Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below - Appeared in Portfolio Oct 2003
Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below [Arista; 2003]
This review probably comes to you a bit late if you’re a fan of hip-hop, but if you’ve been under a rock and haven’t heard, the new Outkast double album is good with a capital G-izzle. Their 4th full-length release since their 1994 debut album (Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik) proves that Atlanta’s Big Boi and Dre 3000 are, without a doubt, a super-duo.
The big buzz about this album (or should I say albums?) surrounds the fact that Big Boi and Dre give us what really are two separate releases sold and packaged together as one. Many have said that the separate releases are signifying a deeper separation between the two artists. Are they splitting up or it just a gimmick? We’ll have to wait and see, but it’s obvious that the artistic split is profound. The two records are as different as Suge Knight and Doris Day.
More mainstream hip-hop fans will like “Ghetto Musick,” Big Boi’s current single from his CD, Speakerboxxx. They’ll keep this one in heavy rotation in their CD caddies for sure. Andre’s The Love Below is more funk than true hip-hop, and his brand of hip-hop is more Pharcyde than 50 cent. And as you might expect from the man that gave us “Mrs. Jackson,” the current single “Hey Ya” is groovalicious. Up beat and poppy, it’s hardly recognizable as a hip-hop song. In my opinion, it’s so good that it’s worth the $17 or so you’ll pay for the whole thing.