Project Pat and Lil Lucky Turn “Chickenhead” Into Church’s “Chickahhhn” Campaign

Project Pat’s “Chickenhead” has entered a new chapter as a restaurant campaign. The Memphis rapper has teamed with Lil Lucky on “Chickahhhn,” a Church’s Texas Chicken music-and-video promotion that reshapes the title and food imagery of Pat’s well-traveled track for the chain.

The collaboration began with Lil Lucky’s viral Church’s-themed remake. Creative agency Brunner saw the clip, pitched the idea to Church’s, and helped unite the two artists. The resulting song and video debuted through the restaurant company’s YouTube channel. Financial terms have not been disclosed.

That origin story matters because it makes “Chickahhhn” something more specific than a familiar-song sync or a celebrity cameo. A remake circulating online became the basis for a formal branded project, then brought in the artist connected to the original. It is an example of a short-form, audience-facing music moment being developed into a larger campaign without losing the song reference that made people notice it in the first place.

A recognizable record, reframed for a restaurant

“Chickenhead” dates to 2001 and features Project Pat and La Chat trading lines. Its durable recognition is the crucial creative asset here: the new campaign can lean on a phrase and rhythmic association that listeners may already know, while giving the restaurant a version tailored to its own name and product category.

That kind of adaptation is not the same thing as simply placing an older song in an advertisement. The campaign title, “Chickahhhn,” signals a purposeful rewrite. Lil Lucky’s remake supplied the immediate premise, and Project Pat’s participation connects the food-focused reinterpretation to the record’s original artist.

The video also uses old cars and Church’s vintage logo. Those visual choices put nostalgia at the center of the presentation. The campaign is therefore working from multiple layers of recognition at once: an early-2000s Memphis hit, a recent viral remake, and older brand imagery. None of those pieces alone guarantees attention, but together they create a simple visual and musical shorthand.

What “viral remake” means in this case

A viral remake is an unofficial or independently shared reinterpretation that gains significant circulation before a company turns it into a broader commercial effort. Here, Lil Lucky’s Church’s version was the spark. The campaign’s development shows how an online clip can function as a proof of concept: it gives a brand, agency and artist a clear indication that the core joke, hook or association already connects with viewers.

That does not mean every viral reference is ready for a campaign. What distinguishes this instance is the direct bridge from Lil Lucky’s remake to Project Pat, plus an obvious thematic fit between a song called “Chickenhead” and a chicken restaurant. The link is immediate enough that the new title does not need lengthy explanation.

Related coverage includes Project Pat and Lil Lucky Turn “Chickenhead” Into Church’s “Chickahhhn” Campaign.

Church’s continues a hip-hop-centered community push

Church’s framed the partnership around community, music and cultural connection. Roland Gonzalez, CEO of Church’s Texas Chicken, said the company views bringing people together as central to its identity and described music as a powerful way to connect with people and celebrate the culture within local communities.

“Music is a powerful way to connect with people and celebrate the culture that makes our communities special,” Gonzalez said. “Partnering with Project Pat on ‘Chickahhhn’ helps us take the connection to another level.”

The Project Pat collaboration also follows another recent hip-hop-oriented activation from the chain. Juvenile and Mannie Fresh previously appeared at a Chicago location, serving lunch alongside employees. Taken together, those efforts suggest Church’s is using rap artists not only for a remote advertising tie-in but also for restaurant-based events and locally grounded appearances.

There is a practical distinction between the two approaches. An in-restaurant event creates a temporary, place-specific experience for employees and guests. A song and video can circulate far beyond a single location and can be replayed online. Using both formats gives the brand different ways to reach people: one through a physical gathering and another through repeatable media.

For Project Pat, “Chickahhhn” also arrives amid clear evidence that “Chickenhead” remains culturally mobile. The track has not stayed frozen in its initial release period; it has repeatedly found routes into newer audiences and performances.

Why “Chickenhead” keeps resurfacing

One of the highest-profile later reinterpretations came from Cardi B, who reworked the record as “Bickenhead” for her 2018 debut album, Invasion of Privacy. That provided a major contemporary rap touchpoint for a song first associated with the Memphis scene of 2001.

