104-528: Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris ( / ˈ l uː d ə k r ɪ s / , spoken as 'ludicrous' in American English ), is an American rapper and actor. Born in Champaign, Illinois , Ludacris moved to Atlanta , Georgia, at age nine, where he first began rapping. Starting out with a brief stint as a DJ , he formed his own record label, Disturbing tha Peace in
208-698: A cot–caught merger , which is rapidly spreading throughout the whole country. However, the South, Inland North, and a Northeastern coastal corridor passing through Rhode Island, New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore typically preserve an older cot–caught distinction. For that Northeastern corridor, the realization of the THOUGHT vowel is particularly marked , as depicted in humorous spellings, like in tawk and cawfee ( talk and coffee ), which intend to represent it being tense and diphthongal : [oə] . A split of TRAP into two separate phonemes , using different
312-520: A pronunciations for example in gap [æ] versus gas [eə] , further defines New York City as well as Philadelphia–Baltimore accents. Most Americans preserve all historical /r/ sounds, using what is known as a rhotic accent . The only traditional r -dropping (or non-rhoticity) in regional U.S. accents variably appears today in eastern New England , New York City , and some of the former plantation South primarily among older speakers (and, relatedly, some African-American Vernacular English across
416-638: A DJ at Atlanta's Hot 97.5 (now Hot 107.9) under the name "Chris Lova Lova". 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). Speaking with MTV 's hip hop show Direct Effect in 2000, Ludacris explained his stage name was a play on the word "ludicrous". In 1999, Ludacris released his debut album Incognegro through his independent label Disturbing tha Peace . Def Jam South would later repackage Incognegro with some new songs added into Ludacris's major label debut Back for
520-575: A Fool " from the soundtrack of the movie 2 Fast 2 Furious , where Ludacris played Tej Parker. 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 . 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
624-590: A boycott of all PepsiCo products on the grounds that Pepsi had subsequently hired Ozzy Osbourne for a commercial even though Osbourne is notable for use of profanity and explicit lyrics. Eventually an agreement was reached that resulted in PepsiCo donating $ 3 million to Ludacris's foundation and other inner city charities. This is referred to in the 2003 songs "Hoes in My Room" as well as "Blow It Out" from Chicken n' Beer . Three years later, this would be referred to again in
728-619: A cameo in Usher's Super Bowl LVIII halftime show , performing his portion of "Yeah". Ludacris has a daughter named Karma Bridges (born August 2001 and the inspiration for/behind Karma's World ) from a relationship with an attorney from Atlanta. He also has a daughter, Cai Bella Bridges (born December 2013), with Tamika Fuller, a longtime friend. From 2009 until their marriage in 2014, he dated model Eudoxie Mbouguiengue. On December 26, 2014, Ludacris became engaged to Mbouguiengue while in Costa Rica, and
832-616: A complex phenomenon of "both convergence and divergence": some accents are homogenizing and leveling , while others are diversifying and deviating further away from one another. Having been settled longer than the American West Coast, the East Coast has had more time to develop unique accents, and it currently comprises three or four linguistically significant regions, each of which possesses English varieties both different from each other as well as quite internally diverse: New England ,
936-447: A consonant, such as in pearl , car and fort . Non-rhotic American accents, those that do not pronounce ⟨r⟩ except before a vowel, such as some accents of Eastern New England , New York City , and African-Americans , and a specific few (often older ones) spoken by Southerners , are often quickly noticed by General American listeners and perceived as sounding especially ethnic, regional, or antiquated. Rhoticity
1040-566: 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 Mind was released on November 24, 2008, and in April 2008, the single "Let's Stay Together" appeared on xxlmag.com; supposedly from
1144-480: 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. 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
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#17330852495061248-453: A lead artist: " Stand Up " (featuring Shawnna) and " Money Maker " (featuring Pharrell), as well as three singles which did so as a guest performer: Usher 's " Yeah! " in 2004, Fergie 's " Glamorous " in 2007, and Taio Cruz 's " Break Your Heart " in 2009. The following year, he guest featured on Justin Bieber 's single " Baby ", which remains one of the highest-certified singles of all time in
1352-586: A merger with the THOUGHT ( caught ) set. Having taken place prior to the unrounding of the cot vowel, it results in lengthening and perhaps raising, merging the more recently separated vowel into the THOUGHT vowel in the following environments: before many instances of /f/ , /θ/ , and particularly /s/ (as in Austria, cloth, cost, loss, off, often, etc.), a few instances before /ŋ/ (as in strong, long, wrong ), and variably by region or speaker in gone , on , and certain other words. Unlike American accents,
