丑话说在前头

chǒu huà shuō zài qián tou

let's talk about the unpleasant things first; let's be frank

chǒu

shameful

huà

old variant of 話|话[hua4]

shuō

to speak; to talk; to say

zài

to exist; to be alive

qián

front

tou

suffix for nouns