Its more recent life has also been shaped by a separate viral performer, Alaynna Doty. In July 2025, Doty, then 9 and from Olive Branch, Mississippi, performed “Chickenhead” at the Crazy Cactus restaurant. Her mother, Lauren Durham, posted the performance to TikTok, and Project Pat later shared it himself.

By that July, the clip had surpassed 4 million views and received more than 130,000 comments. Those figures describe attention to a particular performance rather than a complete measure of the song’s lifetime reach, but they do show that a young performer singing a decades-old track could generate substantial contemporary engagement.

That summer, Project Pat invited Doty to join him for a planned September 1 performance on Beale Street’s main stage during Memphis’ 901 Day celebration. Gus’ World-Famous Fried Chicken in Nashville helped facilitate the connection. It is another reminder that the record’s food-related title has traveled through music, restaurants, social video and live-event culture in unexpected ways.

The “Chickahhhn” campaign follows that broader pattern, though it should not be treated as identical to the Doty clip or Cardi B’s album track. Each revival operates in a different context: an album rework, a locally filmed viral performance, a planned live appearance, and now a branded music video. Their shared foundation is the continued recognizability of “Chickenhead,” not a single coordinated rollout.

The campaign’s balancing act

Branded music campaigns often face a basic challenge: the brand needs to be clear, but the creative needs to feel like it has a reason to exist beyond repeating a product name. “Chickahhhn” has a comparatively direct route through that problem. The restaurant category is embedded in the language surrounding the original, and Lil Lucky’s viral remake had already tested the association with viewers before the formal partnership materialized.

Old cars and a vintage logo reinforce the approach by making the visual language feel deliberately retrospective rather than merely contemporary. The production is connecting Church’s own past-facing iconography to a song from 2001. That is not proof of how audiences will respond, but it explains the campaign’s creative logic: it is built around an established record and visual cues that make age and familiarity part of the appeal.

It is also notable that the project foregrounds collaboration. Lil Lucky is not erased once Project Pat enters the picture; the campaign is described as a team-up. That preserves the path from the original viral remake to the polished commercial release. In practical terms, it acknowledges both sides of the project: the performer whose version caught attention and the recording artist whose song provides the foundational reference.

Hip-hop’s relationship with brands is hardly a new subject, but the details determine whether a campaign reads as a meaningful fit or a loose celebrity attachment. Church’s has chosen artists and moments that intersect with food, regional identity, nostalgic iconography and restaurant spaces. The same food setting that makes “Chickahhhn” legible also appears in the chain’s prior lunch-service activation with Juvenile and Mannie Fresh.

For readers following music and culture crossovers, Fat Joe’s comments on Hot 97 and Funkmaster Flex offer another recent example of how rap’s personalities, radio institutions and public conversation continue to intersect beyond new releases.

What is confirmed, and what remains undisclosed

The confirmed elements are straightforward: Project Pat and Lil Lucky collaborated on “Chickahhhn”; the project grew from Lil Lucky’s viral Church’s remake; Brunner helped bring the concept to Church’s and unite the artists; and the song and video premiered on the company’s YouTube channel. The visuals use old cars and Church’s vintage logo.

What has not been made public is equally worth keeping separate from the creative narrative. No financial terms were disclosed. There is also no stated information here about the length of the campaign, any additional releases, restaurant offers, merchandise, or further in-person appearances tied to the music video. The available details support calling it a campaign and a video release, but not attaching extra commercial mechanics that have not been announced.

For now, “Chickahhhn” is best understood as a deliberately local-feeling, nostalgia-driven extension of a song with a long second life. It begins with a viral remake, brings Project Pat into the fold, uses Church’s visual history, and places a 2001 Memphis hit inside a current restaurant-marketing effort. That combination gives the campaign a clearer cultural throughline than a generic celebrity spot—and another proof point that “Chickenhead” remains adaptable well beyond its original run.