1456-636: A nice day , for sure); many are now distinctly old-fashioned (swell, groovy). Some English words now in general use, such as hijacking, disc jockey , boost, bulldoze and jazz , originated as American slang. American English has always shown a marked tendency to use words in different parts of speech and nouns are often used as verbs . Examples of nouns that are now also verbs are interview, advocate, vacuum, lobby, pressure, rear-end, transition, feature, profile, hashtag, head, divorce, loan, estimate, X-ray, spearhead, skyrocket, showcase, bad-mouth, vacation , major, and many others. Compounds coined in
1560-475: A process of extensive dialect mixture and leveling in which English varieties across the colonies became more homogeneous compared with the varieties in Britain. English thus predominated in the colonies even by the end of the 17th century's first immigration of non-English speakers from Western Europe and Africa. Additionally, firsthand descriptions of a fairly uniform American English (particularly in contrast to
1664-688: A public service announcement in support of the Epic Book Drive. Ludacris also started the Ludacris Foundation at the beginning of his music career in 2002. The aim of the foundation is to inspire the youth through education, memorable experiences and helping the youth help themselves. The focus is what Ludacris calls the "3Ls": Leadership and Education, Living Healthy Lifestyles, and LudaCares. Ludacris has won many awards throughout his career, including three Grammy Awards for his music and an ensemble Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance and
1768-657: A series of other vowel shifts in the same region, known by linguists as the " Inland North ". The Inland North shares with the Eastern New England dialect (including Boston accents ) a backer tongue positioning of the GOOSE /u/ vowel (to [u] ) and the MOUTH /aʊ/ vowel (to [ɑʊ~äʊ] ) in comparison to the rest of the country. Ranging from northern New England across the Great Lakes to Minnesota, another Northern regional marker
1872-490: A small, brief melee ensued. T.I. was awarded honors for Best Hip-Hop Artist at the BET Awards , and took the opportunity to apologize for his scuffle with Zulu. While accepting his award, he expressed regret over the situation. "They say it's a fine line between brilliance and insanity", he said, in an apparent reference to his troublesome alter ego, T.I.P. During the broadcast, cameras showed his onetime rival Ludacris smiling in
1976-514: A survey, completed in 2003, polling English speakers across the United States about their specific everyday word choices, hoping to identify regionalisms. The study found that most Americans prefer the term sub for a long sandwich, soda (but pop in the Great Lakes region and generic coke in the South) for a sweet and bubbly soft drink , you or you guys for the plural of you (but y'all in
2080-563: 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. His first single " What Them Girls Like ", featuring Chris Brown and Sean Garrett , peaked at number 33 on
2184-453: A variation of American English in these islands. In 2021, about 245 million Americans, aged 5 or above, spoke English at home: a majority of the United States total population of roughly 330 million people. The United States has never had an official language at the federal level, but English is commonly used at the federal level and in states without an official language. 32 of the 50 states, in some cases as part of what has been called
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#17330852495062288-447: Is a great thing. Ne-Yo is also on the album and I have producers like David Guetta, we have Stargate, have trainees. [The] Kelly Rowland single just came out that you need to check out. It's called 'Representing ' ". On August 3, 2013, Ludacris confirmed to VIBE.com he will be working with Anita Baker . "I don't know if the cat's out the bag. Yeah, Anita Baker is definitely on the album", admitted Luda. "She's on that particular song. [It]
2392-642: Is also associated with the United States, perhaps mostly in the Midwest and the South. American accents that have not undergone the cot–caught merger (the lexical sets LOT and THOUGHT ) have instead retained a LOT – CLOTH split : a 17th-century distinction in which certain words (labeled as the CLOTH lexical set ) separated away from the LOT set. The split, which has now reversed in most British English, simultaneously shifts this relatively recent CLOTH set into
2496-637: Is also home to a creole language known commonly as Hawaiian Pidgin , and some Hawaii residents speak English with a Pidgin-influenced accent. American English also gave rise to some dialects outside the country, for example, Philippine English , beginning during the American occupation of the Philippines and subsequently the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands ; Thomasites first established
2600-526: Is common in most American accents despite being now rare in England because, during the 17th-century British colonization, nearly all dialects of English were rhotic, and most North American English simply remained that way. The preservation of rhoticity in North America was also supported by continuing waves of rhotic-accented Scotch-Irish immigrants, most intensely during the 18th century (and moderately during
2704-420: Is often identified by Americans as a "country" accent, and is defined by the /aɪ/ vowel losing its gliding quality : [aː] , the initiation event for a complicated Southern vowel shift, including a " Southern drawl " that makes short front vowels into distinct-sounding gliding vowels . The fronting of the vowels of GOOSE , GOAT , MOUTH , and STRUT tends to also define Southern accents as well as
