind is that I pretty much wore the same clothes every day. I didn’t buy any new clothes but I worked at the radio station so I got a lot of free record label promotional items. So it’s not like I didn’t have fresh clothes, I just didn’t have to purchase them. So it would be a different record label shirt every day or different artists. I had Outkast shirts, So So Def shirts and LaFace shirts, and then I had two or three pairs of pants, and I’d make sure they were washed and clean. Then I’d rotate them bitches.

Choosing which single to go with wasn’t as easy as Ludacris and his team would think. Finally going with the sexy club banger “What’s Your Fantasy,” Luda had a peg and a leg to stand on. Spinning the track locally, the song immediately took on the streets and in the clubs.

Ludacris: I was introduced to Bangladesh by Lil’ Fate. He was a barber at the time. He had a very unique production sound and I had flows and a voice that people had never heard before, so us coming together was a breathe of fresh air for Hip Hop. In my opinion we created a sound together and I think we are a great team.

Bangladesh: He came into the shop one day, I lined him up. He came back like two weeks later and I told him I was making beats. So, I get into my car and I played him some beats. And that [“What’s Your Fantasy”] was one of them. We walked back to the shop and he was curious and wanted to know more about what I was doing with my music.

Ludacris: Shawnna got on the record because my manager, Chaka, was very interested in her as a solo artist because she was in a group at first. I felt like females needed a voice in Hip Hop and I knew “What’s Your Fantasy” could be this back and forth between a man and a woman.

Shawnna: I was in a group called Infamous Syndicate and we got booked for the Lyricist Lounge tour and we were doing radio and an interview at Hot 97 and that’s when Ludacris was on air as “Chris Lova Lova” with Poon Daddy. I think it was an early evening six to ten slot, and we had a lot of fun. We hung out, did the interview. It went great and he asked to hear some of our music because we were new to the scene. So after he had heard the music he was like, This is cool, we need to get into the studio. I had no idea at the time that he was even an artist. And we exchanged numbers and of course, you know, I had heard that so many times it was cliché to me. “Oh my people will call your people”-type of thing. So I thought nothing of it, we finished the tour, got back home, then about three to six months later Luda reached out and asked me to fly to Atlanta to be featured on one of his songs.

I had no idea [that the song would be so big]. He and I sat and laughed because we had trouble with the “Lllllick you from your head to your toes” part. We were cracking up because we had never heard anyone do that before. We just were having fun and couldn’t wait to hear people’s reactions.

Sleepy Brown: “Fantasy” was sexy and nasty. I would’ve done the same thing. Atlanta is all about the strip clubs. If your song was in a strip club you got a hit and that song was in the clubs.

Ludacris: I put out “Fantasy” and “Game Got Switched” produced by Organized Noize on the B-side. I remember having a lot of conversations about which song everyone thought would work better, so I wasn’t 100 percent sure, but I put my money on “What’s Your Fantasy” after putting my faith out there. But it was close to being “Game Got Switched.”

Bangladesh: Everything I was creating, I felt good about it. “What’s Your Fantasy” was actually an intro to a beat that I made. I'm known for using three different sounds––three different beats in one and that was just the intro beat. Luda used to tell me, “Man you've got three beats in one beat.” So I would try to simplify my beats. So that beat had an intro to it, which was “What's your Fantasy.” And it went into a whole other beat. So when I played the beats for Luda, he liked the intro part of it. So I just added to the intro. And he wrote the song to it.

Scarface: The first record I heard was “What’s your Fantasy” with Shawnna on it.

Chaka: We had got the record up to like a 1000 spins before we even signed a deal. Because it was the most radio friendly, we put it out. We did an orange label on the vinyl. One side was “What's Your Fantasy” and on the B side was “Game Got Switched.” 'Cause I got my radio ear, my programming radio ear, we went with “Fantasy.” He went towards that song 'cause it's just the culture of what was going on at the time. And whether or not he knew it, it was going to be. It was just like a shock to people. It was like you’re hearing somebody say, “‘I want to lick you from your head to your toes’ and ‘What's your fantasy?’” Nobody was catering to women like that.

