...and yet another unplanned hiatus

Look, I realize that you two aren't really fond of the blog's extended breaks, but there are occasions when real life interferes with the regular maintenance of the site, and the blog is forced to take a backseat.  I will be back soon, with some more write-ups for albums I'm sure you will find a reason to complain about, so stay tuned, and hopefully this won't take forever.

-Max

My Gut Reaction: DJ Premier & Bumpy Knuckles - StOoDiOtYmE (March 6, 2012)

At some point in 2011, back when I wasn't paying attention, acclaimed producer DJ Premier (still best known for being one-half of Gang Starr alongside the late rapper-slash-producer Guru) and New York-based troubadour James "Freddie Foxxx/Bumpy Knuckles" Campbell announced that they were teaming up to discover a cure for cancer record a collaborative album entitled The Kollexxxion.  This news was well-received in hip hop circles, those whose members were old enough to have possibly fought in the Korean War.  And me, obviously, or else I wouldn't be writing about them.

As happens constantly in any sort of entertainment media, hip hop tends to feast on itself on a regular basis.  Everything on the radio sounds like everything else on the radio: change occurs both gradually and immediately in our chosen genre, often in such a subtle way that hip hop heads can't remember a time when they weren't complaining about all of the goddamn Lil' Wayne features on the airwaves at any given moment.  DJ Premier and Freddie Foxxx (who really prefers to be known just as Bumpy Knuckles, please and thank you) are relics of an earlier time, one where skills behind the mic were respected, and if you happened to live the life that you preached on your records, that was a plus.  Bumpy's aggressive lyricism, articulately violent and yet kind of fucking hilarious at times, won the man a slew of fans when he made his comeback on Gang Starr's hyper-popular single "The Militia", one of the first times he connected with Primo, and he rode this new wave of popularity through his first album under the Bumpy persona, Industry Shakedown, which (surprise!) featured a couple of DJ Premier beats.  (Sure, Pete Rock helped a bit, too, but he hasn't recorded a collaborative album with Freddie Foxxx yet.)

When they finally got around to the studio, Primo and Bumpy knocked out a ton of tracks for The Kollexxxion, so many that most of them were inevitably locked in the vaults, never to be heard from until someone needed to pay a gas bill or something.  But the subjects of today's post did something admirable: they compiled a short EP with five tracks that didn't make the project, calling it StOoDiOtYmE, its ridiculously-styled title hiding the fact that it's essentially an audio infomercial for The Kollexxxion.  It's extremely rare for everything an artist records to actually appear on an official album: I would personally enjoy it if more rappers unleashed their outtakes for the fans.  

If they were worth listening to, anyway.

1.  STOODIOTYME

At first, Primo's instrumental sounds pleasant but unaffecting, but I urge you to hang in there, because once Fredward Foxxx starts spitting, everything becomes much more dramatic and your senses will somehow heighten as a result.  The beat for this title track isn't what I would call "banging", but it is much better than most of DJ Premier's output in 2011, and Bumpy's flow, although not nearly as aggressive as I would have hoped, fits the track's identity as the metaphorical calm before the storm.  As a rap song, this was entertaining enough, but as a rap album intro, it's excellent.

2.  FAKE

At three minutes and ten seconds, "Fake" is the longest song on StOoDiOtYmE, and I have to admit, Primo's cloying beat makes the song feel like twice that length easily.  But Bumpy Knuckles comes through to save the day with his argument against fake rappers (this is a guy who recorded "R.N.S.", which stood for "Real N---a Shit", after all: what, you thought he would suddenly tolerate bullshit?), delivered in the calm cadence of a sociopath version of Jay-Z, except for when he sings, hilariously, during the brief hook.  While I'm glad "Fake" didn't make it to the official album, I'm also happy to report that Freddie Foxxx doesn't treat it as the throwaway that it should have been.

3.  THAT PREEMO SHIT

Bumpy's love letter to his producer and the boom bap sound that has defined his work in our chosen genre for the past eighty-three years takes place over a surprisingly mellow Primo instrumental: you would think that DJ Premier would have run with something far more celebratory, or at least a beat with some goddamn energy.  Lethargy aside, Bumpy lends some nice bars shouting out the man behind the boards (and the late Guru) and also apologizes to his fans for never releasing his album Amerikkan Black Man, which was awfully nice of him.  The chorus sounds dull and forced: perhaps if the music were a bit more wide-eyed and bushy-tailed there wouldn't have been a need for one.

4.  TAKEIT2THETOP

This track, however, was pretty good, even with the faux-positivity expressed in the bizarrely-mangled song title (which actually reads with every other letter in a capital form, as "TaKeIt2tHeToP").  Primo's beat sounds like it was lifted from a late-period Gang Starr outtake, and Bumpy flows over it like water, newly matured water who doesn't feel the need to speak with his guns and his fists anymore.  If this song is representative of what The Kollexxxion sounds like, then we may all be in for a pleasant treat (and yes, I realize The Kollexxxion is already in stores: I was speaking more in terms of the eventual Gut Reaction post, which I've just promised and now, apparently, must adhere to at some point).  Not bad.

5.  INSPIRED BY FIRE

Bumpy ends StOoDiOtYmE with a song for the kids, as this one-hitter quitter contains no curse words and is one hundred percent-inspirational shit.  Fredward's been in the game long enough to have amassed the life experience needed to demand that you take his advice fucking seriously, and the fact that Primo's backing mirrors some of the best work he's done outside of Gang Starr (read: his beat is catchy as hell) only helps sell the entire package.  A nice way to cap the evening.