2808-637: Is really about my father and growing up and me being a kid and trying to get him to stop and me dealing with that." After a lengthy hiatus, Ludacris returned to the music on January 30, 2014, with the release of a single "Party Girls" featuring Jeremih , Wiz Khalifa and Cashmere Cat . The song takes a cue from Aqua 's 1997 song " Barbie Girl "; however, the single did not appear on the new album. On October 9, 2014, Ludacris announced that Ludaversal would be released on March 31, 2015; which will be preceded by an EP titled Burning Bridges due for release on December 16, 2014. On October 31, 2014, Ludacris premiered
2912-404: Is the co-owner of Conjure Cognac . In 2011, Ludacris released his own line of headphones called "Soul By Ludacris" manufactured by Soul Electronics . He also has various real estate holdings. In 2006, Ludacris appeared in a television and print advertising campaign for Puma , which released three limited edition models of a "Clyde x Luda" Puma Clyde sneaker, with Ludacris' image on the heel of
3016-709: Is the common language at home, in public, and in government. Banneker High School (College Park, Georgia) Banneker High School (also known as Benjamin Banneker High School ) is a public high school in Union City, Georgia , United States, with a College Park, Georgia postal address. It is part of the Fulton County School System and named for Benjamin Banneker , a free African-American almanac author, surveyor, landowner and farmer. In 2024
3120-487: Is the only time he has produced two consecutive top 10 singles from a solo album, 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 Award with Usher and Lil Jon for their hit single " Yeah! ". Ludacris next released " Blow It Out ", which
3224-463: Is the variable fronting of /ɑ/ before /r/ , for example, appearing four times in the stereotypical Boston shibboleth Park the car in Harvard Yard . Several other phenomena serve to distinguish regional U.S. accents. Boston , Pittsburgh , Upper Midwestern , and Western U.S. accents have fully completed a merger of the LOT vowel with the THOUGHT vowel ( /ɑ/ and /ɔ/ , respectively):
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3328-466: 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 due to be released September 11, 2012. Ludacris was featured on Justin Bieber 's hit single " Baby ", which became one of the highest-certified singles of all time in
3432-476: The English-only movement , have adopted legislation granting official or co-official status to English. Typically only "English" is specified, not a particular variety like American English. (From 1923 to 1969, the state of Illinois recognized its official language as "American", meaning American English.) Puerto Rico is the largest example of a United States territory in which another language – Spanish –
3536-608: The Mid-Atlantic states (including a New York accent as well as a unique Philadelphia–Baltimore accent ), and the South . As of the 20th century, the middle and eastern Great Lakes area , Chicago being the largest city with these speakers, also ushered in certain unique features, including the fronting of the LOT /ɑ/ vowel in the mouth toward [a] and tensing of the TRAP /æ/ vowel wholesale to [eə] . These sound changes have triggered
3640-544: The Native American languages . Examples of such names are opossum , raccoon , squash , moose (from Algonquian ), wigwam , and moccasin . American English speakers have integrated traditionally non-English terms and expressions into the mainstream cultural lexicon; for instance, en masse , from French ; cookie , from Dutch ; kindergarten from German , and rodeo from Spanish . Landscape features are often loanwords from French or Spanish, and
3744-543: The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). His fifth and sixth albums, Release Therapy (2006) and Theater of the Mind (2008), explored more serious subject matter than its predecessors. His seventh album, Battle of the Sexes (2010) featured a return to the more lighthearted tone of his earlier albums. Throughout his career, Ludacris has scored two number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 as
3848-714: The francophile tastes of the 19th century Victorian era Britain (for example they preferred programme for program , manoeuvre for maneuver , cheque for check , etc.). AmE almost always uses -ize in words like realize . BrE prefers -ise , but also uses -ize on occasion (see: Oxford spelling ). There are a few differences in punctuation rules. British English is more tolerant of run-on sentences , called " comma splices " in American English, and American English prefers that periods and commas be placed inside closing quotation marks even in cases in which British rules would place them outside. American English also favors
3952-515: The most widely spoken language in the United States ; an official language in 32 of the 50 U.S. states ; and the de facto common language used in government, education, and commerce throughout the nation. Since the late 20th century, American English has become the most influential form of English worldwide. Varieties of American English include many patterns of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and particularly spelling that are unified nationwide but distinct from other English dialects around
4056-759: The 18th century; apartment , shanty in the 19th century; project, condominium , townhouse , mobile home in the 20th century; and parts thereof ( driveway , breezeway, backyard ) . Industry and material innovations from the 19th century onwards provide distinctive new words, phrases, and idioms through railroading (see further at rail terminology ) and transportation terminology, ranging from types of roads ( dirt roads , freeways ) to infrastructure ( parking lot , overpass , rest area ), to automotive terminology often now standard in English internationally. Already existing English words—such as store , shop , lumber —underwent shifts in meaning; others remained in
