Chicken-N-Beer
Studio album by Ludacris
Released	October 7, 2003
Recorded	2002–2003
Studio	PatchWerk Recording Studios
Genre	Hip hop southern hip hop comedy rap
Length	60:22
Label	Disturbing tha Peace Def Jam South
Producer	Ludacris Kanye West Ruh Anubis "Moby Dick" Yazid DJ Nasty & LVM Icedrake DJ Paul Juicy J Zukhan Bey Erick Sermon Black Key T-Storm Jook
Ludacris chronology
Word of Mouf (2001) Chicken-N-Beer (2003) The Red Light District (2004)
Singles from Chicken-N-Beer
"P-Poppin" Released: June 11, 2003 "Stand Up" Released: August 19, 2003 "Blow It Out" Released: September 28, 2003 "Splash Waterfalls" Released: February 17, 2004 "Diamond in the Back" Released: May 11, 2004

Chicken-n-Beer is the fourthstudio album by American rapperLudacris. It was released on October 7, 2003, byDisturbing tha Peace andDef Jam Recordings. Recording sessions took place from 2002 to 2003, and it was handled by several record producers, includingDJ Nasty & LVM,Kanye West,Mo B. Dick,DJ Paul,Juicy J and Ludacris himself. The album,Chicken-n-Beer is musically similar to Ludacris' previous work, with his use of a fast, highly versatileflow. Some of the songs on the album take apolitical overtone.

The album debuted at number one on the USBillboard 200, selling 429,000 copies in its first week; unlike Ludacris' previous albums, the album achieved success outside the United States, charting in several European territories; including Germany and the United Kingdom. Upon its release,Chicken-n-Beer received positive reviews, with critics praising Ludacris' technical rapping abilities and production choices, although some criticized the adult humor in the lyrics as excessive. It was supported by foursingles that were released from the album, two of which – "Stand Up" and "Splash Waterfalls" – became Ludacris' first to peak in the top 10 on the USBillboard Hot 100.

Ludacris frequently employs a fast-pacedflow onChicken-n-Beer, whilst often suffusing the words he raps with humorous punchlines and innuendos.^[1][2] Writing forBBC Music, Lewis Dene noted Ludacris to typically incorporate "lightning-quick phrasing, cutting wit and reference points a plenty" into his lyrics.^[2] Many of the songs onChicken-n-Beer are of a predominantly sexual nature,^[3] and there were compared by Nathan Rabin ofThe A.V. Club, to the material recorded by the likes of the hip hop group2 Live Crew.^[4] "Stand Up" was described as a "steamy sex rap",^[1] and "Hoes in My Room", a collaboration with fellow rapperSnoop Dogg, details a fictional encounter with a collection ofgroupies following a live performance. Rabin further observed that Ludacris addresses such topics with "irreverent glee", despite describing these themes "well-worn" and clichéd.^[4] Ludacris attacks political commentatorBill O'Reilly, who specifically criticized Ludacris for the content of his lyrics and noted him as a bad influence.^[4] "Blow It Out" and "Screwed Up" contain direct references to O'Reilly and his comments, as well as observations on the difficulties of fame.^[5]

The album debuted at number one on the USBillboard 200, becoming Ludacris' first album to top the chart: the overall first-week sales of 429,000 copies were an improvement on Ludacris' previous albumWord of Mouf (2001), which sold 282,000 copies in its first week in the United States, debuting at number 3 on theBillboard 200.^[6] In its second week,Chicken-n-Beer fell to number 2, selling 194,000 copies, representing an overall sales decrease of 55% and bringing overall sales of the album to 623,000.^[7] The album spent five weeks inside the top ten of the chart, selling 936,000 copies in that time:^[8] it went on to spend a total of 45 weeks on the chart.^[9] It also peaked at number one on the USTop R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, although it remained on the chart for a longer length of time than on theBillboard 200, lasting a total of 51 weeks before exiting the chart.^[10] On June 18, 2004, the album was certifieddouble platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of 2,000,000 copies within the United States.^[11]