THE LAST WORD:  As an extended commercial for The Kollexxxion (one that can be listened to in its entirety during your morning coffee break), StOoDiOtYmE is actually pretty entertaining.  DJ Premier's boom bap may have received first billing, but the true draw here lies with the artist formerly known as Freddie Foxxx, who burns through these five tracks without breaking a sweat.  He's most certainly aged, far beyond what made him most appealing from his classic cameo on "The Militia", but everyone gets older, and the fact that he still sounds decent is a testament to how much he respects his craft.  This EP is little more than a cheap diversion, one seemingly specifically designed to appeal to my short attention span, but while Primo's beats don't always hit the mark, Bumpy Knuckles more than makes up for it.  Also, the EP is cheap as hell, and it's fucking short.  For little to no investment on your part, DJ Premier and Bumpy Knuckles have supplied some entertaining bites of hip hop cuisine.  Yeah, I thought that metaphor sucked too, but I did like most of this EP, one that is worth your time if you're into the whole New York boom bap thing.

-Max

RELATED POSTS:

Freddie Foxxx/Bumpy Knuckles - Industry Shakedown

Soundtrack Soundcheck: OutKast

I promise that this will be my last post about OutKast for a long while.  In case you couldn't tell from my multiple mentions of it throughout 2012, I'm taking this "finish what I started" theme seriously.  Should Andre 3000 and Big Boi see fit to reconnect for the length of an actual album, I'll cover that just like normal, but until then, I'm using the Atlanta duo as guinea pigs for a feature I'm testing called "Soundtrack Soundcheck", which is not a review of a hip hop-based soundtrack (although I'm still open to those), but instead an exploration of the exclusive songs an artist or group contributed to a film's accompanying soundtrack instead of saving it for themselves.

OutKast have amassed a surprising number of soundtrack exclusives throughout their career, "surprising" only because the duo have only released six actual albums (and, for the record, I don't count Idlewild as a soundtrack, I just look at it as a bad album), which would make it seem as though they should save everything they ever recorded for their own shit.  Their biggest hits could easily be loaned out to music supervisors to set the stage for whatever the fuck they're trying to accomplish: "B.O.B." appears, albeit in a censored form that removes the actual long-form title of the song from the chorus, in the Chris Rock/Bernie Mac (RIP) comedy Head Of State.  But the fact that Andre 3000 and Big Boi gave up original material for use in Hollywood, some of which wasn't even earmarked for hip hop soundtracks, is impressive.  

The fact that some of the songs are excellent is just cake.

What follows is a list of all of the soundtrack-exclusive songs I was able to locate from OutKast.  I inevitably missed some, but so be it: that's what the comments section is for.  Feel free to compile the following songs into an album of your own: I'm sure the guys won't mind.  And let me know what you actually think of the concept: this being hip hop and all, I'm sure I could pull together a few more of these.

PHOBIA (FEAT. BIG RUBE)

FROM: Higher Learning

Big Rube's outstanding introductory monologue successfully sets up the unnerving feel of OutKast's "Phobia", one of the duo's earliest non-album tracks and easily one of their most underrated.  Dre and Big Boi use Organized Noize's unsettling instrumental, which is light years beyond anything they crafted for Southernplayalisticadillacmusik, to add three more verses into their canon, none of which directly address phobias all that much but manage to pick at a fear or two you may experience.  Big Boi's overlong and wordy chorus is also fairly threatening, as he proclaims himself to be "black and educated" but not above robbing you if necessary.  As Fredro Starr from Onyx once shouted, "I'm America's nightmare / Young, black, and just don't give a fuck."  You get the feeling that Dre and Big Boi do give a fuck, but that doesn't mean that you should take "Phobia" any less seriously.  

BENZ OR BEAMER

FROM: New Jersey Drive

This song is in my top five of best OutKast songs ever.  I'm not joking.  It was released shortly after their debut, Southernplayalisticadillacmusik, which is probably why the Organized Noize beat more closely reflects that project's vision instead of, say, that of ATLiens.  And that beat fucking bangs, by the way.  Big Boi and Dre alternate verses while discussing their lifestyle, occasionally dipping into actual talk about cars, or, more specifically, stealing them (my favorite Andre 3000 line, among many on here, describes how he's "moving the steering wheel side to side like a slalom", although "While you sitting by the seashore thinking about some seashells" makes me laugh).  "Benz Or Beamer" isn't a grand gesture or an attempt at being more abstract than it really is, but it's awesome, it holds up extremely well today, and it proves that OutKast were at the top of their game even way back when.

LAND OF A MILLION DRUMS (FEAT. KILLER MIKE & SLEEPY BROWN)

FROM: Scooby-Doo

A goofy track with a decent Earthtone III (Dre, Big Boi, and Mr. DJ) instrumental and not nearly enough Andre 3000 (he factors in mainly during the hook).  Big Boi's verse is hilarious, as he slowly succumbs to the pressure of product placement, dropping bits and pieces into his bars before simply giving up at the end and repeating the name "Scooby-Doo" a bunch of times.  Killer Mike Bigga is a bit more engaged, at least with the show, referencing the miniseries The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo and tailoring his rhymes for the kids (the kids who understood that Shaggy was high as a goddamn kite most of the time, anyway).  And Sleepy Brown's crooning at the end was a nice touch, especially with all of that "meddling kids" stuff.  I'm kind of surprised that nobody ever rewound Big Boi's verse back in 2002, though: it would seem that an overreaching hip hop audience would read into "We fathers with seeds of our own / Talkin' about sons and daughters, boy / Not roots and clones" as an obvious potshot aimed at the Roots Crew (and one of their more popular tracks, "Clones").  Oh well.

IN DUE TIME (FEAT. CEE-LO)

FROM: Soul Food

This song was pretty dull today, although to be fair, I don't remember it ever being all that interesting to begin with.  Big Boi and 3 Stacks undermine the overall positive message of the track with their boasts and general shit-talking, which was censored for the niche audience who would have actually watched Soul Food (a pretty decent flick, by the way) for the music, over a bland self-produced beat, and Cee-Lo Green is wasted on the hook.  You two can walk right past this track with a feeling somewhat approximating relief.

