Ludacris

The King of the Dirty South, Ludacris made his break into the big time as the signature artist on the Def Jam South label, which reworked his first album, Incognegro, into Back for the First Time in 2000. Ludacris had become a local DJ hero at an Atlanta radio station before loosing his rap genius on the world.

For our money, Chicken - N - Beer (Ludacris' third album proper) finds the man at the top of his form, dispensing precise syllables like stitches from an industrial sewing machine (try keeping up with "Teamwork" and "P - Poppin"), and cracking us up with his super-sharp comedy cussing ("Screwed Up").

Picking out the hard-core nuggets from Luda's body of work is no easy task: there are just so many to choose from, as we're braced for a shock at every turn. However, those of you who want to dive in all the way should relish the jackhammer rhyming of "We Got", in collaboration with Chingy, I-20, and Tity Boi.

Call him Luda, call him Cris — there's no doubting that the Atlanta MC's talent is in a league of its own. Having cleaned up on his native turf, Ludacris has proceeded to dominate the rap world, his considerable powers boosted by the studio muscle given to him by Def Jam: ultra-producers Timbaland, the Neptunes, and Organized Noize are all part of the Ludacris story. Even so, the man was destined to be a giant among rappers.