Ludacris - Chicken & Beer
Reviewed By: NOTORIOUS
Album Rate: 4.00 out of 5 Stars
Ludacris returns with his third effort, "Chicken
and Beer." Arguably the
biggest rap star in the south, Ludacris hits fans
up with many metaphors and shows the public why
he's the king of wordplay.
1. Southern Fried Intro - Luda is flowing on this
track. Holds its own with the intros from his
previous two Def Jam South releases. Bass and
electric guitars dominate the beat on this nice
intro.
2. Blow It Out - "I'm the new phenomenon like white
women with ass," says Luda. A very nice analogy.
Sounds like his "Fuck You" song for this album. He
takes on Bill O'Reilly on this one. Very nice
track.
3. Stand Up (f/ Shawnna) - Ok, this is the first
single. Classic ATL crunk beat. Could be an
anthem for some fight music in the club. Once
again, Luda scores on first singles on his albums,
in the same tradition as "What's Your Fantasy?" and
"Rollout."
4. Rob Quarters - Skit just talking about how radio
djs are following his lead and tryna be rappers.
Is he dissing 50? Only Luda knows.
5. Splash Watefalls - Beat sounds a lot like
Cam'ron's "Oh Boy." Sounds too much like a
Fabolous song for my liking. Not too impressed
with this one.
6. Hard Times (f/ 8Ball & MJG, Carl Thomas) - Pretty
good track. Carl Thomas is on the hook. His Bad
Boy labelmates, 8Ball & MJG come hard on this
track. It's always good to get these dirty south
legends some shine. 8Ball is definitely an
underrated lyricist. Great effort from everyone on
this track.
7. Diamond In The Back - Track has a blues song
feel to it and it works. Its all about flossing on
this track. Luda drops a sick flow on this one.
One of Luda's greatest abilities is that he's able
to deliver his verses in many different ways like
he did in "Dis Bitch, Dat Hoe" from the Choices
sountrack. He does the same thing for this track.
Very nice.
8. Screwed Up (f/ Lil' Flip) - OK, this is my
favorite track on the record. First, it gives
props to the screw music scene. I'm always cool
with this one. Flip and Luda on the same track is
a great combination because the metaphors and
analogies are clever and wise. I would love for
this to be a video single just so the screw music
can get more shine but it probably won't. Very
nice once again.
9. T-Baggin - skit
10. P-Poppin f/ Shawnna, Lil' Fate - Also the first
single . . . if you watch BET Uncut. Stripper's
anthem. Nice track. Pretty tight beat. DTP's
Shawnna and Lil' Fate added needed balance to this
track.
11. Hip Hop Quotables - Just a nice track with Luda
dropping many, many, many metaphors. Freestyle
feel to this one.
12. Black Man's Struggle - skit
13. Hoes In My Room (f/ Snoop Dogg) - Slow beat with
the west coast feel to it. Not really feeling this
one too much. Beatwise, it sounds like a Snoop
track. Luda is kinda lost on this beat. Sounds
like the beat was geared more for Snoop Dogg than
Ludacris.
14. Teamwork - This track's beat is pretty weird.
Just a misplaced beat to the Luda flow. Not
feeling this track too much.
15. Interactive - skit
16. We Got (f/ Chingy, I-20, Tity Boi) - Very nice
track. Arguably, the best track on the record.
I-20 drops a very nice verse. Tity Boi drops a
average verse. Not much starpower to this guy.
Chingy kills everyone on this track, even Luda.
Top notch production from DJ Paul and Juicy J from
the Three-6-Mafia. Top notch track.
17. Eyebrows Down (f/ Tity Boi, Dolla Boy) - A nice
track to finish up the album. Luda tells his life
story as far coming up to be the superstar rapper
that he is today. Very nice track.
Overall, the album was pretty good. The beats were
kinda dissappointing considering Ludacris is that
rare type of MC that can pretty much rip any beat.
With that being said, Luda could have done a better
job with Producer selection. "Chicken and Beer"
starts off very fast with great production and
flows but then lags off in the middle to be picked
up right at the very end. That lag in the middle
created some disinterest as I was listening but
nonetheless, Luda is still the king of wordplay.
Solid effort.
Ludacris - Chicken & Beer