4160-616: The 2004 movie Crash . In October 2019, Ludacris was named the artist-in-residence at Georgia State University , where he will mentor students in the Creative Media Industries Institute. On April 13, 2022, Georgia State University announced the Georgia Board of Regents had approved Ludacris to receive an honorary Bachelor of Science degree in Music Management. He received this honorary degree on May 4, 2022, at
4264-477: 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
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4368-410: The 2012 album Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors . On August 27, 2002, political pundit Bill O'Reilly called for all Americans to boycott Pepsi products because they hired Ludacris for promotional purposes and O'Reilly objected to Ludacris's style and attitude. The next day, O'Reilly reported that Pepsi had fired Ludacris. Six months later, Russell Simmons and his hip hop action summit threatened
4472-534: The 20th century. The use of English in the United States is a result of British colonization of the Americas . The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrived in North America during the early 17th century, followed by further migrations in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 17th and 18th centuries, dialects from many different regions of England and the British Isles existed in every American colony, allowing
4576-622: The British form is a back-formation , such as AmE burglarize and BrE burgle (from burglar ). However, while individuals usually use one or the other, both forms will be widely understood and mostly used alongside each other within the two systems. While written American English is largely standardized across the country and spoken American English dialects are highly mutually intelligible, there are still several recognizable regional and ethnic accents and lexical distinctions. The regional sounds of present-day American English are reportedly engaged in
4680-413: The East Coast (perhaps in imitation of 19th-century London speech), even the East Coast has gradually begun to restore rhoticity, due to it becoming nationally prestigious in the 20th century. The pronunciation of ⟨r⟩ is a postalveolar approximant [ ɹ̠ ] or retroflex approximant [ ɻ ] , but a unique "bunched tongue" variant of the approximant r sound
4784-513: The First Time in 2000. 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 . In 2001, Ludacris contributed the hit single " Area Codes " (featuring Nate Dogg ) to the soundtrack to
4888-725: The Hot 100 and no. 15 on the Hot R&;B/Hip-Hop chart. 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. In the last week of 2002, " Gossip Folks " by Missy Elliott featuring Ludacris was released as a single. It peaked at no. 8 on the Hot 100 in March 2003. In April 2003, Ludacris released single " Act
4992-565: The Inland North. Rather than one particular accent, General American is best defined as an umbrella covering an American accent that does not incorporate features associated with some particular region, ethnicity, or socioeconomic group. Typical General American features include rhoticity , the father–bother merger , Mary–marry–merry merger , pre-nasal "short a " tensing , and other particular vowel sounds . General American features are embraced most by Americans who are highly educated or in
5096-483: The Sexes was " How Low ", which was released on December 8, 2009. The follow–up single was " My Chick Bad ", released on February 23, 2010. The third single is " Sex Room ", peaking at number 69 on the Billboard Hot 100. Ludacris's Battle of the Sexes entered the chart at number one, with 137,000 sales in the first week. The album is currently certified gold. In 2012, Ludacris released the singles " Representin " and " Rest of My Life ", both of which were scrapped after
5200-560: The South), sneakers for athletic shoes (but often tennis shoes outside the Northeast), and shopping cart for a cart used for carrying supermarket goods. American English and British English (BrE) often differ at the levels of phonology, phonetics, vocabulary, and, to a much lesser extent, grammar and orthography. The first large American dictionary, An American Dictionary of the English Language , known as Webster's Dictionary ,
5304-528: The U.S. Several verbs ending in -ize are of U.S. origin; for example, fetishize, prioritize, burglarize, accessorize, weatherize , etc.; and so are some back-formations (locate, fine-tune, curate, donate, emote, upholster and enthuse). Among syntactic constructions that arose are outside of, headed for, meet up with, back of, etc. Americanisms formed by alteration of some existing words include notably pesky, phony, rambunctious, buddy, sundae , skeeter, sashay and kitty-corner. Adjectives that arose in
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#17330852495065408-563: The U.S. are for instance foothill , landslide (in all senses), backdrop , teenager , brainstorm , bandwagon , hitchhike , smalltime, and a huge number of others. Other compound words have been founded based on industrialization and the wave of the automobile: five-passenger car, four-door sedan, two-door sedan, and station-wagon (called an estate car in British English). Some are euphemistic ( human resources , affirmative action , correctional facility ). Many compound nouns have
5512-662: The U.S. are, for example, lengthy, bossy, cute and cutesy, punk (in all senses), sticky (of the weather), through (as in "finished"), and many colloquial forms such as peppy or wacky . A number of words and meanings that originated in Middle English or Early Modern English and that have been in everyday use in the United States have since disappeared in most varieties of British English; some of these have cognates in Lowland Scots . Terms such as fall ("autumn"), faucet ("tap"), diaper ("nappy"; itself unused in
