That same year-1998-he founded Disturbing tha Peace, an independent haven for Dirty South artists struggling to get a record deal, which later became a Def Jam South imprint. He came in hot with the unrestrained debauchery of his first on-record appearance, Timbaland's "Phat Rabbit". Born Chris Bridges in Illinois in 1977 but raised as Atlanta's adopted son, he began his music career as a radio DJ. Ludacris' larger-than-life personality and gut-busting humour made him one of rap's preeminent forces of the 2000s and a defining figure in Southern hip-hop, yet he's a pop-culture legend for reasons that extend way beyond that.