FRESH AND CLEAN (REMIX) (FEAT. SNOOP DOGG & SLEEPY BROWN)

FROM: Bones

This unnecessary remix not only sucks all the fun out of the original version of "So Fresh, So Clean", it even retroactively makes that earlier effort (from Stankonia) sound worse.  I have no clue why this shit appears on the soundtrack (I'm sorry, "houndtrack") to Snoop Dogg's horror movie Bones, but to be fair, it was released as a single before the soundtrack was ever a gleam in its creator's nut sack, and it sucked then, too.  Andre and Big Boi sound bored and uncomfortable, respectively, over their own noisy instrumental, and Sleepy Brown's vocals are buried underneath this sea of mediocrity.  Hell, the only guy that comes across as relatively decent is Snoop himself.  Hey, I just figured out why this song was included on the Bones soundtrack!

TOUGH GUY (FEAT. UGK & SLEEPY BROWN)

FROM: Shaft

This overlong experiment, which is ultimately more interesting than it is entertaining, features Big Boi and Andre 3000 rhyming alongside both halves of the Underground Kingz in the most aggressive manner possible.  Antwan especially seems upset, since he repeatedly becomes flustered throughout his angry-as-fuck verse, trying to cram waaaay too many words into each bar, although if he was going for an aural metaphor for the confusion one feels in their mind when they've just been disrespected, I may have been more impressed.  My point is that Big Boi's flow is off, and I mean that in a bad way.  Andre sounds okay, but the real winners of this race are both Bun B and Pimp C (RIP), who are both posted up in their respective wheelhouses.  The beat never fully takes flight (although I enjoyed the disembodied vocal crooning in the background), and Sleepy's hook seems to smirk at the audience.  Sigh.

FUNKANELLA (FEAT. KILLER MIKE, SLIMM CALHOUN, & DJ CLUE)

FROM: Backstage

DJ Clue formatted the soundtrack to Backstage (a documentary produced by Roc-A-Fella Records released to theaters in 2000 by Dimension) to sound like another one of his mixtapes full of exclusives, which explains both its inclusion on this list and all of the multiple shout-outs to the man himself.  Andre 3000 and Big Boi contribute verses, but they use "Funkanella" as a sly way to promote their artists Killer Mike (who was still considered to be a part of the Dungeon Family back then) and Slimm Calhoun, both of whom are so enamored with the idea of performing for a mainstream audience that they pay no attention to the fact that the Earthtone III beat is fucking awful.  Clue's insistent interruptions, par for the course on one of his projects, were also frustrating as always.  Next!

SOLE SUNDAY (FEAT. GOODIE MOB)

FROM: Any Given Sunday

Somehow "Sole Sunday" was credited as an OutKast and Goodie Mob track even though the only participants are Andre 3000, Big Gipp, and Khujo Goodie.  It's probably best that everyone else sat on the bench, though, since the end result was kind of meh.  All of the verses sounded alright (and they even occasionally reference football, which is appropriate, given the flick this song was a part of), but Dre's chorus doesn't fit the rest of the proceedings, and Mr. DJ's instrumental screams for a much darker song than the one it's currently hitched up to.

HIGH SCHOOLIN' (FEAT. SLIMM CUTTA CALHOUN)

FROM: Light It Up

This lost relic from OutKast's back catalog (which appeared on the soundtrack to a film nobody fucking remembers, although it featured R&B singer Usher's first lead acting role) is the result of cross-breeding "Chonkyfire" with "Speedballin'" (more on that one in a bit) that mostly connects, save for the wordy chorus.  Andre, Big Boi, and Slimm all donate generously to the cause, and the pulsating instrumental gets the blood pumping.  All of the references to school notwithstanding (hell, it's called "High Schoolin'" for fuck's sake), I would consider this to be a lost gem worth hunting down.  Yep.

SPEEDBALLIN' (FEAT. CEE-LO & JOI)

FROM: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

I've written about this song in the past (during my write-up for Stankonia), but what I said before still stands: "Speedballin'" is the enjoyable ADHD-addled cousin to "B.O.B." and will appeal most to those of you two who are sick and tired of hearing that earlier track.  The Earthtone III epileptic seizure of a beat won't appeal to all audiences, but Andre, Big Boi, and even guest crooner Cee-Lo throw their all into their respective roles, the end result being more of an ecstasy-fueled jam session than an actual coherent song, but I still loved it: I would place it in my OutKast top ten easily.  Worth tracking down if you want to hear something a bit different.

EVERLASTING

FROM: Nothing To Lose

When the soundtrack for Nothing To Lose, a forgettable Martin Lawrence/Tim Robbins vehicle, hit store shelves, I dismissed "Everlasting" as an ATLiens reject (mainly because of the timing of the release).  As such, I hadn't really paid it any mind until now.  Which was a mistake on my part, because "Everlasting" is half-brilliant: Andre 3000's one-and-a-half verses sound pretty goddamn great.  Antwan comes across as decent, but is blown out of the water by his partner-in-rhyme over a throwaway beat that nobody will care about.  But 3 Stacks was a nice surprise.

NECK UV DA WOODZ (FEAT. MYSTIKAL)

FROM: The Wood

Regardless of what the producers for the soundtrack of The Wood want you to believe, "Neck Uv Da Woodz" is a Mystikal song that just so happens to feature Dre and Big Boi.  Mystikal's flow is something that I can usually look past, but I found his schtick especially annoying on here, as he seems incapable of staying on beat even if you took all of his toys away, so it's a good thing that every other component of the track (including the hyper Earthtone III beat) works so goddamn well.  Maybe the duo should have kept this one for themselves, huh?

I'm including the following tracks in today's post even though they technically aren't OutKast songs.

GANGSTA PARTNA (COOL BREEZE & BIG BOI)

FROM: Hoodlum

This is really Dungeon Family affiliate Cool Breeze's song, but I'm throwing it in because it features an early-period Big Boi solo verse that shows just how little his flow has changed throughout the last decade-and-a-half (which is meant as a compliment).  And also to prove that there was more to the Hoodlum soundtrack than the Big Noyd- and Rakim-assisted Mobb Deep title track (and, speaking of which, what a weird week for Mobb Deep, right?).  The hook is essentially tone-deaf, but Antwan and Cool Breeze glide over the dramatic Organized Noize production with the ease of professional ice dancers.  Not bad for a song nobody really remembers.

