HHUCIT NEWS – Demetria Cheeks says she is rapper Ludacris’s biggest fan anThursday night she got to meet him in Racine.

“Everybody knows I love him. I like the way he looks, the way he sounds,” said Cheeks, 32, of Racine. “All I’ve ever wanted to do in my life was meet him, and I did.”

She got to meet the rap recording artist and actor at a promotional event at Twins Food Mart, 1812 16th St. Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges was at the store from about 7 to 9 p.m. because the owners purchased 100 cases of Conjure, a brand of cognac that Ludacris co-owns, said Pedor Rodas, a sales associate at Twins Food Mart.

“You buy 100 cases and he comes to sign them,” Rodas explained, adding that when the store found out Ludacris was coming they sold $35 tickets to let people meet him. The ticket included meeting Ludacris, getting a picture with him, receiving a signed bottle of Conjure and getting a hat and CD, Rodas said.

The store sold about 245 tickets to people including Steven Badten, 23, of Hartford. Badten, who heard about the event on the radio, waited in a two-block long line near Twins Food Mart to get inside and meet Ludacris. When his turn came, he was led in with a few other people and he

immediately asked Ludacris to sign one of his CDs, which the rapper did.

“Make sure it don’t smudge,” Ludacris told Badten.

Badten and the others in line were ushered in and out of the store quickly, stopping for a few moments at the very front of the store to get their liquor and other items and to take a photo with Ludacris, who greeted each person and hugged many of them.

“They’re real,” the rapper said later of his Racine fans. “They’re down to Earth.”

Those who didn’t make it inside to see Ludacris lined 16th Street across from Twins Food Mart and crowded corners near the intersection of 16th Street and Packard Avenue, hoping to get a glimpse of him. They watched as people like 27-year-old April Gentry exited the store after meeting Ludacris.

“I feel faint,” said Gentry, of Racine. “I got to go take these heels off before I hit the floor.”

Gentry brought her 4- and

6-year-old daughters with to meet the rapper and they all took a picture with him.

“It was so great he came to Racine,” Gentry said. “He coulda came anywhere in the world but he came to Racine, Wisconsin.”