Ludacris comes home to Chicago, attends party in his honor

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Ludacris is a rapper, an actor, a TV host, an entrepreneur, and now he is a "cover guy" for Michigan Avenue Magazine's summer edition, with a party thrown in his honor.

"It's an honor and a pleasure, especially from the hometown, it means something because it hits the heart," Ludacris said.

Christopher Bridges was born in Champaign and spent a lot of his early years in Oak Park.

"I was born here, so I don't know how much more of an influence you need, everything around me, my DNA is here," he said. "I have a lot of family that's still here, they still continue to raise me even though I'm a grown man."

Ludacris considers Chicago fans key to his career, and has great memories of the city.

"There's something about Chicago in the summertime...the Taste of Chicago, that's one of the things that I remember as a child that I cherish and I love...I'm a foodie," said Ludacris.

The performer turns on his acting chops for popcorn movies like the Fast & Furious series, but he's also starred in films like the Oscar-winning movie, "Crash."

"Sometimes you get to vicariously live through other characters and you got to bring that to screen, so I would say it's a great craft and I just love doing it because you continue to explore how far you can take things," Ludacris said.

Ludacris is also a Grammy winner who's sold 15 million albums.

"Music is where everything started, if it wasn't for the music, I wouldn't have ventured off into all the things I'm doing here," he said.

Now that he has 3 children, Ludacris wants to introduce them to Chicago.

"We're going to come here in August and I'm going to take them on a trip, I just tell them home is where the heart is," he said.