I CAN'T WAIT (SLEEPY BROWN & OUTKAST)

From: Barbershop 2: Back In Business

You two probably know this as a Sleepy Brown solo track featuring OutKast, but when it was originally released (not even on the Barbershop 2: Back In Business soundtrack; I mean from before, for an unreleased Sleepy Brown solo album that eventually morphed into his Mr. Brown), it was marketed as a track from both Sleepy and Outkast, probably because Andre's voice is the first you hear.  I know a lot of people in Blogland dig this song, but I've always found it to be fairly dull, and the passing years haven't been kind: the instrumental seems afraid to commit to any sort of feeling.  Is the song supposed to be uplifting?  Unnerving?  Impatient?  Who the fuck knows?  All I can say is that I couldn't wait for the song to end.  An easy pun, yes, but accurate.

-Max

OutKast - Idlewild (August 22, 2006)

Idlewild is an album that I was not looking forward to reviewing.  My reasons why tend to depend on what day of the week it is.  It's the sixth and final OutKast album to date: I didn't realize this until I looked up the release date for the post's title, but it's been nearly six fucking years since Big Boi and Andre 3000 officially functioned as a group.  It also doubles as the official soundtrack for the film Idlewild, which served as OutKast's official entry into Hollywood, although only five of the songs on this overstuffed effort play any role in the actual movie.  I remember being disappointed when I first picked up Idlewild because the majority of the songs on here are solo tracks performed by either Big Boi or Andre: it always seemed like a poorly-executed mash-up of both halves from their last effort, Speakerboxxx / The Love Below, so that's probably the main reason why I avoided this one as long as possible.

And, of course, because I remember it sucking.

Idlewild was the first OutKast album I remember not liking very much, so it quickly earned a spot in the bottom of one of my bins collecting dust while I struggles to sort out the pieces.  3 Stacks and Daddy Fat Sax had to have worked together on the film of the same name (an R-rated musical that combined hip hop elements with jazz during the Depression, and based on that description alone, you can guess how much money it made), so it was a reasonable expectation to believe that they would work on the soundtrack together.  Especially since, as noted above, Idlewild isn't really a soundtrack: it follows the general storyline of the flick (at least, as far as I know: I've never actually seen the movie, as it was in and out of theaters seemingly within days and there are far too many other choices on DVD and Blu-Ray that pique my curiosity), but it should be looked at as an actual OutKast album, which makes my original gut reaction that much more depressing. 

But, as you can probably figure out, they didn't work on the "soundtrack" together: Idlewild the movie had been in the works for several years, so the former duo (although there has been no official breakup, there may as well have been) were as committed to the project as their contracts would demand them to be.  Idlewild the album, by contrast, sounds like it was recorded in the span of three days in two separate studios, which may not be that far off, since most of the guest stars came from within the Dungeon Family (if they even still exist under that moniker at this point) or, in the case of "alternative songstress" Janelle Monae (because she can't just be referred to as a "singer" in the media, right?), from Big Boi's own stable of artists.  The musical direction lacked clarity: the beats came from the likes of Andre 3000, Big Boi, and Organized Noize, among a few others, but I didn't remember any of them sounding cohesive.  Although a few critics, who were predisposed to enjoy Idlewild because of the artists involved, gave favorable reviews, the album was the first from OutKast to generate negative buzz, and its platinum sales but lack of response from those who actually bought the goddamn thing prove that even OutKast's own fans thought little of the actual album.

Or the movie.  I suppose.

1. INTRO

This soundtrack album intro (that phrase doesn't sound natural) features characters who talk about their plans to see Idlewild one the big screen when it opens “this Friday”. This would be considered “meta” if it didn't sound so forced. Much more interesting is the first guy who criticizes rappers who turn to acting, taking roles away from actual working actors: I wish Andre and Big Boi had expanded on that idea a bit, instead of dismissing it entirely by way of the other two characters in the skit, but then we wouldn't have any time for the actual music, I suppose.

2. MIGHTY “O”

This was the first song to leak from Idlewild, which makes sense: its attempt at viewing a hip hop song through a jazzy prism (as illustrated by Andre 3000's “chorus”) attempts to prepare the listener for what to expect during the movie, if not the entire soundtrack-slash-album. 3 Stacks is all over this Organized Noize production, contributing a crazy-long verse that doesn't quite fit the instrumental but still sounds welcome in this day and age, while his partner Big Boi, who seemingly steps in to perform his verse from out of the ether before disappearing just as mysteriously, sounds less than engaged with the whole process. Because “Mighty 'O'” isn't that great of a song, you see. Nor is it even any good. But it is interesting to hear both of these guys rhyming together again.

3. PEACHES (FEAT. SLEEPY BROWN & SCAR)

Daddy Fat Sax scores the first solo song of the evening with “Peaches”, a boring trifle that can't decide what it wants to be when it grows up, which may cause most critics to refer to it as “complex” when, in reality, it should be classified as “Big Boi can't stick to a theme”. The Organized Noize instrumental isn't captivating in the least fucking bit, Sleepy Brown's vocals are entirely wasted, and, worst of all, the vocal samples laid in after the first verse sound amateurish and oddly schizophrenic, which just goes back to the whole “Big Boi is indecisive” theory. This shit could not end quickly enough.

4. IDLEWILD BLUE (DON'T CHU WORRY 'BOUT ME)

Because it's only fair, that's why, Andre 3000's first solo salvo appears immediately after his partner's, but since Andre's head clearly wasn't in rap while Idlewild was recorded-slash-filmed (my understanding is that “Mighty 'O'” was actually an older, previously-unreleased track that was tarted up as a whore and trotted out to promote the movie), this allegedly bluesy track fits more The Love Below's aesthetic than, say, Stankonia. 3 Stacks does a good enough job with the vocals (his singing voice has never been one of my concerns), but this track contrasts so sharply with “Peaches” that, not only does it disrupt the flow of Idlewild, it also makes it difficult to prove that Big Boi and Andre 3000 were ever friends to begin with.

