For Ludacris, there’s no more powerful tool than music. That’s why he’s trying to harness this power to educate kids and create a better future for all.
The rapper’s newest initiative, KidNation, aims to provide “a fun, safe, and educational media platform” for children. The project focuses on music videos with timely positive messages ― like “Get Along,” which is about acceptance and inclusivity, and “Stay Clean,” which reminds kids to wash their hands.
“It’s geared toward trying to enrich and empower the next generation, influenced by my own children and wanting them to live in a better world than we live in,” Ludacris told HuffPost. “I want to reinforce the positive morals and teachings as a parent, especially during a time where there’s more home-schooling going on. To condense it, I just want to help kids grow up to be better adults.”
Ludacris has three daughters ― Karma, Cai and Cadence. He and his wife, Eudoxie Bridges, also care for her little sister, Christella, who’s around the same age as his oldest daughter.
With a full house of kids ages 5 to 18, the rapper joked that he’s lucky to live on a property with 22 acres of land so that he can “walk outside every 15 minutes in order to stay sane.”
On a more serious note, Ludacris emphasized that his daughters were “the springboard” for KidNation and his most important test group, reviewing every piece of content on the site and offering their feedback. He said he’s glad to see the songs having a positive impact on their development as well.
“We have a song about doing your chores and getting rewarded afterwards,” the dad explained. “My youngest daughter watched it one time and pulled a stool up to the sink and started washing the dishes. I asked, ‘What are you doing?’ And she said, ‘My birthday is coming up, and I want to be able to get a reward for doing my chores as well.’ That’s a perfect example of music and influence turning to action.”
Ludacris has long been interested in child-friendly content (see his epic “Llama Llama Red Pajama” freestyle). He said he’s been working toward a project like KidNation for about 10 years and was glad to see it come together in collaboration with his business partner Sandy Lal.
“We’d been working on these songs for so long, and we realized it was necessary to release them now,” said the rapper. “Hygiene and getting along ― these are conversations we need to have with our children. And repetition through influential music is the perfect catalyst to get these ideas embedded in their consciousness and even subconsciousness because we know how influential music is for kids.”
Upcoming topics will include drinking more water, eating vegetables and working hard in school. In addition to offering original music videos, KidNation encourages children to make their own content and offers inspiration like lists of at-home activities.
Although the main goal of KidNation is to educate and enrich kids, Ludacris said he’s realized over the past few months of racial reckoning and pandemic lockdown that adults have a lot to learn from children.
“Kids can sometimes teach us more or reinforce more to us than we can to them,” he said. “They’re so innocent, and they lead with so much love.”