Breaking records last summer, “Furious 7,” along with the rest of the “Fast and Furious” film series, has become one of the most financially successful franchises of all time.

To celebrate the release of “Furious 7” on Digital HD and Blu-ray/DVD, one of the stars of the film, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges was named the Grand Marshal of the Furious 7 300 XFINITY race at Chicagoland Speedway on Sept. 19.

Bridges is a Grammy Award winning and multi-platinum selling artist with many other music accomplishments under his belt. Bridges first main acting role was in 2003’s “2 Fast 2 Furious” as Tej Parker. He has since worked on other films like “No Strings Attached,” “Crash,” and “Max Payne.” Best known for his work as Parker from the Fast and Furious franchise Bridges has also vented time back into his community.

Bridges also formed his own charity the Ludacris Foundation in 2001 to focus on leadership skills and education in an outreach mission to reach youth of all ages. The DePaulia had an opportunity to talk with Bridges at a press conference at the Furious 7 300 XFINITY event.

The DePaulia: The “Fast and Furious” franchise has gone on to becoming the largest franchise financially. The fans really came together with the release of “Furious 7.” Can you share your experience with the franchise that was released nearly 15 years ago?

Bridges: Usually with movies sequels get worse and worse over time but these continue to get better. We really play close attention to the fans and their feedback through social media and what they like and don’t like about the films. We try to take all the pluses and try to add them to all the part to the next film along with the feedback and constructive criticism to our advantage when we continue to make more. It’s just been great because the fans have been interactive that I don’t think they realize how they play a part in how the next one is written.

Speaking of your fans, you like to give back to them outside of the music and entertainment scene. Why is that important to you to give back to your fans?

Bridges: I just want to lead by example. I try to do as much as I can because I’ll so blessed and I want to be able to continue to bless others. It’s funny you said that because we just celebrated our ten year anniversary of what I call “LudaDay” weekend in Atlanta where we do this big charity weekend where we do so many events that celebrities come down and the money raised we give to the foundation we give back to the kids.

You’ve had quite a year with the release of “Furious 7” and your latest album “Ludaversal.” Is there anything on the horizon you would like to focus on for the coming future?

Bridges: I’m looking forward to starting to record again within the next month or so on the new album and with that being said “Furious 8” is going to start shooting next year and it will be out April 2017. I like both, I like the balance of both right now. I’ve been doing music a lot longer but the experience and being a blessing to being a part of a franchise like this and then doing other things outside of that is also great to. It’s all in the entertainment arts and it kind of completes me and all the things that I do creatively so I’m very blessed with that.