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| tracklisting |
| 1. Southern Fried Intro |
| 2. Blow It Out |
| 3. Stand Up feat. Shawnna |
| 4. Rob Quarters Skit |
| 5. Splash Waterfalls |
| 6. Hard Times feat. 8Ball, MJG, Carl Thomas |
| 7. Diamond In The Back |
| 8. Screwed Up feat. Lil Flip |
| 9. T Baggin' Skit |
| 10. P-Poppin' feat. Shawnna, Lil' Fate |
| 11. Hip Hop Quotables |
| 12. Black Man's Struggle Skit |
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13. Hoes In My Room
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| 14. Teamwork |
| 15. Interactive Skit |
| 16. We Got feat. Chingy, I-20, Tity Boi |
| 17. Eyebrows Down feat. Tity Boi, Dolla Boy |
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| Okay, we have an interesting task at hand: Finding out why Ludacris is hated. A hate that's not as easily explained by the pure and thorough wackness of a, let's say, Ja Rule. Or the ridiculous wannabe posing, the Tupac ripping off, of a, let's say, Ja Rule. But actually, Luda's new
album "Chicken-N-Beer", to be quite frankly, is rather good. |
| So where's the hate coming fromt? Is it that he can't flow? Uhm, nope, listen to "Southern Fried Intro". Is it that his lyrics are not entertaining? Nope, check the funny tale of "Hoes In My Room"? Well then, is it because Ludacris is always rhyming
over wack beats? Not unless you find the Kanye West beat on "Stand Up" to be crap. So it must be because he can't come hard, like a real emcee, on the punchline tip. Nope my friend, listen to "Blow It Out" that has more punches than a boxing fight that goes over twenty
seven rounds. Oh, I got it: it's because he's ig'nant. Well, you might have a point there. However, also more in theory than reality. |
| Because when you listen to the album, you're hard tempted to find something out of proportion ignorant. Sure he sexes the women ("Splash Waterfall" or "Teamwork"), sure he's driving too fast, sure he's better than you, sure he does skippable tracks
(like the token violent I'm real-don't mess with me-the streets are rough song "We Got" with Chingy, I-20, Tity Boi), sure he literally shits on the "Black Man's Struggle". Sure he's that and this. But that's to hate? Naw. He's more humorous than ignorant and he even
acknowledges the "Hard Times" with 8Ball, MJG and Carl Thomas, and "Eyesbrown Down" is rather positive in outlook too. So what's the problem? |
| There's no desperate reason why to hate Ludacris. But there's actually plenty to like him for, or at least give him a certain amount of time. Be it for the very quickly double timing on the "Southern Fried Intro", where he goes: "so one time for my independent
women and all the single mothers who be gettin' that cake / two times for my dawgs pullin' triggers and my niggas in the kitchen that be flippin' that weight / east coast, west coast, midwest, dirty south, then we took it all around the world / I got fans in retirement homes, to teenagers, to little
bitty boys and girls". And who can even dismiss a beat that samples Isaac Hayes' version of "Walk On By"? Or a beat that uses William De Vaughn's "Be Thankful For What You Got", as done by DJ Paul and Juicy J from the Triple 6 Mafia on "Diamond In The Back"? |
| And when you really wanna hear someone go for the price money, then listen to the excessively braggadocio of "Hip Hop Quatables", where Luda gets loose with battling rhymes over a rolling Erick Sermon beat. Wack, this? Maybe in a bizarro universe. And as mentioned
before, "Hoes In My Room" is funny. Snoop Dogg and Luda discuss all those ugly females that make it to their room. The storytelling is visual, the tongue in cheek has us smile and the hook is something to sing along. And if the printing of the artwork wouldn't be as shackey, we could
even tell you who produced this souly and smooth beat. |
| So when you compare "Chicken-N-Beer" to what's successful in the mainstream rap right now, this should actually be adored. It's better than 95% of what gets pushed, and alone for that, Ludacris is deserving a lot of props. Not to claim that he's the best thing since deep
fried chicken wings, but to hate this just for the merit of it, now that'd be ig'nant. |
| review: tadah |
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