Ludacris [ tickets ] recently gave away 20 cars in his hometown of Atlanta, according to a CNN report. The rapper teamed up with the Nissan South dealership in Morrow, GA, to give autos to 20 winners as long as they were able to pay the taxes, registration, tags and insurance on the cars.

In a radio announcement, the rapper told listeners if they met the requirements, they should write a 300-word essay about why they deserved to win a free car. Within a few days, more than 2,000 essays poured into the dealership that had teamed with Luda on the used-car giveaway.

Eventually, more than 4,000 entries were received for a chance to win a used car such as the 2005 Mercury Sable won by a 51-year-old woman who wanted to drive around her grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Another winning essays talked about the need to transport an autistic child who could not wait alone at a bus stop. One essay winner wrote that she hoped to avoid walking with her children to the bus stop before the sun rises in dangerous city neighborhoods, which was a necessity to begin a long journey to drop children at school or at a friend's home in order to make it to work on time.

Ludacris and his mother, Roberta Shields, who directs his charitable foundation and helped give away the cars, enlisted about a dozen of the foundation's staff members to read the essays. They then validated the stories they found most compelling.

In addition to the keys to a used car, winners received 30 days of free gas.