Chicken -N- Beer

by

Ludacris

Edit

After 2 solo offerings, (Back For The First Time and Word Of Mouf) and one CD with his crew DTP (Golden Grain), Luda is back with his 3rd solo disc, "Chicken And Beer". Kanye West and Luda produce the 1st single "Stand Up". This song is classic Luda and was the perfect choice to be the first single. If you haven't seen the video yet, you definitely need to watch BET or MTV 2 to try to watch it. "Chicken And Beer" starts out with the fast paced "Southern Fried Intro". Luda samples Isaac Hayes' "Walk On By" and gets his CD off to a good start. "Blow It Out" is produced by the same person who produced Nas' "Ether", Ron Browz. Luda always knows how to hook up the metaphors and he even has a little something for his adversary, Bill O' Reilly. The hook is nice and "Blow It Out" turns out to be one of the best songs on "Chicken And Beer". "Splash Waterfalls" is outright hilarious as Luda makes a whole song comparing line for line what the difference between a man that wants to make love with a woman and a man that wants to just have sex with a woman. You may think that this concept is stupid until Luda breaks it down for you. On "Hard Times" Eightball & MJG and Carl Thomas join Ludacris for one of the few serious songs on "Chicken And Beer". The combination definitely works as everyone breaks down how it wasn't always peaches and cream. Although the sample has been used quite frequently, Ludacris makes things work on "Diamond In The Back". Three 6 Mafia's DJ Paul and Juicy "J" produce the track and Luda has tight lyrics as usual. "Screwed Up" featuring Lil Flip pays tribute to DJ Screw, who was shot and killed. To anyone who doesn't know who DJ Screw is, he is well known for using a regular track and slowing the beat down and making mixtapes with the slowed down grooves. Lil Flip was featured on alot of those songs. Luda and Lil Flip go back and forth with the rhymes and "Screwed Up" is my favorite song on "Chicken And Beer" so far. "Hip Hop Quotables" is produced by Erick Sermon and has Luda rapping one verse altogether without a chorus. It works for Luda because the way he combines the metaphors and makes them humorous at the same time. "Hoes In My Room" features Snoop Dogg and will remind you of the song that is currently out with Chingy, Luda and Snoop called "Holidae Inn". Luda and Snoop tell a hilarious tale about them meeting some women at the hotel who turn out not to be as fine as they thought they would be and then at the end Luda and Snoop are saying that they were set up with the ugly women by Bill O' Reilly. This is my second favorite track on the CD. Overall, Luda has a winner with his third solo CD, "Chicken And Beer". The title may seem to be generic, but the quality of the material backed with the humorous metaphors and interludes will have you enjoying this CD as much as you did "Back For The First Time" and "Word Of Mouf". To anyone needing anymore Luda, he is on Big Boi's "Speakerboxxx" CD on "Tomb Of The Boom" and if you want "Act A Fool" the only way to get that song is by buying the "2 Fast 2 Furious" soundtrack.

James' Top 5

1) Screwed Up w/Lil Flip

2) Hoes In My Room w/Snoop Dogg

3) Stand Up

4) Diamond In The Back

5) Blow It Out

If you have Luda's first two album's, then there is really no reason to go get this one. For three cd's Luda does the same things over and over and over. If you like that go ahead and buy this, but if you're like me, don't bother.

From start to finish this cd feels exctly like the last two. It'll make you laugh at times, make you say whoa at times, and make you skip to the next track sometimes. Actually you'll change tracks alot with this cd. Stand up and Blow it out may be the only tracks worth listening to more than once. "Hard Times" isn't bad but definetly not good either. While "P-poppin" & "Diamond in the back" are catchy at first, then got annoying. Still, buy the "Stand Up" single, and save yourself money.

Another thing, where are the beats with these album. It's like Luda half-heartly tried to release another cd. The beats for his first two ablums were fun. This album failed to do that. The beats aren't as fun or enjoyable as his last two. He failed to make a copy of his last two albums, that is sad.

This cd is okay to listen to,once, any more and it is just boring. This cd is a disappointment. Ludacris is no doubt a great entertainer, and defintly has a way with words. Though he is appearently unable to do anything new. He should quit while he's ahead.

If he releases a cd in the future, I hope that you proves me wrong. I hope you releases a cd that can stand up to Back for the First Time or Word of Mouf, but has a new sound to it. At least, If not, he should retire instead of digging a deeper grave for himself.