Ludacris: I think women love to hear other women representing on rap records because it is pretty much a male-dominated industry. With that being said, I thought creatively it would be great to put Shawnna on the record and set her up for what was to come.

Shawnna: I learned a lot from Luda. Where some people spend like eight to ten hours in the studio trying to do a verse, it takes me eight to ten minutes. I think it has a lot to do with him coming from the radio. He is an incredible artist, but because of that he has the timing, the preparation that you learn from the radio. He sheltered me from a lot and really took care of me.  It’s hard being a female in the industry. People coming at you, and he really did protect me from a lot.

With Incognegro done and “What’s Your Fantasy” a legit hit, Ludacris was ready for the next step. Labels started to hover and Chaka and Ludacris started to weigh out deals. Timbaland, one of the hottest producers from South and a former collaborator (Ludacris was featured on Timbaland’s “Phat Rabbit” which he would later license and use for his debut) was one of the first to come knocking but the deal points weren’t what the men were thinking.

Chaka: He got tired of waiting. We did our research and decided to take it independent. With everything, production, recording, promotion, it was probably $20,000 dollars to make Incognegro.

Scarface:  I just did not expect for him to go major. I think he sold 70,000 independent. He was doing so well independently. I remember being at the “World War III” video shoot with Snoop, Jadakiss and Swizz, and I got a call from Chaka saying that they were ready to walk into another record label. And I said, “Nah man, please come see me at this video shoot right quick.” We were in New York, so Chaka came and saw me at the video shoot and we sealed it right there. Whatever that needed to happen was going to happen for Def Jam South to link with Luda. The Ludacris-Def Jam deal was a fast deal. It was me, Chaka and Kevin Liles.

Ludacris: Signing to Def Jam was one of the best days of my life, other than when my daughter was born. I was actually at the radio station when I signed the deal. Knowing that I could just walk away was an amazing feeling, but I still gave them two weeks.

Scarface: Luda was the most hands-free artist that I have ever had in my career. He was hands off. A lot of artists you deal with its hands on, You have to find this producer. You have to write this song. You have to make this beat. He didn’t need none of that. He got his crack in the door and kicked it open. You didn’t need to spoon feed Luda, he was in to get the steak.

Chaka: We sold the exact same album. They wanted us to make a few more “hits.” Not like “Fantasy,” but some more radio-ready hits. So we went back into the studio and added a few more.

Even though Incognegro had successfully circulated throughout the South, Luda and his team wanted to make sure their new partnership had longevity. Adding the previously recorded Timbaland track “Phat Rabbit,” and linking up with Neptunes, Ludacris wanted to show how hard he had been working, and the big names he had worked with.

Chaka: The other records were all dope––but radio wasn’t going to embrace it. We recorded the Neptunes track two days before we had to turn the album back in. We went to Virginia to see Pharrell. He played us a couple of beats and we asked for something you could shake to, something fast. Pharrell played us a beat I loved, Chris didn’t. He played us a bunch of other stuff but then went back to the beat. Chris went out to the car then came back with the first eight bars. We sat in the studio and wrote the hook [for “Southern Hospitality”] all night, but Pharrell had to leave. The guy that usually mixes their records wasn’t available so we had to rush and get it mixed and put it on the album. The song on the album is actually different from the single because we remixed it with the right dude. It was crazy.

Ludacris has come a long way from only owning a few pairs of jeans and wearing free t-shirts. Even though the Def Jam South deal would no doubt propel Ludacris into an international superstar, those that worked along side of him still credit his determined work ethic and self-dedication.  “I met that kid at the radio station and the next time I saw him he was in Fast and Furious. At the end of the day, Luda did that himself,” Scarface says of the artist he signed. “It was a great experience to work alongside someone that didn’t need my help at all.”

“Recording my very first album was like a dream come true,” Ludacris recalls from the Def Jam office in Santa Monica a few days before Fast and Furious 6 was released. “When I did this complete Incognegro album, I knew that I had matured and this was the time that the Man Upstairs wanted me to share my music with the entire world.” It sure was.

 

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