5616-530: The U.S. while changing in Britain. Science, urbanization, and democracy have been important factors in bringing about changes in the written and spoken language of the United States. From the world of business and finance came new terms ( merger , downsize , bottom line ), from sports and gambling terminology came, specific jargon aside, common everyday American idioms, including many idioms related to baseball . The names of some American inventions remained largely confined to North America ( elevator [except in
5720-427: The U.S.), candy ("sweets"), skillet , eyeglasses , and obligate are often regarded as Americanisms. Fall for example came to denote the season in 16th century England, a contraction of Middle English expressions like "fall of the leaf" and "fall of the year." Gotten ( past participle of get ) is often considered to be largely an Americanism. Other words and meanings were brought back to Britain from
5824-592: The U.S., especially in the second half of the 20th century; these include hire ("to employ"), I guess (famously criticized by H. W. Fowler ), baggage , hit (a place), and the adverbs overly and presently ("currently"). Some of these, for example, monkey wrench and wastebasket , originated in 19th century Britain. The adjectives mad meaning "angry", smart meaning "intelligent", and sick meaning "ill" are also more frequent in American (and Irish) English than British English. Linguist Bert Vaux created
5928-607: The US and gained international success. His eighth studio album was released on March 9, 2010, with his first promotional single for the album being "Everybody Drunk" which features Callum Smith, originally featuring Shawnna . The first concept idea of the album was to have Ludacris and Shawnna battle it out on the album back–to–back, but this was later axed upon Shawnna's departure from Disturbing tha Peace , ending her contract on Ludacris' label and joining T-Pain 's Nappy Boy Entertainment label. The first official single released from Battle of
6032-531: The United States and the United Kingdom suggest that, while spoken American English deviated away from period British English in many ways, it is conservative in a few other ways, preserving certain features 21st-century British English has since lost. Full rhoticity (or "R-fulness") is typical of American accents, pronouncing the phoneme /r/ (corresponding to the letter ⟨r⟩ ) in all environments, including in syllable-final position or before
6136-620: The United States. Ludacris is cited as one of the first Dirty South rappers to achieve mainstream success in the early 2000s. He is the recipient of three Grammy Awards , a Screen Actors Guild Award , a Critic's Choice Award and an MTV Video Music Award . Outside of music, he has portrayed the character Tej Parker in the Fast & Furious film series —first appearing in its second film, 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003). His other notable acting roles include Crash (2004), Gamer (2009), and New Year's Eve (2011). In 2021, he created and starred in
6240-596: The West and Midwest, and New York Latino English , spoken in the New York metropolitan area . Additionally, ethnic varieties such as Yeshiva English and " Yinglish " are spoken by some American Orthodox Jews , Cajun Vernacular English by some Cajuns in southern Louisiana , and Pennsylvania Dutch English by some Pennsylvania Dutch people. American Indian Englishes have been documented among diverse Indian tribes. The island state of Hawaii , though primarily English-speaking,
6344-547: The accents spoken in the " Midland ": a vast band of the country that constitutes an intermediate dialect region between the traditional North and South. Western U.S. accents mostly fall under the General American spectrum. Below, ten major American English accents are defined by their particular combinations of certain vowel sounds: In 2010, William Labov noted that Great Lakes, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and West Coast accents have undergone "vigorous new sound changes" since
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#17330852495066448-505: The aeronautical sense ], gasoline ) as did certain automotive terms ( truck , trunk ). New foreign loanwords came with 19th and early 20th century European immigration to the U.S.; notably, from Yiddish ( chutzpah , schmooze, bupkis, glitch ) and German ( hamburger , wiener ). A large number of English colloquialisms from various periods are American in origin; some have lost their American flavor (from OK and cool to nerd and 24/7 ), while others have not ( have
6552-554: The audience. The two rappers have resolved their disagreement and have collaborated on four songs: " Wish You Would " off Ludacris's sixth studio album Theater of the Mind , "On Top of the World" off T.I.'s sixth studio album Paper Trail , and "We in This Bitch" off DJ Drama's album Quality Street Music . The original version of the latter had Kanye West . The two have also collaborated on Big Boi 's song called "In The A", released on
6656-651: The children's animated series Karma's World for Netflix . Ludacris is also a private pilot . Born Christopher Brian Bridges in Champaign, Illinois , Ludacris moved to Oak Park as a teenager. After attending Oak Park River Forest High School in ninth grade, Ludacris moved to Centreville, Virginia , and attended Centreville High School for one year. He attended Banneker High School in Atlanta , Georgia , and graduated in 1995. From 1998 to 1999, he studied music management at Georgia State University . Ludacris' parents are both African American . His great-great-grandfather
