Born Christopher Brian Bridges in Champaign, Illinois, Ludacris moved to Oak Park as a teenager.^[4][5] After attending Oak Park River Forest High School in ninth grade, Ludacris moved to Centreville, Virginia, and attended Centreville High School for one year.^[6] He attended Banneker High School in Atlanta, Georgia, and graduated in 1995.^[4] From 1998 to 1999, he studied music management at Georgia State University.^[7]Ludacris' parents are both African American. His great-great-grandfather was a Choctaw.^[8] In an interview with A. J. Jacobs, Ludacris learned that his great-grandmother had said one of his great-great-grandfathers, who is a white Englishman, was probably Jewish.^[8] Ludacris is also a distant cousin of the comedian Richard Pryor.^[8] He wrote his first rap song at age nine when moving to Atlanta and joined an amateur rap group three years later.^[9]

Ludacris served as an intern and then a DJ at Atlanta's Hot 97.5 (now Hot 107.9) under the name "Chris Lova Lova".^[10][4] During his radio career, Ludacris met music producer Timbaland, whose album Tim's Bio: Life from da Bassment would feature Ludacris on the track "Phat Rabbit" (credited as Ludichris).^[4]

Speaking with MTV's hip hop show Direct Effectin 2000, Ludacris explained his stage name was a play on the word "ludicrous".^[11]

In 1999, Ludacris released his debut album Incognegro through his independent label Disturbing tha Peace.^[4] Def Jam South would later repackage Incognegro with some new songs added into Ludacris's major label debut Back for the First Time in 2000.^[4] The album reached number four on the U.S. Billboard 200 and included the singles "What's Your Fantasy" (featuring Shawnna) and "Southern Hospitality" (featuring Pharrell Williams), which respectively reached the nos. 21 and 23 spots on the Billboard Hot 100.^[4]

In 2001, Ludacris contributed the hit single "Area Codes" (featuring Nate Dogg) to the soundtrack to the film Rush Hour 2. It was also included on his next album, Word of Mouf, released later that year.^[12] The Word of Mouf lead single "Rollout (My Business)" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Male Rap Solo Performance in the 2003 Grammy Awards.^[13] Two other singles reached the Hot 100 in 2002: "Saturday (Oooh! Ooooh!)" featuring Sleepy Brown peaked at no. 22, and "Move Bitch" featuring Mystikal and I-20peaked at no. 10.^[14]

Ludacris also had guest spots on hit singles throughout 2001 and 2002, such as Jermaine Dupri's "Welcome to Atlanta" that peaked at no. 35 on the Hot 100 and no. 15 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart.^[15] Ludacris was among multiple featured rappers on "Bia' Bia'" by Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz, which peaked at no. 47 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart in August 2001.^[15] In the last week of 2002, "Gossip Folks" by Missy Elliottfeaturing Ludacris was released as a single. It peaked at no. 8 on the Hot 100 in March 2003.^[14]

In April 2003, Ludacris released single "Act a Fool" from the soundtrack of the movie 2 Fast 2 Furious, where Ludacris played Tej Parker.^[16]Director John Singleton brought Ludacris into the franchise after failing to secure Ja Rule's return for the sequel to The Fast and the Furious.^[17] In the fall of 2003, Ludacris released his next album Chicken-n-Beer. Guest appearances included Playaz Circle, Chingy, Snoop Dogg, 8Ball & MJG, Lil' Flip, I-20, Lil Fate, and Shawnna. The single, "Stand Up" appeared on both Chicken-n-Beer as well as the soundtrack for the teen hip hop/dance movie You Got Served. Produced by Kanye West, "Stand Up" went on to become one of Ludacris' biggest mainstream hits to date, hitting the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 garnering heavy airplay on mainstream pop, rhythmic, and urban radio stations, as well as on MTV, MTV2, and BET. Ludacris was sued by a New Jersey group called I.O.F. who claimed that "Stand Up" used a hook from one of their songs, but in June 2006, a jury found that the song did not violate copyrights. "I hope the plaintiffs enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame," Ludacris said after the verdict.^[18]

The album's next single, "Splash Waterfalls", was released in early 2004. A huge pop hit (despite its steamy video and explicit, adult-oriented lyrical content and themes), it subsequently became a success at urban radio and BET, and is the only time he has produced two consecutive top 10 singles from a solo album, ^{[citation needed]} except for Release Therapy (an unedited version of the video could only be viewed on BET's Uncut program). It was Ludacris' most sexual video yet, an R&B remix that featured Raphael Saadiq and sampled Tony! Toni! Tone!'s "Whatever You Want". Ludacris received his first Grammy Awardwith Usher and Lil Jon for their hit single "Yeah!". Ludacris next released "Blow It Out", which was accompanied by a low-budget music video.

