"Chicken & Beer" is the third album from Ludacris, and it shows progression from "Back For The First Time" and "Word Of Mouf", as this one came two years after the latter of them. This is his 2003 release and was well into his regin as the 'king of the south' with little competition upcoming. Luda comes once again with the sound of Atlanta, showing the world exactly how the 'Dirty South' of America compares to competion from the East and West.
1. "Southern Fired" (Intro)
As an intro the album, this is a big one because Luda comes out in a huge way to get a few things off his mind prior to getting into the themed tracks. I found the grimey synth from DJ Nasty & LVM to be the best element of the production for it, and this is waht allowed Luda to come out with the rhymes (including a mandatory shout-out to Bill O'Reilly and all the topical issues at the time).
**Five Stars**
2. "Blow It Out"
Unless you know Luda's history and the relationship he has with the American TV presenter Bill O'Reilly, then you won't understand it, as it is a diss track which fully target him after he called for a boycott of Pepsi, as Ludacris endorsed it at the time, and as a result O'Reilly claimed that he couldn't buy a product which has a lead figure who is known to galmorize a "life of guns, violence, drugs and disrespect of women". Without here this you would find it quite silly, but as he is explaining why he acts the way he does in responce to O'Reilly, it all makes sense.
**Four Stars**
3. "Stand Up"
This is classic material from Luda as
this acts as one of few which crossed over genre to appear to a wide audience for this club tune. It's a head banger which has Luda and Kanye West produce together to provide a perfect setting for what he is best known for. uda manges to come with lots of funny lines, but also enough tougher ones to back up his street rep
**Four Stars**
4. "Rob Quarters" (Skit)
5. "Splash Waterfalls"
When this was originally released as a single, I really didn't like it, and it was stronge as all the material prior to this was amongst my favourite in my music collectinos, and this will ahve been because I just didn't understand it at all. However, now I can understand that it is a sensual track from him, which should be appreciated as he doesn't go about it is with past tracks like "What's Your Fanatasy", here he takes it slowly.
**Four Stars**
6. "Hard Times"
I would have to compare this to a trak which I know I lot better from Luda in "Hopeless" from "The Red Light District" album in 2004 as it is quite similar in how it deals with a more serious subject, putting you into a rather depressing mood. Here Luda takes on the expertise of the Memphis Hip Hop duo 8Ball & MJG to deal with this track which talks about coping with the lose of somebody close.
**Four STars**
7. "Diamond In The Back"
The first thing which you should notice from this one is that the Curtis Mayfield classic song, given in th title, is used for this one, and with such material to work with it would be difficuly to mess it up; fortunately he didn't. As with the original, Ludacris relives his past as he aspires to make big money as he sees pepole flaunt regularly around him. As not too mny have done this, but later went on do do (for example 50 Cent's "Window Shopper") it was nice to see where he has come from and what he has gone on to do.
**Four Stars**
8. "Screwed Up"
Prior to listening to this track, I had high expectations from Luda, who takes on the Screwed style of Houston, Texas in this one, but it was a flop as the hardcore wyas of the city are lost as Luda tries to pull it inot his stlye too much, and so when a cartoony beat is used in the background, it just doesn't work.
I do, however, understand the concept here as they attempt to express the feeling of being under the influence of "Lean", and so everything is all slowed-down and as if in a dreamy state of mind, but he went about it the wrong way, especially if you compare it ot how Houston originals have gone about it.
**Two Stars**
9. "Tea Baggin''" (Skit)
10. "P-Poppin'"
Well I don't know what to say about this one, it's the ultimate in Luda's presentation of lack of care for controversy which he may spark by releasing a track so explicit as this one.
**Four Stars*
11. "Hip Hop Quotables"
Here's one of the track which reminds you why you would have originally been attract to his style of rap; his comedic rhymes. This is a fun rap from him on a goofy beat from th Hip Hop legend Erick Sermon (of EPMD), which lends itself well to the light-hearted rhymes from Luda. It leads you to beleive he's underated as a lyricist because back here he used it in the wrong way.
This is one of few amazingly strong tracks from Luda not to come out as a single, and I found it to be rather annoying as I susplect that the only reason why it couldn't go out like this will be due to issues with the language he uses and how it could be taken, but here it's entirely relevant as the women which he finds in his rrom are prostitutes.
It is a hilarious rap where you have Luda's voice acting shine as you hear the emotions in his words as he sighs "Who Let These Hoes In My Room" in a surprisingly strong melody along with Snoop. You should check this one out if he's jokey style is waht you enjoy in him.
**Five Stars**
14. "Teamwork"
I throughout enjoyed listening to this track by Luda as it has him doing what he was made to do, whether people find it offensive or not. It's a track which has him jokily play around with the subject of sex, as he has on many occasions before, and as he gets Black Key to do production, including a hook of a woman moaning. He comes out with a fun and bouncy take on the subject.
**Four Stars**
15. "Interactive" (Skit)
16. "We Got"
This is a hood track from Luda which has him perfrom just for his street fans, so he strays away from attempting to get a broad range of people behind him, and you need a few to back-up your creditibilty to represent the area; as he does Atlanta to the fullest. He has the best of his record label, Disturbing Tha Peace, perform with him in a typical Gangsta Rap manner.
**Four Stars**
17. "Eyebrows Down"
This one features Luda's signings in Tity Boi and Dolla Boy, making up Playaz Circle. We have Luda taking us through his life story from the very early days of moving around the U.S., to then writing rhymes, and then having his career launch up to what we see now. I found this fun to hear as a fan of the rapper, and it explains a lot of things which you may not have previously known about him.
**Four Stars**
I thought that as this album came a couple of years after "Word Of Mouf", it was quite different to his ealrier material, the time swhihc I found the most entertaining. As a result I didn't hear as many tracks reaching their full potential as in other material he brought out. This one had lots of skits, which really jest wasted time and did little else. As a result I found it quite disappointing, and the worst of all the albums he released do date, but as he came with a masterpiece in "The Red Light District", I found it strange that he could dip so considerably in between to big albums.
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