Photography / Videography
Agecy: Razorfish
Believe it or not, this 1993 Acura Legend just might be the hip-hop equivalent to Elvis' Graceland. That's because, although this unassuming Japanese sedan might not look like much, it's the place where Grammy award-winning rapper Ludacris made his name ... well, sort of.
Behind the wheel of this Acura, Ludacris wrote famous hits such as "Move B***h," "Stand Up" and "How Low." So, yeah, the car is kind of important to the history of hip-hop.
While that historical factoid alone makes it noteworthy, there's another that might make it even more surprising: Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges has owned it since 1996 — and still drives it daily through his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. You might even call it the legend's Legend ... OK, that was lame. I apologize.
Ludacris bought the car in the mid-1990s when he got a job at a radio station in Atlanta out of high school. When he had enough money to buy his own car, he chose the Legend.
"I always felt this car matched my personality," Ludacris told me, leaning against the Acura at the automaker's U.S. headquarters in Torrance, California. "It's the perfect mix of luxury and sport ... it just says a lot about me."
Surprisingly, Luda drove the Legend regularly until last year when it was totaled on the highway — to no fault of his own. When Acura learned that not only had the rapper owned and loved the Legend for so long, but that it also had been wrecked, the Japanese automaker offered to restore it for him.
"It's crazy, if you look at the odometer, it still has 243,000 miles — that's how many miles I drove it," Ludacris chuckled.
Over the span of two months, Acura Design Studio employees painstakingly restored the car inside and out. Though they certainly didn't pimp Luda's ride, they did upgrade it slightly. After repairing the body damage, they slathered it in a custom Ice Pearl paint scheme, highlighted by the Warm Cashmere interior leather color.
Then, given Luda's love of music, Acura installed a Pioneer sound system and head-unit complete with Apple CarPlay. And, as you can see, Luda gleefully demonstrated its potency.
Acura couldn't keep the car too stock, however. So its design studio team lowered the car by two inches with some H&R sport springs and bolted up a set of 18-inch Rays wheels wrapped around Bridgestone Potenza High-Performance tires. Those bronze-colored wheels are backed by custom high-performance brakes, which are likely far more powerful than the rebuilt original 3.2-liter, 230-horsepower V6 engine.