Ludacris took a more mature approach to his fourth album The Red Light District. Sohail Khalid helped produce this album with various artists such as T.I., Lil Flip and Bun B. Ludacris openly boasted that he may be the only rapper able to keep the Def Jam label afloat on the opening track. Ludacris filmed and recorded the single "Get Back" in which he was featured as a muscle-bound hulk who was being annoyed by the media and warned critics to leave him alone. He first appeared on Saturday Night Live as a special guest performing with musical guest Sum 41 on a season 30 episode hosted by Paul Giamatti. He then recorded "Get Back" with Sum 41 to make a rock crossover single. The follow-up single was the Austin Powers-inspired "Number One Spot". It was produced by New York City's Hot 97personality DJ Green Lantern. It used the Quincy Jones sample of "Soul Bossa Nova" and sped it up to the tempo of Ludacris' rap flow. Featured artists on the album include Nas, DJ Quik, DMX, Trick Daddy, Sleepy Brown and Disturbing tha Peace newcomers Bobby Valentino, Dolla Boi and Small World. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard charts.

In an issue of XXL, Ludacris was placed in the number nine spot for the most anticipated albums of 2006, for Release Therapy. The album Release Therapy was released on September 26, 2006. Ludacris formatted the CD to have two sides: a Release side and a Therapy side on a single CD. Guest appearances include Pharrell Williams, R. Kelly, Young Jeezy, Mary J. Blige, Field Mob, Bobby Valentino, Pimp C, C-Murder and Beanie Sigel. The first single, "Money Maker", which features Williams, was released to U.S. radio outlets on July 17, 2006.^[19] "Money Maker" reached number one on the BET program 106 & Park. It then went to become the rapper's second number-one single after 6 years^{[citation needed]}. His second single, "Grew Up a Screw Up", featuring Young Jeezy, dispels rumors that the two are or ever were in a dispute. His third single, "Runaway Love", soon peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Tracks and won Best Collaboration in the 2007 BET Awards. Release Therapy won the Best Rap Album award at the 2007 Grammy Awards. His album then reached number one on the Billboard 200 album charts with sales of 309,000 in its first week. With the release of this album, Ludacris marked a change in style in his career with his musical style. The new album itself features a departure of the lighthearted mood of his previous albums, and introduces a darker side. A change of hair accompanied this as he cut off his trademark braids for a more conventional "fade" cut. To promote the album, Ludacris returned to Saturday Night Live (as both host and musical guest) on November 18, 2006.

The Preview, a mixtape to preview the album was released on July 28, 2008. Theater of the Mindwas released on November 24, 2008, and in April 2008, the single "Let's Stay Together" appeared on xxlmag.com; supposedly from the new album ("Let's Stay Together" was expected to but was released as a bonus track on the CD). A song with Small World called "Pinky Shinin" was expected to be on the album, but it was dropped. In an interview with Complex Magazine he stated that Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, T.I., Plies, Common, T-Pain, Jay-Z, Nas and The Game will be on the album; Game is featured in a track with Willy Northpole titled "Call Up the Homies". T.I. was on the album on a track called "Wish You Would" squashing the long feud between them. The album debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 with 213,493 sold first week. The album was released the same day as Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak, which took the number-one spot.^[20] His first single "What Them Girls Like", featuring Chris Brown and Sean Garrett, peaked at number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100. His second single, "One More Drink", featuring T-Pain, peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100. The third official single is "Nasty Girl", featuring Plies. He confirmed a "sequel" titled Ludaversal^[21] due to be released September 11, 2012.^[22]