6760-484: The commencement ceremony at Center Parc Stadium where he also delivered a speech. Tensions began when T.I. saw Disturbing tha Peace rapper I-20 's video in which a man wearing a shirt with the words "Trap House", was being beaten. T.I. believed the man's shirt actually said " Trap Muzik ", perhaps interpreting this to be a reference to his album of the same name. Later, G-Unit artist Young Buck asked these two fellow Southern rappers to appear on his new record on
6864-406: The country), though the vowel-consonant cluster found in "bird", "work", "hurt", "learn", etc. usually retains its r pronunciation, even in these non-rhotic American accents. Non-rhoticity among such speakers is presumed to have arisen from their upper classes' close historical contact with England, imitating London's r -dropping, a feature that has continued to gain prestige throughout England from
6968-614: The diverse regional dialects of British English) became common after the mid-18th century, while at the same time speakers' identification with this new variety increased. Since the 18th century, American English has developed into some new varieties, including regional dialects that retain minor influences from waves of immigrant speakers of diverse languages, primarily European languages. Some racial and regional variation in American English reflects these groups' geographic settlement, their de jure or de facto segregation, and patterns in their resettlement. This can be seen, for example, in
7072-742: The double quotation mark ("like this") over the single ('as here'). Vocabulary differences vary by region. For example, autumn is used more commonly in the United Kingdom, whereas fall is more common in American English. Some other differences include: aerial (United Kingdom) vs. antenna, biscuit (United Kingdom) vs. cookie/cracker, car park (United Kingdom) vs. parking lot, caravan (United Kingdom) vs. trailer, city centre (United Kingdom) vs. downtown, flat (United Kingdom) vs. apartment, fringe (United Kingdom) vs. bangs, and holiday (United Kingdom) vs. vacation. AmE sometimes favors words that are morphologically more complex, whereas BrE uses clipped forms, such as AmE transportation and BrE transport or where
7176-657: The film Rush Hour 2 . It was also included on his next album, Word of Mouf , released later that year. 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 . 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-20 peaked at no. 10. 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
7280-406: The first single from the "Burning Bridges" EP titled " Good Lovin' " featuring American singer Miguel . Due to its moderate success, "Good Lovin" would go on to serve as the first single from Ludaversal . On March 3, 2015, Ludacris held a listening party for Ludaversal with Def Jam. The tracks "Intro", "Not For Long" featuring Usher , and "Come N See Me" featuring Big K.R.I.T. were revealed to
7384-510: The following two centuries) when this ethnic group eventually made up one-seventh of the colonial population. Scotch-Irish settlers spread from Delaware and Pennsylvania throughout the larger Mid-Atlantic region, the inland regions of both the South and North, and throughout the West: American dialect areas that were all uninfluenced by upper-class non-rhoticity and that consequently have remained consistently rhotic. While non-rhoticity spread on
7488-939: The hospital , BrE to hospital ; contrast, however, AmE actress Elizabeth Taylor , BrE the actress Elizabeth Taylor ). Often, these differences are a matter of relative preferences rather than absolute rules; and most are not stable since the two varieties are constantly influencing each other, and American English is not a standardized set of dialects. Differences in orthography are also minor. The main differences are that American English usually uses spellings such as flavor for British flavour , fiber for fibre , defense for defence , analyze for analyse , license for licence , catalog for catalogue and traveling for travelling . Noah Webster popularized such spellings in America, but he did not invent most of them. Rather, "he chose already existing options on such grounds as simplicity, analogy or etymology." Other differences are due to
7592-656: The influence of 18th-century Protestant Ulster Scots immigrants (known in the U.S. as the Scotch-Irish ) in Appalachia developing Appalachian English and the 20th-century Great Migration bringing African-American Vernacular English to the Great Lakes urban centers. Any phonologically unmarked North American accent falls under an umbrella known as General American. This section mostly refers to such General American features. Studies on historical usage of English in both
7696-773: The insole and "DTP" (for Disturbing tha Peace) on the heel window. In November 2016, Ludacris opened up a restaurant named "Chicken N Beer" at the Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. In December 2023, he made his theater producing debut as a producer on the Broadway musical How to Dance in Ohio . In 2011, Ludacris joined a joint effort between Do Something and Better World Books to collect books to help restock library shelves in New Orleans. He filmed
7800-489: The inspiration of his eldest daughter, Karma Bridges, and the eponymous website created in 2009. Ludacris stated in interviews with People and Billboard that he and Karma "spent close to a decade and a half" working on the "perfection" of the production. The series premiered on Netflix on October 15, 2021, alongside its official soundtrack album , which was produced and released by Def Jam Recordings on global digital music streaming platforms . On January 17, 2022,
