While that track garners pole position, "Hip Hop Quotables" is really Ludacris at his best thanks to a minimalist music track and his nonstop flow, wherein he drops endless metaphors and pop culture references. No artist who claims to be from the South can lay down an album without putting together a well thought-out gentlemen's club anthem. "P-Poppin" is another cut with a title that doesn't tell the whole story. For example, the chorus to "Screwed Up" (which can't be printed here) may only consist of two syllables, but damn if the way they're delivered here won't quickly get stuck in your head (just make sure your moms isn't around when you blast this one, though). This 6 song run of jams is rife with infectious choruses and blazing hooks. The overall value of Chicken N Beer really takes off when you get to track 8 "Screwed Up," because the songs stay hot all the way through to "Hoes In My Room," a cut with everybody's favorite playa/pimp rapper, Snoop. Interestingly enough, track 14, which is called "Teamwork," almost sounds like he gave it another shot, this time with slightly better results. The female vocal samples that respond to Ludacris' back and forth lyricism of being a loving, do-right boyfriend and the chauvinistic pig just sound out of place something about the song's beat and her delivery just don't synch up. The slowed down beat feels truncated as if somebody put it together as a rough cut and forgot to go back, refine it, and make it feel more listener friendly. "Splash Waterfalls" certainly sounds different than anything Luda's done before but it's still an example of something that just doesn't work. Despite its easiness, "Stand Up" does manage to keep your interest and pull you back into the album, especially after the not-quite-there "Blow it Out" almost makes you do just that. Lead single aside, the order of tracks on the album probably should've been reconsidered, because after the excellent "Southern Fried Intro" -which features some hard rhyming over a near replica of Burt Bacharach's "Walk On By" as done by Isaac Hayes- there's quite a bit of stumbling before you get to the surefire, unskippable portions. Alas, "Stand Up" just feels too easy, for lack of a better analogy. It's just that we already know Luda's at his best when the track is rockin' and all he has to do is elevate his rhyming to match what the beat is trying to say. The music behind "Stand Up," however, is substantially bare-bones with Ludacris' lyrics providing all of the winding, thrilling excitement we'd expect. An example of this anticipation factor comes in the form of the lead single, "Stand Up." Produced by the Roc's Kanye West, this single came on the heels of 2 Fast 2 Furious' theme "Act a Fool" - a thumping tune that many Ludacris fans expected to be indicative of what was to come on Chicken N Beer. In fact, much of the attitude throughout Chicken N Beerseems to be that if you don't like that last track, hey you might like the next one, but you're not gonna deny that Ludacris had you listening on the edge of your ears, just waiting for him to give you that next reason to giggle, chortle or guffaw. To this end Luda's crossed the into the realm of bonafide superstar, so taking this album to showcase the talents of his Disturbing the Peace crew and up and coming producers is one of the byproducts of that success.
#LUDACRIS CHICKEN N BEER VK FULL#
He's always got a greasy sack full of punch lines, pop culture references and silliness ready to drop whether it's on his album or the pop singer of the moment's latest single. This is the major reason why Chicken N Beer doesn't have to be chock full of 20 runaway hits. The thing with Ludacris is that his clever and humorous flow will work with virtually any type of music, whether it's a party tune, wannabe player/gangster/pimp anthem or what have you. The one-shot production contributors on Chicken don't come with nearly the same quality of hits that we saw out of Timbaland and Swizz Beats on Mouf, but you have to hand it to Luda for sticking to his formula of mixing an unmistakably dirty dirty sound with some non-Dixie influences. You can't call it a sophomore slump because Chicken N Beer is Ludacris' third outing on Def Jam South and the album that's supposed to continue the wild success and party-ability of the smashing Word of Mouf.
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