Rap, Runaways to share Grammy spotlight: Ludacris' act fires up crisis hot line in city

By Rex W. Huppke
The Chicago Tribune, February 11, 2007

As rapper Ludacris takes the stage at Sunday's Grammy Awards show in Los Angeles, more than a dozen anxious volunteers will huddle up at a North Side call center for runaway children, hoping his performance sets the phone ringing.

The Connection seems unlikely. But over the last few months Ludacris, an Illinois-born, Atlanta-based performer known for bringing the "Dirty South" rap sound to the masses, has forged a bond with the National Runaway Switchboard, a Chicago institution that helps youths from across the country who have run away or are thinking of leaving home.

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