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:::Music Review:::
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Outkast
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
by William Ashanti Hobbs
author and co-owner of Meroen Press
October 2003
Let it be heard: Outkast is one of the groups keeping
rap's tired, materialistic vitals from flat-lining.
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is a double disc offering
that individually showcases the talents of both Big
Boi and Andre 3000's individual states of artistic
growing pains and exploration.
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Rumors have abounded of
the duo possibly breaking up. Speakerboxxx/The Love
Below is achieved without smacking of the weak
marketing other rappers use when they swear they're
breaking up or closing shop after this one, then come
back with the same kind of stuff next year (kinda like
these furniture stores in town).
Speakerboxxx may appeal most heavily to the brothers.
It begins with a fat, 808 bass rolling intro that is a
perfect marriage between the military snare cadences
of FAMU's marching 100 and trunk-rattling, Miami bass.
"Ghettomusick" takes up the Miami crunktivity and adds
a change of pace with a sentimental, ol' school break
of Patti Labelle's "Love Need and Want You."
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Its
break-neck tempo changes are guaranteed to pull the
disco diva out of that overly-neat male cousin you
always had doubts about and cancel the benefits of
Ritalin in any ADD kid. "Reset" is a grown man's rap
song, with the same atmosphere and pensive mood as the
ATLiens CD. Here Ceelo and Khujo Goodie back up Big
Boi in discussing the need for us all to regroup
instead of give up when obstacles present themselves.
Big Boi's maturity sometimes in theme and the
sensibilities of his music is slowly creeping into
appealing to the forty-somethings and up who are even
more intolerable of the stale state of hip hop than I
am. "Church" is an example, where the song actually
ends in a brief gospel double-time jamboree. "Bowtie"
as a fun-loving romp for that great uncle still
wearing Member's Only jackets and armed with Viagara.
The little skit where Big Boi has his son in the booth
hollering MF's is not appealing at all; there's too
many kids with no childhood at all on account of hip
hop excess, though he addresses the woes of single
parenting and the inability of contemporary black
couples to stay together in "The Rooster."
Andre 3000's "The Love Below" will draw the females
with a quickness. It is probably what Prince would've
attempted with "The Black Album" if he hadn't
approached it with such a condescending attitude
towards hip hop. Dre's "She Lives in My Lap" is the
new "Ballad of Dorothy Parker." Needless to say, "The
Love Below" easily goes down as the most courageous
hip hop effort of the decade. Andre leaves himself
emotionally vulnerable in songs like "Love & War" and
"Prototype." This is virtually unheard of in a genre
of music that is crippled with fear of being seen as
weak in any light. The instrumentality and strings
employed in "Love Hater" makes such candidness seem
organic. In fact, he pushes the envelope of what hip
hop can be the way Wyclef's solo joints did. The
techno-tinged arrangements and mantra-like lyrical
pattern in "Vibrate" is a spiritual sister to Big
Boi's "Reset."
The disc is supposedly based off of a relationship
with a woman. As with relationships, everything
definitely isn't high notes and "Roses" ;Andre brings
Big Boi in on the track to tell off a hoochie
convinced that her meal ticket's strictly how fine she
is. Affirmation-starved sistahs need not get their
Hanes her ways in a bunch: Andre immediately follows
with "Behold a Lady", as if to direct the same hoochie
in "Roses" to the laid back, classy sistahs "standin'
on the wall", you know the kind that don't blow the
whole weekend chasin' the cars of visiting rap stars
or pro ball players. 3000 comes close to makin' anyone
listening remember the feel of pajamas that cover the
feet and the smell of Mama's hair from her hugs in the
winsome "She's Alive." The jazz flavor in "The Love
Below" intro is does not come off as lazy shortcuts to
depth and style. Acoustic guitars are aplenty as well
in cuts like "Take Off Your Cool." Brothers will be
skipping that song when out with the fellas, saving it
instead for a ride alone or somewhere with their lady.
There is no need to wonder: Outkast has dropped
another classic that's too good to be just downloaded.
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