OutKast - Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below
List Price:
Our Price: $12.97
You Save: $9.01 (41%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $0.99 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Music CD Cover
Artist: OutKastEdition: Music CD
Format: Explicit Lyrics
CD Release Date: 2003-09-23
Music Label: La Face
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- The Love Below (Intro)
- Love Hater
- God (Interlude)
- Happy Valentine's Day
- Spread
- Where Are My Panties?
- Prototype
- She Lives in My Lap
- Hey Ya!
- Roses
- Good Day, Good Sir
- Behold a Lady
- Pink & Blue
- Love in War
- She's Alive
- Dracula's Wedding
- Vibrate
- Take Off Your Cool (with Norah Jones)
- A Life in the Day of Benjamin Andre (Incomplete)
- [Untitled Hidden Track]
- Intro
- Ghetto Musick
- Unhappy
- Bowtie
- The Way You Move
- The Rooster
- Bust (with Killer Mike)
- War
- Church
- Bamboo (Interlude)
- Tomb of the Boom (with Ludacris)
- E-Mac (Interlude)
- Knowing
- Flip Flop Rock (with Killer Mike)
- Interlude
- Reset
- D-Boi (Interlude)
- Last Call (with Slimm Calhoun)
- Bowtie (Postlude)
Free Music Notes for Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below
Free Music Review: (3.5 stars) Sellout? Maybe. But I like it, whatever it is
Hit: 4 Stars
I think it's safe to say this is one of the most ambitious projects in hip-hop history. It's a double-album, which has done before, but it's essentially two solo albums: Speakerboxx would be Big Boi's, and The Love Below would be Andre's. I'm sure that has been done before as well, but how about this for you: this is The White Album (because it's two solo projects merged into one, as was the Beatles' world-famous double - come on, George and Ringo had five songs between them. It's a John v. Paul thing); Songs in the Key of Life (in that even the lesser songs add to the album's scope and size, and like Songs it sure has scope and size); Sign o' the Times (in that it's uncompromisingly eccentric); and London Calling (in that there are many clean breaks from OutKast and hip-hop tradition here) all rolled into one.
Since this is pretty much two separate solo albums in one, I'm treating this review as a two-in-one deal. I'll start with Big Boi's disc, since it's the first one. Big Boi continues to push the boundaries of rap music, incorporating a jazzy big-band horn section to the fantastic single "Bowtie," using a Patti LaBelle sample in an innovative way rather than just taking it and rapping over it on "GhettoMusick," and incorporating a '70s soul sound and EWF-style backing vocals into the brilliant smash hit "The Way You Move" (featuring Sleepy Brown, who has a pleasant Marvin Gaye-like croon). If this is the future of hip-hop, then you can probably expect to see my interest in the genre skyrocket in the next few years. Then again, with "Ridin'" still getting airplay, maybe it's just false optimism after all. But back to Big Boi, he's proving himself as the second-coolest man in rap today, even succeeding tremendously with mariachi horns with the funky "Rooster" and with horror-movie synthesizers and wah-wahs in the same song on "Bust". Of course, it wouldn't make an ounce of sense to discuss every song on am album this long in anything that resembles depth, but let me just say this: the OutKast-business-as-usual stuff ("War," "Church," with cool synthesizer goodness, "Reset") is roughly as successful as the experimental work. And "Tomb of the Boom" rules. I don't know where they got those synthesizers, but I like them. The interludes are annoying, and I'm not big on either "Knowing" or "The Last Call" (it's got Lil John on it, and he's representative of the type of rap I do not like at all). But they even make the Jay-Z feature "Flip Flop Rock" succeed, and I'm not a Jay-Z fan either. The Big Boi disc is about as good as my favorite OutKast album, ATLiens, and that's saying a lot. And the lyrics are pretty socially conscience mostly, with little of the sex-god posing most rappers do today. That makes me happy.
Now, Andre's disc is just weird. But it's a good type of weird. He's really coming off as Prince for the 21st Century, with his eccentric mix of funk, jazz, old-school R&B, rock, psychedelia, and pretty much everything but rap. It's like he's trying to hack his fan base off and just do his thing, which is another Princely thing to do. His album is a conceptual one about life and love (thus furthering the Songs in the Key of Life comparison), and it's one of those cases where I actually think the interludes are funny, especially "God". It cracks me up! "You're the best, God!" However, despite the abundance of good songs on this album, it's just too long, too sprawling, too stuffed-to-the-cracks to really succeed. It's good, but it cannot compare to even SpeakerBoxxx, let alone its obvious model, the aforementioned Songs in the Key of Life. Dre's lounge-jazz stuff (title track; "Love Hater") is pretty bad, and there are a few too many songs near the end that are definitely weak: "Pink and Blue," "Love in War," "Behold a Lady," "She's Alive," "Dracula's Wedding," his weird instrumental cover of "My Favorite Things" that's based on Trane's version but set to a hip-hop beat, "Take off Your Cool," the unlistenable "Vibrate," and the directionless rap "Life in the Day of Andre 3000". All of these songs in a row give me the feeling that this album will never end. However, some of it's still brilliant: the Paisley Park-esque psychedelia of "Prototype" is gorgeous, melodic genius; "Hey Ya!" is one of the catchiest, most invigorating hit singles of our decade, and the funk-blues-jazz "Roses" might be my favorite OutKast song ever, despite the slightly misogynistic lyrics (at least when taken out of context - in the context of the album and its concept, it sounds like the aftermath of a messy divorce) - the organ hook rules, the chorus is immortal stuff, and I find the part where Dre tries to squeeze as many words into a single phrase as possible funny, "Valentine's Day" is first-rate funk, the intentionally sexually ambiguous "She Lives in My Lap" uses a sped-up vocal (a tribute to Camille, perhaps?) to great effect, "Spread," the closest thing to a standard rap song here, is great. My advice? Just tune out after "Roses" ends, because you won't be missing loads.