Unlike Ludacris' previous releases,Chicken-n-Beer achieved reasonable commercial success outside the United States. It became Ludacris' first album to chart in Australia, where it debuted and peaked at number 98, then exited the chart after a single week.^[12] The album peaked at number five on theCanadian Albums Chart: although it only spent a single week on the chart, no other Ludacris album has achieved a higher position on the chart,^[13] and was certified platinum by theCanadian Recording Industry Association on January 8, 2004.^[14] In Ireland, the album debuted and peaked at number 71 on theIrish Albums Chart, before exiting the chart the following week: to date, it remains Ludacris' only album to appear on the chart.^[15] In the United Kingdom,Chicken-n-Beer achieved a peak position of number 44 on theUK Albums Chart, spending a total of four weeks on the chart – the longest length of time any Ludacris album has lasted on the chart.^[16] It also became Ludacris' most commercially successful album in Germany, appearing at number 87 on theGerman Albums Chart in the only week in which it charted.^[17]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	75/100[18]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
The Austin Chronicle	[19]
Blender	[20]
Chicago Sun-Times	[21]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	B+[5]
Entertainment Weekly	B−[22]
Los Angeles Times	[23]
Q	[24]
Rolling Stone	[25]
USA Today	[3]

Upon its release,Chicken-n-Beer received generally positive reviews from music critics.^[18] AtMetacritic, which assigns anormalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received anaverage score of 75, based on 10 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".^[18] John Bush ofAllmusic noted Ludacris' "lightning-quick phrasing and cutting wit" and "rollicking, all-in-good-fun persona": he went on to commend the eccentric and upbeat nature of Ludacris' music, calling him "one of the few who's actually celebrating something – and having a great time doing it".^[1] Writing forEntertainment Weekly, Neil Drumming praised Ludacris' rapping skills, including his "explosive enunciation", "witty wordplay" and "punchline potency", although he reacted negatively towards the album's newer producers, feeling they use "campy sampling and cartoonish composition".^[22]Nathan Rabin ofThe A.V. Club complimented Ludacris' "impeccable comic timing" and his ability to "wring the most out of every line", although he also noted the album to be Ludacris' most "emotional, autobiographical major-label release to date".^[4] Although he dismissed much of the album's production as "duds",Rolling Stone writer Toure praised Ludacris' musical style as appealing to genres outside hip-hop music, calling him "cocksure, witty and just hard enough to be taken seriously" yet "playful enough to be pop":^[25] he further noted Ludacris to be one of the most technically skilled rappers of the time, stating:

Ludacris is one of the most liquid MCs in the game today. He varies his flows with such dexterity and has so much musicality in his tones that his mouth truly seems like an instrument. Ludacris is an outsize character – he's Mr. Fantastic from the Fantastic Four, perhaps a SouthernBusta Rhymes, a guy who started as an Atlanta radio DJ but whose third album... finds him part of the hip-hop establishment.^[25]

— Toure

However, some felt the adult humour displayed on many the songs was excessive, and detracted from Ludacris' technical abilities. Jeffries called Ludacris' personality "cartoonish":^[1] Drumming noted "too many cuts are simply one-note jokes stretched out to three or four minutes", and criticized the album's female-orientated material as "cringeworthy, misogynistic snorefests", but admitted Ludacris to be "a funny guy" and called many of the featured insults and boasts "gut-busting... for days".^[22] In contrast, Rabin described Ludacris as "fun incarnate, the joyous embodiment of rap's commitment to hedonism at all costs" and felt that few rappers covered sexually-orientated topics as well as Ludacris, "writing few of his peers mine the well-worn topics of freaky sex and drugged-out debauchery with such irreverent glee".^[4]

Notes

• (co.) signifies a co-producer

Credits forChicken-n-Beer adapted fromAllmusic.^[26]

• List ofBillboard 200 number-one albums of 2003

• Ludacris albums
• 2003 albums
• Def Jam South albums
• Albums produced by Kanye West
• Albums produced by Erick Sermon
• Albums produced by Ron Browz
• Disturbing tha Peace albums
• Albums produced by the Neptunes
• Albums produced by DJ Paul
• Albums produced by Juicy J
• Comedy hip-hop albums

• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hAudio microformats
• Certification Table Entry usages for Canada
• Pages using certification Table Entry with shipments figures
• Certification Table Entry usages for United Kingdom
• Certification Table Entry usages for United States
• Pages using certification Table Entry with shipments footnote