‘Speakerboxxx/The Love Below’ brings Dre and Big Boi to new heights.
By J. Douglas Stevens
Staff Writer
Nearly 10 years in the making, OutKast fans have been waiting for Andre and Big Boi’s double-disc opus ever since the release of “Stankonia” in 2000. The Atlanta duo has been called everything from funk crusaders and millennium cowboys to futuristic space junkies. Always pushing the envelope in what is left of the hip-hop community, OutKast refuses to play it safe and their new effort, “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below” (a double disc set to which each rapper contributed a solo disc), is evidence.
“Disappointing,” “too weird” and “no wonder they had to sell two discs as one,” cried the critics. Basically, most listeners of “rap” just weren’t feeling it.
Upon first listen, “The Love Below” (Andre’s disc) sounded like a Bjork album being played in reverse accompanied by Andre’s awkward vocals.
“Speakerboxxx,” on the other hand, sounded like your typical funk-filled OutKast music, only missing one crucial element: Andre.
Natural instinct tells us to resist change, but as connoisseurs of music, do we really want the same old, same old?
As their fame increases, OutKast diverges further and further from the norm, stepping over those “face down in the main stream” and creating music; not producing formula hits. “Stankonia” has been called “genre-bending, 1998’s “Aquemini” was revolutionary (not to mention 5-star material), 1996’s “ATLiens” was a “Kid A”-like experimentation with intergalactic beats and rhymes. Their 1994 debut “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik” was pure Southern fried funk. But what of this latest release? Does it measure up? Is it worth buying?
I say yes to both questions. It’s clear that Dre and Big Boi need one another to complete their formula of fantastic funk, but this new project gave each a chance to explore their true inclinations as artists.
With rhymes like “let’s see ya seatbelt fastened / Trunk rattlin’ / Like two midgets in the backseat wrastlin,” Big Boi describes his half perfectly on “The way you move.” Andre’s half is less a bass-filled declaration of superior rhymes, and more a multifaceted musical self expression.
Influence from the Beatles and Prince are apparent throughout “The Love Below,” an introspective look at the artist formerly known as Andre 3000. His introduction sounds like a resurrection of Sam Cooke and Nat King Cole.
These two rappers would appear exact opposites, which probably accounts for their seamless musical partnership, but the pronounced dichotomy heard on the new album can be a little tough to swallow. For a party, for the club, for a crackin’ good time, “Speakerboxx” does the job. “The Love Below” abandons hip-hop completely and forges new ground in the world of popular music. Together, they’re a great investment and the perfect alternative to rap-gone-pop 2pac imposters.
October 02, 2003