5. INFATUATION (INTERLUDE)

…

6. N2U (FEAT. KHUJO GOODIE)

This song was ass. That's all I got.

7. MORRIS BROWN (FEAT. SCAR & SLEEPY BROWN)

Wait, Big Boi scored two solo tracks in a row? What the fuck? At least the marching band sound of Andre's production makes “Morris Brown” light-years ahead of the bullshit sex rap that was “N2U”...right up until the chorus, which drills the “marching band” concept down your throat because you're not quite smart enough to get it on your own. Big Boi's lack of confidence in both the audience and his own song overshadows everything else. Are we absolutely sure that Idlewild isn't just made up of a bunch of shitty OutKast ideas that were originally locked away in the vaults for a reason?

8. CHRONOMENTROPHOBIA

Andre races back to the studio, after having been duped into running in the wrong direction by Big Boi dressed up as the Road Runner, with what is easily the coolest song title on Idlewild (one that, entirely coincidentally, echoes OutKast's earlier “Phobia” from the Higher Learning soundtrack). Dre's instrumental is fairly minimal, as the titular fear of time is represented mainly by a strikingly simplistic drumbeat, and 3 Stacks takes it upon himself to both sing and deliver a rhyme, one that's actually quite good. It's too bad that the sung portion of the track was weak at best. Cool titles can only carry you so far, you know.

9. THE TRAIN (FEAT. SLEEPY BROWN & SCAR)

We finally hit an actual good song on Idlewild, thanks to Big Boi's “The Train”, a melodic piece of pop that is more engaging and moving than every fucking thing that came before it. Big Boi's instrumental is engrossing, the guest vocals are soothing and hopeful, and the actual rhymes (provided by Antwan and Scar) sound like they were provided by artists who gave a damn about quality. If this paragraph makes me sound angry that “The Train” actually sounds good, well, that's exactly how I'm feeling right now: you shouldn't have to sit through eight tracks on a motherfucking OutKast album in order to strike gold. This is fucking OutKast we're talking about. They're better than that.

10. LIFE IS LIKE A MUSICAL

Andre's instrumental sounds like something Pharrell Williams would choose if he were still pursuing his solo singing career. Andre's love song is delivered in a vocal style that annoyed the shit out of me, but looking past that for a moment, it's incredibly easy to imagine that the chanting at the end (where Andre repeats the phrase, “Don't let them change us”), aimed at a love interest, could also be read into as a request to Big Boi to not allow the glamour and glitz of Hollywood to change their relationship. Well, it was already on shaky ground during Speakerboxxx / The Love Below anyway, so there's no pinning the blame on Tinseltown, dude.

11. NO BOOTLEG DVDS (INTERLUDE)

This was just another skit that ultimately led nowhere, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the line about the guy having a bootleg “G-rated” cut of Idlewild “just in case you don't want to see 3 (Stacks) take his shirt off” made me laugh out loud.

12. HOLLYWOOD DIVORCE (FEAT. LIL' WAYNE & SNOOP DOGG)

I remember the Interweb going insane when “Hollywood Divorce” leaked, since (a) Andre 3000 is actually rapping, and (b) Lil' Wayne's opening guest verse was supposed to be really good, and I mean “now the critics are actually paying attention to him”-good. Well, here's the truth of the matter: this song is boring as shit. Yes, Andre is actually rapping, and his verse sounds alright, but everyone else is mediocre at best. Weezy wanders off onto so many tangents that you'll want to file a missing persons report on him, and Snoop jumps in at the end as the very definition of the phrase “odd cameo”, but the real loser of this bunch is Big Boi, whose verse sounds so blatantly tacked onto Andre's that it's incredibly obvious that (1) those two didn't work together on the track, and (2) Big Boi wasn't originally supposed to even be a part of it. And the 3 Stacks beat sucked, too. Yeah, I said it.

13. ZORA (INTERLUDE)

…

14. CALL THE LAW (FEAT. JANELLE MONAE)

This is really a Janelle Monae song featuring Big Boi, one that probably would have been labeled as such had Antwan not referred to both himself and his guest as Idlewild characters (even though, to my knowledge, she isn't in the movie). Monae's vocals are good enough to almost salvage the entire track (especially the way she sings about grabbing her gun), but her beat never really changes, and Big Boi sounds like a fucking tool, although, admittedly, that was kind of the point. Still, I wish this song was much better than it was.

15. BAMBOO & CROSS (INTERLUDE)

Can something be both adorable and useless? Yes.

16. BUGGFACE

The backing music from the previous interlude forms the Mr. DJ-produced instrumental for “Buggface”, so I probably should take back what I said about the skit being useless, but I won't, because I'm a dick. Anyway, the hook in here is really fucking awful, but Big Boi's effortless two verses over the catchy, funky beat almost, almost salvage the track. I suppose the brief interlude at the very end, tying back into “Bamboo & Cross”, was supposed to indicate that “Buggface” may have just been the equivalent of a fantasy sequence, but that just makes me like it less.

17. MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL

That song title makes this critique almost too easy.

18. IN YOUR DREAMS (FEAT. KILLER MIKE & JANELLE MONAE)

Organized Noize's instrumental sounds like it should have been much darker, creepier, unnerving, and far more confrontational, but I've long since given up on any of Idlewild making any sense. For what it is, “In Your Dreams” is actually okay, as Big Boi and Killer Mike contribute enthralling-enough verses framed by a chorus whose uplifting sound contrasts nicely with the violent undercurrent, but I couldn't help but feel that this song, I don't know, incomplete?

19. PJ & ROOSTER

“Nobody wanted to dance / When I had a lot of time on my hands / Now I have a lot of hands on my time.” That line, uttered by Andre 3000 in one of his typical moments of clarity, stands out among the rest of the mishmash that is “PJ & Rooster”. This is a 3 Stacks solo song that just so happens to also feature Antwan, and hearing Big Boi wander over to Andre's side of the fence is at once exciting and really fucking awful, if only because, as the rest of this project has proven, Big Boi isn't exactly the kind of rapper who can sound good over just any beat. 3 Stacks sounded just fine, though that's not really a reason for me to recommend this to anyone.

