Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
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MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 101 LU DA CR IS Is there anything Ludacris can't do? The Champaign, Illinois-born rapper has sold 15 million albums and won three Grammys; proven his acting chops in five of the megapopular Fast and Furious movies; and made his entrepreneurial mark in restaurants (Atlanta's Chicken + Beer), tech (the Slang N' Friendz app), digital (hosting the YouTube show Best.Cover.Ever.), and television, recently emceeing the Billboard Music Awards for the fourth time. As the Oak Park-raised entertainer recently prepped for his gig as the host of MTV's Fear Factor reboot, the speed- rapping 39-year-old spoke exclusively with Michigan Avenue about summer in Chicago, his much-anticipated new music, and his ultimate dream to be the next Ryan Seacrest. Music, movies, TV hosting, a restaurant, an app—you're becoming a one-man multimedia empire. Where do you get your inspiration? Man, you know what? It's not just one place. I get inspired by so many different things and people. I've always rapped. And even when I started at the radio station [Hot 97.5 in Atlanta], a lot of people didn't understand that that was a means to an end. Me going into that radio station was really just a way to get in front of different producers and musical artists so that I could actually get into the music industry, as opposed to, "Oh, I want to work at a radio station." I was just trying to get my demo songs listened to—and before I knew it, getting a job there turned into me actually having a start. So me trying to be a media mogul started with a means-to-an-end plan of getting a job at a radio station in order to get noticed. FROM MULTI- PLATINUM RAPPER AND FAST AND FURIOUS ACTOR TO HOST OF MTV'S SUMMER SURE THING FEAR FACTOR, ILLINOIS NATIVE CHRIS "LUDACRIS" BRIDGES HAS BECOME A POP CULTURE SUPER- STAR—AND HE'S JUST GETTING STARTED. by J.P. ANDERSON photography by ZACK ARIAS FACTOR the