7904-438: The late 18th century onwards, but which has conversely lost prestige in the U.S. since at least the early 20th century. Non-rhoticity makes a word like car sound like cah or source like sauce . New York City and Southern accents are the most prominent regional accents of the country, as well as the most stigmatized and socially disfavored. Southern speech, strongest in southern Appalachia and certain areas of Texas,
8008-770: The late 1990s to independently release his debut studio album Incognegro (1999). After its single, " What's Your Fantasy " (featuring Shawnna ), became a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 , the album was re-released by Def Jam Recordings as his major label debut, Back for the First Time (2000). The latter album peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 and spawned his second top 40 single, " Southern Hospitality " (featuring Pharrell ). Ludacris' following albums, Word of Mouf (2001), Chicken-n-Beer (2003) and The Red Light District (2004), were each met with continued success and received multi-platinum certifications by
8112-427: The mid-nineteenth century onwards, so they "are now more different from each other than they were 50 or 100 years ago", while other accents, like of New York City and Boston, have remained stable in that same time-frame. However, a General American sound system also has some debated degree of influence nationwide, for example, gradually beginning to oust the regional accent in urban areas of the South and at least some in
8216-617: The most formal contexts, and regional accents with the most General American native features include North Midland, Western New England, and Western accents. Although no longer region-specific, African-American Vernacular English , which remains the native variety of most working- and middle-class African Americans , has a close relationship to Southern dialects and has greatly influenced everyday speech of many Americans, including hip hop culture . Hispanic and Latino Americans have also developed native-speaker varieties of English. The best-studied Latino Englishes are Chicano English , spoken in
8320-447: 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
8424-402: The past forms of a few verbs (for example, AmE/BrE: learned / learnt , burned / burnt , snuck/sneaked , dove/dived ) although the purportedly "British" forms can occasionally be seen in American English writing as well; different prepositions and adverbs in certain contexts (for example, AmE in school, BrE at school ); and whether or not a definite article is used, in very few cases (AmE to
8528-453: The public After 3 years worth of delays, Ludaversal was released March 31, 2015 to generally positive reviews and peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200 . In March 2017, Ludacris confirmed that he was working on his tenth studio album in an interview with Complex magazine. On March 31, 2017, Ludacris released a new single called "Vitamin D" featuring Ty Dolla $ ign . In 2017, Ludacris hosted YouTube's Best.Cover.Ever show. In 2018, he
8632-541: The series got nominated for three NAACP Image Awards including Outstanding Children's Program and Ludacris himself got nominated for his voice-over performance as Karma's on-screen father. Netflix renewed Karma's World for a second season on back of the encouragements, which premiered on March 10, 2022. In August 2021, Ludacris released the single "Butter.ATL". In December 2022, it was announced that Ludacris would open up for Janet Jackson's Together Again Tour . Ludacris made
8736-479: The song " Number One Spot ". During a summer 2003 appearance on MTV's The New Tom Green Show , Ludacris and host Tom Green launched copies of Bill O'Reilly-authored books into a dumpster using a homemade catapult. In an interview with RadarOnline.com in 2010, Ludacris stated that he and O'Reilly had made amends after having a conversation at a charity event. The song "Politics as Usual" from Ludacris's mixtape The Preview has caused controversy due to lyrics in
8840-471: The song criticizing Jesse Jackson ; "Now Jesse talkin' slick and apologizin' for what? If you said it then you meant it" (in reference to Jackson stating that he would "like to cut Obama's nuts off"); John McCain "McCain don't belong in any chair unless he's paralyzed"; President George W. Bush "Yeah I said it, 'cuz Bush is mentally handicapped/Ball up all of his speeches and throw 'em just like candy wraps/'Cuz what you talkin' I hear nothin' even relevant/you
8944-587: The songs underperformed and the recording process for his upcoming album Ludaversal stalled. On May 24, 2013, Ludacris released a mixtape entitled #IDGAF . He had been releasing a new song on Fridays as he was calling these releases IDGAF Fridays . These songs, in order of release, were "Raised in the South" featuring rapper Jeezy , released on April 19. That release was followed by "If I Ain't Fucked Up" on April 26, "9 Times Out of 10" featuring rappers French Montana & Que on May 3, "Speak into The Mic" on May 10, and "I Don't Give A Fuck" on May 17. The last song
9048-428: 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
9152-446: The track "Stomp". T.I. recorded a verse that contained a line that Young Buck considered to be an insult towards Ludacris, "Me gettin' beat down?/That's ludicrous" . Young Buck spoke to Ludacris about his interpretation of the event. Ludacris then later recorded a verse that can be found on the album Straight Outta Cashville . T.I's record company wanted Ludacris to change his verse before they sanctioned it but Ludacris refused and T.I.