20. MUTRON ANGEL (FEAT. WHILD PEACH)

An interesting enough, if out of place, diversion, one where guest star (and producer) Whild Peach takes over the proceedings, leaving background singer Andre 3000 enough time to stick his household with necessities, since hip hop recluses hardly ever leave their homes. Most of you two won't feel this one at all, since neither of our hosts really plays much of a part, but for what it was, it could have been worse: at least her vocals weren't bad. Still, they really could have just given Janelle Monae another solo showcase. Sigh.

21. GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (FEAT. MACY GRAY)

3 Stacks sure is dominating the back half of Idlewild, isn't he? For this track, he resurrects the bloated corpse of Macy Gray, which I'm pretty sure nobody actually requested, for some pure bullshit that fails to entertain: in fact, it's possible that Andre 3000 was actively trying to piss everybody off at this point. Macy Gray lost me the moment she purposely mispronounced the word “circus”, which sounded so fucking retarded that it wouldn't have mattered if the track featured an uncredited cameo from all of my favorite artists, I still would have hated this shit. Hated.

22. YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL (INTERLUDE)

Contains actual dialogue from Idlewild, which makes me feel bad for Andre 3000 and Paula Patton, who were contractually obligated to recite it.

23. WHEN I LOOK IN YOUR EYES

A simple, charming Andre 3000 solo shot that won't offend anybody's senses. Sorry, but that's all I have the energy for.

24. DYIN' TO LIVE

Depressing as fuck, but serves the film's story well enough, I guess. At least it's short?

25. A BAD NOTE

Unlike this song, a mostly instrumental effort that also serves as a rap album outro, meandering just long enough to remind me of the non-Black Thought suites of The Roots's “Water”. The music itself (from Andre 3000 Johnny Vulture's mind to your ears) is compelling, dark, and fascinating, but the vocals at the end fucks everything up royally.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Idlewild makes me sad. OutKast's legacy in our chosen genre can only be as good as their last project, and Idlewild is no way to treat any of the fans that have followed you since day one. Big Boi and Andre 3000 have obviously moved beyond what they originally set out to do, which is fine; Speakerboxxx / The Love Below proved that both men could succeed in hip hop on their own (the results varied, sure, but the best songs on both halves of that double album were as good as the classics in OutKast's back catalog, if not better). But Idlewild is a aural representation of a rap duo who had previously imploded, with 3 Stacks breaking out of his restraints while Big Boi no longer struggling to keep the ship afloat because he just doesn't give a fuck anymore. The fact that the majority of Idlewild is performed by either Antwan or Andre but not both speaks volumes: neither man feels the need to act as a team player because they're no longer functioning as a team. And the music suffers for it: there isn't a single track on here that would earn a spot on anybody's OutKast iTunes playlist, since neither man sounds fully engaged in what he's doing here in the first place, and the beats all succumb to that passive nature as well. Idlewild is OutKast's contractual obligation, not a cohesive album, and that shit just makes me sad. Everyone involved deserves much better than this, and I'm especially including the listener in that grouping.

BUY OR BURN? Burn this one, preferably as a sacrifice to the supreme being of your choice while praying for an OutKast reunion that can wash away the memories of Idlewild, both the film and this soundtrack.

BEST TRACKS: “The Train”, maybe “In Your Dreams” if I'm feeling generous

-Max

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My Gut Reaction: Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty (July 5, 2010)

In 2006, back when OutKast's Andre "3000" Benjamin was pretty much tired of the actual "rapping" part of hip hop, his partner-in-rhyme Antwan "Big Boi" Patton was at a loss.  Although hardly an innocent bystander, he witnessed Andre's artistic transformation from the sidelines, sticking with what he knew best while his colleague shunned the status quo, a process that began with the OutKast double album-slash-combined solo album experiment Speakerboxxx / The Love Below and carried into their feature film debut Idlewild (and its soundtrack of the same name).

Through all of this, Big Boi pledged to stand by the side of hip hop, having carved himself a comfortable groove into the couch cushion of our chosen genre.  In 2007 he announced his solo debut, the audaciously-titled Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty, and began the recording process.  By the time it was finally on store shelves three years later, the project was a shell of its former self, although the fact that it was ever released at all is thanks to Big Boi's new (and current) label home, Def Jam Records.

The other label in Antwan's life, LaFace Records, was absorbed by Jive Records in yet another corporate restructuring (that happens a lot in the music industry), and the bigwigs at Jive, who were no friends of hip hop (as the Clipse, A Tribe Called Quest, and tons of other rap acts can attest to), tried to force Andre and Big Boi to record another OutKast joint album instead of focusing on their solo careers.  Big Boi wasn't feeling this, and not just because Andre had become a fucking recluse: he felt that it was time for the masses to see what he brought to the table.  Jive eventually relented and allowed Big Boi to sign a solo contract with Def Jam (OutKast as a duo remains signed to Jive), but in the struggle, Antwan lost the ability to include at least four collaborations with Andre 3000 on the project: since Andre was still signed to Jive, they believed that this would be a fair punishment for Big Boi, since he defected and all.  (The strangest part of this story is the fact that the first released single intended for the project, "Royal Flush" (which was a collaboration with both Andre and Raekwon), was even nominated for a Grammy in 2009, even though it has never officially appeared on any album.)

Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty was finally released in the summer of 2010 after numerous false starts and multiple singles being released to radio, none of which ever clicked in my neck of the woods.  (However, the project did drop the same day that I signed up for Sirius XM Satellite Radio, so I heard Hip Hop Nation spinning a couple of Big Boi's tracks, if not all that frequently.)  Videos were shot and ad campaigns were drafted, most of which focused on getting hip hop bloggers on board the Big Boi train.  Big Boi himself even gained favor with Blogland by threatening to leak all of his cutting room floor-collaborations with Andre 3000 that Jive wouldn't sign off on and then doing just that, giving his shit away for free because he believed that the songs deserved to be heard.  I won't be reviewing those leaked tracks (or "Royal Flush") at this time, since I believe that Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty should be looked at in the way that is actually accessible to the listeners.

