Chicken & Beer - Ludacris (CD 2003)

In the Hip-Hop world, it is a known fact that Southern acts do not get love in the East Coast at all. However, artists such as Scarface, and Big Boi & Andre 3000 from Outkast are exceptions and are liked by East Coast Hip-Hop heads. Ludacris, most often than not, will also be on the exception list. Not that he is all that, but I guess because of the fact that he is does not do Crunk musiq and has a little bit of talent. That is the reason why I like him sometimes. His first two albums, "Back For The First Time" and "Word Of Mouf", were decent offerings, so I expected the same from "Chicken & Beer". Unfortunately, it did not meet my expectations at all.

TRACK LISTING
01. Southern Fried Intro (***)
02. Blow It Out (***)
03. Stand Up (feat. Shawnna) (****)
04. Rob Quarters (Skit) (N/A)
05. Splash Waterfalls (*)
06. Hard Times (feat. 8 Ball, MJG & Carl Thomas) (**)
07. Diamond In The Back (*)
08. Screwed Up (feat. Lil Flip) (*)
09. T Bagging (Skit) (N/A)
10. P-Poppin' (feat. Shawnna & Lil Fate) ( )
11. Hip Hop Quotables (***)
12. Black Man's Struggle (Skit) (N/A)
13. Hoes In My Room (feat. Snoop Dogg) (*)
14. Teamwork (**)
15. Interactive (Skit) (N/A)
16. We Got (feat. Chingy, I-20 & Tity Boi) (**)
17. Eyebrows Down (feat. Tity Boi & Dolla Boy) (**)

The album begins on a good note with average "Southern Fried Intro for which Ludacris adopts a triple-cadence delivery while kicking in a few decent punch-lines over a pretty good production piece that utilizes a sped-up drum loop and an electric guitar loop. The song is nothing special, but it is not bad either. It is what you come to expect from Ludacris. Ludacris continues his decent punch-line regurgitation with "Blow It Out" on which he says "I'm the new phenomenon like white women with a** and takes a few juvenile and ineffective jabs at Bill O'Reilly (the dude on Fox News who is always bashing Hip-Hop and even caused Pepsi to back off the endorsement deal that they gave Ludacris. This times Ludacris favors his signature mid-tempo delivery.

The song responsible for my interest in the album is the single "Stand Up." The beat is impossible not to enjoy with its addictive drum loop and bass medley along with the horn loops, not to mention that the chorus is very catchy. Ludacris does not step out of his shoes as he provides what he usually does: Not-so-good and pretty good punch-lines and word-play. His lyrics aren't what you would call extraordinary, but he comes off decent most of the time and you have the applause his uncanny ability to rhyme words that you wouldn't normally think of rhyming.

Unfortunately, with the exception of the decent "Hip Hop Quotables," the remaining songs on the album do not cut the mustard. The production effort for these songs is surprisingly horrible, which is uncharacteristic of a Ludacris album. Even worse is the fact that Ludacris lyrical quality falls down the abyss along with the subject matter and the below-average guest appearances. "Splash Waterfalls" is about sexually pleasing a woman, "Screwed Up" is about getting high and acting a fool, "P-Poppin'" is about women shaking their behinds in the club, "Teamwork" is about freaky sex, "Hoes In My Room" is about kicking ugly hoes out of his hotel room in order to make way for the pretty hoes (Luda even claims that Bill O'Reilly let the ugly hoes in his room), "We Got" is the obligatory gangster track. Even the songs on which Ludacris kicks in introspection and retrospection, such as "Hard Times", "Diamond In The Back", and "Eyebrows Down", are not enjoyable because of the lack of lyrical prowess and the horrible production.

Save the few songs that I mentioned as being decent along with my new party favorite "Stand Up" (Y'all should just buy the single), none of the songs on this album are worth the money. The production is horrible, the subject matter is uninteresting, and the lyrics are below average. In sum, this is a BAD album.

1.5 STARS