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Outkast
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Arista
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Take a moment to picture this. In the decade since starting their eccentric journey to beyond the limits of what hip hop could produce, Antwan “Big Boi” Patterson and Andre “Dre 3000” Benjamin have seemed inseparable, equally crucial parts to the production of one unified sound. But somehow here they are, on a double CD set essentially splitting the dynamic duo down the center, delivering a reinvention of hip hop. As you may have heard already, OutKasts two members- Big Boi and Andre 3000- take a CD a piece.
Track listing:
Disc 1:
01 The Love Below (Intro)
02 Love Hater
03 God (Interlude)
04 Happy Valentine's Day
05 Spread
06 Where Are My Panties?
07 Prototype
08 She Lives in My Lap
09 Hey Ya!
10 Roses
11 Good Day, Good Sir
12 Behold a Lady
13 Pink & Blue
14 Love in War
15 She's Alive
16 Dracula's Wedding
17 Take Off Your Cool (with Norah Jones)
18 Vibrate
19 A Life in the Day of Benjamin Andre (Incomplete)
20 [Untitled Hidden Track]
Disc 2:
01 Intro
02 Ghetto Musick
03 Unhappy
04 Bowtie
05 The Way You Move
06 The Rooster
07 Bust (with Killer Mike)
08 War
09 Church
10 Bamboo (Interlude)
11 Tomb of the Boom (with Ludacris)
12 E-Mac (Interlude)
13 Knowing
14 Flip Flop Rock (with Killer Mike)
15 Interlude
16 Reset
17 D-Boi (Interlude)
18 Last Call (with Slimm Calhoun)
19 Bowtie (Postlude)
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You have to write in over-simplifications if you want to discuss this exceptional record in a short amount of time. Speakerboxxx/ the Love Below is OutKast's fifth album. Two CD's packed with 39 songs producing 137 minutes of unique music that asserts the their differences but in a way that makes the album explode with a harmonious balance. The moods expressed waver between the so-called free spirit hippie, Dre, who styles himself as “cupid Valentino”, and Big Boi, the thuggish strip bar aficionado who calls his company “ Boom Boom Room Production”, and considers himself to be a rap traditionalist.
While listening to the CD's I am inclined to enjoy ‘The love below’ better. Dre to me is the more interesting and thought provoking of the duo. Upon listening I find his album filled with idealism, self-indulgence and sometimes lyrics that are taken the extreme. For instance on ‘Roses’ Dre coos on a duet with Big Boi, stating that “roses really smell like poo poo.” A message that love is not all is seems to be which is an issue addressed often in this album. Take ‘Hey Ya’ for instance, with the lyrics stating “nothing else lasts forever, so what makes love the exception.” ‘The love below’ is almost adverse to the idea of amore and theme here is one of unapologetic lust.
Speakerboxxx proves nothing is quite so straightforward. Big Boi seems to gear lyrics toward a level dealing with politics and personal views. Whatever the idea, Speakerboxxx is Big Bois attempt to make hip-hop encompass more than it already does. Like other OutKast records, they are about movement, over time and through space. The shear speed and simultaneity sometimes makes it hard to keep up. With the breathtakingly adventurous, heart-pounding music contained in both discs, this will make you feel like jumping in your car, hitting the open road, and pushing the pedal to the metal.
Splitting their creativity apart has revealed that each has their own capability of doing anything in the world of music they decide. Their records sound very different, but simultaneously both prove to be an enjoyable music experience. The combination of the two could be described as an explosion of creativity and uniqueness that people will be exploring, analyzing, and jamming to years down the road.
-Christine Beals 11/21/03
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