Besides, back in 2010 when Rex drafted a Reader Review for this album, he already looked at all of those extra tracks.  Check out his write-up if you don't believe me.  

1. FEEL ME (INTRO) (FEAT. SLEEPY BROWN)

A Malay-produced blaxploitation-esque groove tosses in some current vocals to snap you back into a present-day state of mind. (Although Sleepy Brown has a voice that makes you believe that he could have been a successful artist in the 1960s and 1970s, the fact of the matter is that he was not, so reading his very name brings you back into reality at this point.) Big Boi more or less sits this rap album intro out. It wasn't terrible, but it also wasn't essential. In any way.

2. DADDY FAT SAX

This ends up being what the rap album intro should have been, as our host files a formal complaint (complete with a chorus, consisting of scratched-in vocal samples) against the current state of hip hop over a Mr. DJ beat that fails to sound as catchy as most of OutKast's back catalog. Antwan is as nimble with the wordplay as ever, but even though I knew Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty represented his actual solo debut, I still found myself waiting for a second rapper to step in and clash with his flow (in a preferable way, like Andre 3000 always did). This was okay, but it wasn't sticky enough for me to remember it after a few more these tracks.

3. TURNS ME ON (FEAT. SLEEPY BROWN & JOI)

Only in Big Boi's world could describing your woman as having “the bottom of a horse” be considered a compliment that gets you laid. The Organized Noize beat sounds like OutKast-lite, which means that our host and his invited guests (including female vocalist Joi, who pops up in the music industry about as frequently as a certain groundhog) all sound pretty good over this sex rap written with the ladies in mind. I hope this isn't an ongoing trend on Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty, but “Turns Me On” comes across as though it is missing a verse from a certain hip hop recluse who apparently only popped up in 2011 to record verses for Lil' Wayne, Young Jeezy, and Ke$ha. He would have fit this like a glove, too. Regardless, this wasn't bad.

4. FOLLOW US (FEAT. VONNEGUTT & BIG RUBE)

This song, on the other hand, was somehow worse than I had feared. This write-up marks the first time I listened to “Follow Us” in its entirety, and what a fucking mess it is. I don't blame Big Boi, though, as his verses all sound polished. I also don't blame producer Salaam Remi, who normally turns in good beats and did so on here, as well. My lone issue with this track, which dooms the song to outright failure, is the singing from the group Vonnegutt, which sounds so much like emo-pussy bullshit that it actually repels Big Boi's audience. I'm never going to be sure as to what our host was thinking: these guys sound like fucking losers. The nerve of them, ruining Big Boi's second single like that! This has been rendered motherfucking unlistenable. Yeah, I said it. I hope Kurt Vonnegut rises from out of his grave and takes a shit on the forehead of each “singer” in the “group”, stamping a torn-out page from his Slaughterhouse-Five on top of it just for misappropriating his name. (I understand that there is also a version of “Follow Us” that consists entirely of Vonnegutt singing, without a single trace of Big Boi. What the fuck?)

5. SHUTTERBUGG (FEAT. CUTTY)

The actual first single from Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty, which I had believed I had never heard before, but I was sort-of wrong: I just didn't realize that these vocals were the ones used on Girl Talk's album All Day (which is far more interesting than most of what I've written about for the past two years, but I digress). Anyway, Scott Storch's instrumental is catchy, although I could have done without the background noises that reminded me of drunken frogs, and our host glides over it with precision. I understand why it didn't make much of an impact when it first hit radio airwaves (remember, the first time I heard these vocals was on a Girl Talk album, so clearly it never hit the mainstream), but I feel that it's due for some sort of revival.

6. GENERAL PATTON (FEAT. BIG RUBE)

That song title is so fucking obvious that I'm shocked that Antwan hadn't thought to use it before. Over a booming Jbeatzz instrumental that nevertheless sounds like it's missing that extra something to make it sparkle, Big Boi calls for everybody to “get the South['s] dick up out yo' mouth”, advice that a lot of these artists in the game today should probably heed (personally, I'm still surprised that the South's hip hop scene continues to dominate radio playlists today, even after most of the artists that sub-genre produced had run out of ideas). Antwan sounds refreshed and relatively pissed-off, so good for him. Big Rube's narration at the end was entirely unnecessary, but this is basically an OutKast album minus one half of OutKast, so I'll let it slide.

7. TANGERINE (FEAT. T.I. & KHUJO GOODIE)

Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty shifts gears quickly by throwing the listener into a moody, guitar-driven beat that sounds like a late-night drive downtown without purpose, and I mean that as a compliment. Our host tackles the first and third verses, with Clifford handling the hump (Khujo Goodie, unfortunately, only factors in during the chorus), and both artists sound really fucking good, even T.I., who I normally have no real opinion of. (His line about “chasing euphoria”, when he's essentially describing banging a lot of bitches in the back of his car, kind of won me over.) “Tangerine” is also the first song on Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty that doesn't sound like it would accommodate Andre 3000. Well played, Antwan.

8. YOU AIN'T NO DJ (FEAT. YELAWOLF)

Speaking of Andre, “You Ain't No DJ” features his only input on his partner-in-rhyme's debut, in the form of an instrumental that sounds alright at first, but grows more and more annoying with each passing minute. Our host sounds okay: I'd go so far as to say that he comes off as slightly invigorated by the idea of working alongside his boy (although the odds that Andre 3000 and Big Boi were actually in the same room together are pretty slim). But this song is, ultimately, really fucking terrible, thanks to the contribution of Shady Records newbie Yelawolf, who completely destroys any semblance of “meaning” and “relevancy” with a godawful two-verse performance that couldn't stay on beat even if you promised it a treat afterward. Dude sounds like he has no fucking business behind the microphone, which is weird, because that wasn't my major complaint about Yela's Radioactive. What the fuck just happened?