Basically, Big Boi's disc is excellent, and Andre's is good but uneven. It's a good album, but it's way too long for its own good. And get it first - OutKast's other four albums are much better.
Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below Poster
At a time when experimentation is taboo in most overground rap, that's all Outkast seem intent on executing. Firstly, this double CD has no cohesive link, other than the fact that it sounds like a pair of solo albums stitched together to demo exactly how Andre's yin works to augment Big Boi's yang. Andre 3000's Love Below disc rates as the more eclectic of the two, given that he's turned in his emcee credentials to become a full-on funk-soul-jazz vocalist who mostly sings about items of love ("Happy Valentine's Day"), carnal lust ("Spread"), and female adoration ("Prototype"). Minus the big band schmaltz of "Love Hater" and cheesy cover jobs ("My Favorite Things"), Andre's disc is sick (meaning great). As is to be expected, the Big Boi disc is less arty, more gangsta and worldly, and features the less-progressive guest raps of ATL crunk purveyors Lil' Jon and The Eastside Boyz ("Last Call") and Jay-Z who rhymes the hook on "Flip Flop Rock". Unlike Big Boi, Andre keeps his collabos to a minimum, once crooning alongside Norah Jones on the cool yet sappy "Take Off Your Cool", and once with Kelis. Boi fulfills his Dungeon Family duty with flying colors by flipping some dirty southern up-tempo raps over electro beats on "GhettoMusick". By the time Cee-Lo sermonizes on "Reset", Speakerboxx and Love Below rate mostly as majestic and inspiring, with the remaining 23 per cent being just plain incredible --Dalton HigginsR&B Music CDs
Music Genres
Top music charts in Greatest Hip Hop Albums 2002-2007
T.I. - T.I. vs T.I.P.Release date: 2007-07-03; Music CD
Best price: $9.29
Price in other shops:
Common - Finding ForeverRelease date: 2007-07-31; Music CD
Best price: $4.95
Price in other shops:
Kanye West - GraduationRelease date: 2007-09-11; Music CD
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Jay-Z - American GangsterRelease date: 2007-11-06; Music CD
Best price: $6.34
Price in other shops:
UGK - Underground KingzRelease date: 2007-08-07; Music CD
Best price: $9.46
Price in other shops:
T.I. - KingRelease date: 2006-03-28; Music CD
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
The Game - Doctor's AdvocateRelease date: 2006-11-14; Music CD
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Ludacris - Release TherapyRelease date: 2006-09-26; Music CD
Best price: $4.89
Price in other shops:
Nas - Hip Hop Is DeadNas; Release date: 2006-12-19; Music CD
Best price: $3.35
Price in other shops:
Snoop Dogg - Tha Blue Carpet TreatmentRelease date: 2006-11-21; Music CD
Best price: $2.50
Price in other shops:
Top Rated Albums
Kanye West - GraduationRelease date: 2007-09-11; Music CD
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn HillRelease date: 1998-08-25; Music CD
Best price: $5.95
Price in other shops:
Kanye West - Late RegistrationRelease date: 2005-08-30; Music CD
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
Kanye West - The College DropoutRelease date: 2004-02-10; Music CD
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops:
OutKast - Big Boi and Dre Present...OutkastRelease date: 2001-12-04; Music CD
Best price: $5.60
Price in other shops:
OutKast - SouthernplayalisticadillacmuzikRelease date: 1994-04-26; Music CD
Best price: $8.58
Price in other shops:
OutKast - ATLiensRelease date: 1996-08-27; Music CD
Best price: $7.48
Price in other shops:
OutKast - AqueminiRelease date: 1998-09-29; Published: 1998; Music CD
Best price: $6.25
Price in other shops:
OutKast - IdlewildRelease date: 2006-08-22; Music CD
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops:
OutKast - StankoniaRelease date: 2000-10-31; Music CD
Best price: $6.76
Price in other shops: