Now coming a decade after Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions this album not only arrived as OutKast’s third effort but in a time when the sample-centric mentality was still a mainstay in hip-hop. Sometimes it was interesting,sometimes fun and sometimes it was just a yawn if done in an overly predictable way. One thing a friend pointed out to me,which I should’ve guessed looking at the liner notes was this album was a direct byproduct of an era when bands such as The Roots were really talking hip-hop music into a more instrumental than a sample/scratch oriented context.
What’s unique about this is how the Organized Noize crew who put the music on this album together. Especially towards the end of this album layored jazz/soul/funk songs such as “SpottieOttieDopaliscious”,the late 70’s synth/dance/funk polyrhythmic style of “Da Art Of Storytellin Part 1” and the rhythmically complex “Liberation”,featuring vocals by Cee Lo later of Gnarls Barkley fame all have a sound that could easily make one believe they’re built on samples but they aren’t;the music is 100% organic and very much rooted in the 70’s as well as contemporary and futurist as well.
This makes a lot of sense considering Dre and Big Boi’s state of mind at the time. Both spend most of this album trading rhymes and licks at a lightening pace all regarding the correlation of cultural standards from the more Afrocentric,revolutionary 70’s culture towards the more aggressive and uncertain atmosphere on the 90’s. Tunes such as “West Savannah”,”Hold On Be Strong”,”Return Of The G” and the infamous “Rosa Parks” (apparently with the lady herself taking a certain exception to her name being used) all pull these ideas together.
It blends tales for the nostalgia of this pairs youth with the reality of drugs,romantic abandonment,dysfunction and search for hope that linked both the earlier and modern era together. Sometimes,especially in the case of Big Boi the language used may be somewhat tart for hip-hop’s detractors but if you hear past that to WHAT is being said as opposed to how it’s BEING said there’s an important story told. “Synthesizer”,featuring George Clinton and the closer “Chonkyfire” both bring together both aspects of this album together in a great way.
It’s that somewhat more retro 70’s musical aspect as well as the slower,almost G funk,live instrumental variation on the old Bomb Squad soundscape style up front. This also clues you in to the fact OutKast are more than willing to transend generational barriers with their music:the chorus are beginning to feature the Leroy Sugarfoot Bonner styled drawled vocals from Andre’ that would define albums from Stankonia and the subject matter of their raps have become significantly broader. No two OutKast albums are particularly alike and many are more or less hip-hop oriented than others. This favors a period where they’ve found the middle ground and thankfully for us received a lot of well deserved respect for their efforts.
Originally posted on September 24th,2010
Andresmusictalk 