9. HUSTLE BLOOD (FEAT. JAMIE FOXX)

I understand that rappers and R&B singers started working together not just to expand their respective audiences, but to also cross over in a broader, mainstream sense, because why the fuck else would you want someone to sing on the chorus to your thugged-out rap song if you didn't want anyone to ever listen to it? Unfortunately, these crossover attempts have diluted hip hop more than they have lent street cred to R&B, and we're left with this kind of shit, where Horrible Bosses's Jamie Foxx dominates the first minute and fifteen seconds of “Hustle Blood” with his technically-proficient crooning, while Big Boi is forced to adapt his own message for a general audience, neither man making much headway. The only surprise on here came from Lil Jon's beat, which was much more low-key than I was expecting. Still, this blew.

10. BE STILL (FEAT. JANELLE MONAE)

Our host's Southern drawl somehow rhymes “orange” with “boring”, which is commendable in and of itself. Otherwise, this track was vanilla, even with the inclusion of Antwan's acclaimed artist Janelle Monae on the hook. It almost makes me wish that he had given her something better to do, but then I would be forced to listen to “Be Still” again, which I really don't want to do. Royal Flush's production also sounds like nothing I would ever want to hear our host rhyme over again. Moving on...

11. FO YO SORROWS (FEAT. GEORGE CLINTON, TOO $HORT, & SAM CHRIS)

Our host forces us to undertake a funk excursion at gunpoint, but coercion doesn't make it any more enjoyable. Every single ingredient used for “Fo Yo Sorrows” would be put to better use on entirely separate songs. I just couldn't get into this aural mess. Guest rapper Too $hort is wasted in a brief cameo, and the Organized Noize instrumental is experimental when nobody requested it to be, and it really needs to sit down and shut the fuck up already.

12. NIGHT NIGHT (FEAT. B.O.B. & JOI)

For some reason, all of the skits on Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty are getting on my last nerve, more so than their equivalents on OutKast's actual output. Anyway, the only pieces of this song I cared for were our host's rhymes (and his brief interlude before the second verse, where he explains that he just likes to “destroy shit”), which were mostly good. The DJ Speedy beat was weak, though, as were the guest vocalists, including Bobby Ray, who apparently accepted an opportunity to only sing on the hook in order to be that much closer to his dream of actually being Andre 3000 for a day. Next!

13. SHINE BLOCKAS (FEAT. GUCCI MANE)

Even with Gucci Mane's involvement, I'm happy to report that I was not predestined to hate “Shine Blockas”, which is huge for me, I know. Instead, I listened to it all the way through before I decided that I didn't care much for it. DJ Cutmaster Swift's instrumental makes some interesting life choices, but our host sounded bored, and the aforementioned Gucci Mane, holder of one of the worst rap names (and face tattoos) in recent memory, punches in with such a low growl that it was super-easy to pretend that he wasn't even on the track. In short, this shit is over, and I'm never going to listen to it ever again. I know, right?

14. THE TRAIN, PT. 2 (SIR LUSCIOUS LEFT FOOT SAVES THE DAY) (FEAT. SAM CHRIS)

This sequel to a track from the forgotten OutKast album-slash-soundtrack Idlewild (“forgotten” because nobody seems to like it) keeps things moving with a decent Organized Noize beat and an overly wordy hook from Sam Chris that only barely manages to make sense. Big Boi chugs along (no pun intended) admirably, but it's almost as though even he realized that the end of the album was near. The musical interlude at the end wakes the audience up, though, regardless of what our host is actually saying.

15. BACK-UP PLAN

Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty's regular program ends with the energy level much higher than on the previous track, as our host, thankfully, chooses not to recount the plot to that Jennifer Lopez movie of the same name. The beat keeps heads nodding until it stops, which happens around the same time Big Boi throws in the towel, having burned through fourteen tracks (and an intro) that sounded more audacious than most of what the South manages to put on record store shelves. But will any of this stand up to the test of time? The review isn't over yet, jackass.

The deluxe edition of Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty contains the following two bonus tracks.

16. THEME SONG

This piffle evaporated from my mind while the shit was still playing out of my earbuds. Little wonder why it was held back as a bonus track only.

17. SHINE BLOCKAS (REMIX) (FEAT. BUN B, PROJECT PAT, & GUCCI MANE)

Had I not forgotten that this remix existed as a bonus track, I wouldn't have proclaimed that I would never listen to this shit ever again, like I did above. Big Boi still sounds lost within the beat during his third verse (which is the same as it was on the original), but with the inclusion of Bun B and Three 6 Mafia affiliate Project Pat (Gucci Mane is stuck with chorus duty only now), it becomes obvious that our host sounds bland over the beat (also a holdover from the original song) because it was never in his wheelhouse to begin with. Anyway, it doesn't matter, as this shit is finally over.

THE LAST WORD: Although it starts off strong, Big Boi's solo debut Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty begins to sink under the weight of the undue pressure placed upon him as the non-reclusive member of OutKast, and by the time “Shine Blockas” takes the stage, the man has flat-out drowned. I'm not sure where all of the instantaneous blogger love for this project came from: it has its good moments, but a lot of this leaves much to be desired. (The kinda-sorta OutKast reunion “You Ain't No DJ” is rendered a fucking horrific car crash thanks to a talentless performance from guest star Yelawolf, and “Follow Us” is so blatant with its bait-and-switch approach that Big Boi should be brought up on charges for violating federal consumer protection laws.) And even the good moments are merely alright: I can't imagine any of these songs ever finding a place on my OutKast playlist. I'm not going to launch into a discussion about how the songs left on the cutting-room floor could have turned Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty into an instant purchase: the original Reader Review already did that, for one, and I don't even believe that including the likes of “Royal Flush” on here would have even worked: if anything, the mediocrity of the rest of the project would have made “Royal Flush” seem awful by comparison. What we're left with is a Big Boi solo album that shows promise for future endeavors, but isn't good enough by itself to hold up even just one year later. I have no real need to ever listen to this again. Oh well. On to the next one.

-Max

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