9256-570: The traditional standard accent of (southern) England, Received Pronunciation (RP), has evolved a trap–bath split . Moreover, American accents preserve /h/ at the start of syllables, while perhaps a majority of the regional dialects of England participate in /h/ dropping , particularly in informal contexts. However, General American is also innovative in a number of its own ways: The process of coining new lexical items started as soon as English-speaking British-American colonists began borrowing names for unfamiliar flora, fauna, and topography from
9360-451: The two married later that same day. In early June 2015, Eudoxie announced that the couple had welcomed a baby girl. In May 2021, Eudoxie shared via Instagram that Ludacris and her were expecting their second child together. In January 2020, Ludacris acquired Gabonese citizenship along with his mother and two daughters. Ludacris is the founder of his own record label, Disturbing tha Peace , an imprint distributed by Def Jam Recordings . He
9464-417: The verb-and-preposition combination: stopover, lineup, tryout, spin-off, shootout , holdup, hideout, comeback, makeover , and many more. Some prepositional and phrasal verbs are in fact of American origin ( win out, hold up, back up/off/down/out, face up to and many others). Noun endings such as -ee (retiree), -ery (bakery), -ster (gangster) and -cian (beautician) are also particularly productive in
9568-772: The word corn , used in England to refer to wheat (or any cereal), came to denote the maize plant, the most important crop in the U.S. Most Mexican Spanish contributions came after the War of 1812 , with the opening of the West, like ranch (now a common house style ). Due to Mexican culinary influence, many Spanish words are incorporated in general use when talking about certain popular dishes: cilantro (instead of coriander), queso, tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, tostadas, fajitas, burritos, and guacamole. These words usually lack an English equivalent and are found in popular restaurants. New forms of dwelling created new terms ( lot , waterfront) and types of homes like log cabin , adobe in
9672-609: The world. Any American or Canadian accent perceived as lacking noticeably local, ethnic, or cultural markers is known in linguistics as General American ; it covers a fairly uniform accent continuum native to certain regions of the U.S. but especially associated with broadcast mass media and highly educated speech. However, historical and present linguistic evidence does not support the notion of there being one single mainstream American accent . The sound of American English continues to evolve, with some local accents disappearing, but several larger regional accents having emerged in
9776-448: The worst of all 43 presidents"; Hillary Clinton "Hillary hated on you, so that bitch is irrelevant", in reference to Hillary's campaign comments against Obama. Studio albums Soundtracks American English American English , sometimes called United States English or U.S. English , is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is
9880-412: Was a Choctaw . 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. Ludacris is also a distant cousin of the comedian Richard Pryor . He wrote his first rap song at age nine when moving to Atlanta and joined an amateur rap group three years later. Ludacris served as an intern and then
9984-462: 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
10088-469: 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
10192-600: Was featured on country singer Carrie Underwood 's single " The Champion ". The song peaked at number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the opening song for Super Bowl LII and 2018 Winter Olympics and Cry Pretty . On May 8, 2018, Ludacris received three nominations and one win at the 2018 CMT Music Awards . On October 14, 2020, Netflix commissioned his then-new animated musical children's television series known as Karma's World for an initial 40 episodes from 9 Story Productions , Creative Affairs Group and his production company, Karma's World Entertainment , Using
10296-532: 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,
10400-554: Was produced by New York City's Hot 97 personality 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
10504-449: Was released a week before the release of the mixtape. The mixtape had almost 60,000 downloads via datpiff.com within the first day. Ludacris reprised his role as Tej in the blockbuster movie Fast & Furious 6 , which opened during Memorial Day Weekend, May 2013. Ludacris had this to say about his upcoming new album: "I think every album is like a progression, I'm working with different producers. Usher, We definitely have this album which
10608-506: Was released to U.S. radio outlets on July 17, 2006. "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. 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
10712-634: Was therefore replaced by Game on the album version. On June 24, 2007, at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood, California , T.I. was involved in a physical altercation. During a luncheon held by Kevin Liles of Warner Music Group (parent company of T.I.'s label, Atlantic Records), the MC got into a fight with Ludacris' manager Chaka Zulu. According to witnesses, T.I. punched Zulu in the face and choked him and
10816-469: Was written by Noah Webster in 1828, codifying several of these spellings. Differences in grammar are relatively minor, and do not normally affect mutual intelligibility; these include: typically a lack of differentiation between adjectives and adverbs, employing the equivalent adjectives as adverbs he ran quick / he ran quickly ; different use of some auxiliary verbs ; formal (rather than notional) agreement with collective nouns ; different preferences for
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