OutKast Speakerbox/The love below

greeny

I have this album and I think it is so much fun, I am not realy a fan of rap or hiphop (but i think Entroducing is a masterpeice).

Andre 3000 seems to have a good sense of humor and songs like "Caroline" on Love Below are great in a childish sort of way.

SpeakerBox is a littl more like a proper hiphop album but it seems a little more inteligent than the gangsta rap type ramblings of Dre etc.

I dont know if this is for you or not but I like it.

Simon

Listened to The Love Below today, found it a bit messy and unconnected. Too many tracks, Too much D'n'B versions of the Sound of Music / Show Tunes.

Not up to the standard set by Hey Ya.

I will try Speakerboxxxx in the next few days.

DS

ITC - Psychic Warriors of Gaia - Exit 23 remixes

I purchased the double album at the weekend and are very impressed.

Anyone out there tried Black Eyed Peas ?

They have a simalar ring to Outkast.

Paul.

I bought the Outkast double for my wife the other day and am impressed by both of these.

In fact the two albums are so different in style it would be hard to tell they were from the same source!

The Love Below reminds me a lot, in many ways, of Prince, before his downward spiral post Sing of the Times (IMHO!). It's a pretty funky album in places. Has anyone else noticed the similarities in style?

Speakerboxxxx is more of a conventionally styled hip-hop album; but still with a more obvious intelligence and wit than is the norm in my experience.

I must confess to being pleasantly surprised by both of these, they're both quite a bit outside of my 'normal' listening material.

Andy.

Andy.

have you heard the three albums I mention above, if so what do you think of them, and how does OutKast compare.

PS - I think early Prince is superb

I also think Prince is superb! IMO, Dre's "2001" is much better than "The Chronic". I saw Andre 3000 perform on the Grammys, and was very impressed. I think he has talent, and am considering getting the set. I get a steady diet of Rap and Hip-Hop here at home, because that's mostly what my kids listen to - I can't avoid it! That being said, the genre has grown on me - it's really an expression of where youth culture is today. Besides Dre, I also like 50 Cent, Tupac, Eminem, Sean Paul, and The Notorious B.I.G. (especially "Big Poppa"!).

Paul,

As I said, this is a bit 'out of the norm' for me, it may even be the only album I have in this style, I'm not sure (sometimes CD's don't grab me straight away and take me some time to re-discover after they've languished on the shelf a bit! I can't really comment on the others you mentioned therefore.

Certainly little else has made me go and buy an album, if that tells you anything.

Certainly agree with Peter though, Andre 3000 has some talent, without a doubt.

Andy

Andrew,

The Prince analogy vs. The Love Below is very apt. I thought of Prince when listening as well

The latest issue of Sound on Sound magazine has an article on the making of the album by thier engineer John Frye.

DS

ITC - Dillinja / Lemon D - Killa-Hurtz

Prince? Isn't he a born again christian going door to door preaching the gospel these days?


Mitch

I've done some more listening to the Outkast album, as well as "Skankonia", and I am really impressed. On "The Love Below", I really like "Love Hater", "Hey Ya", and "She Lives in My Lap". On "Skankonia", I love "So Fresh So Clean", as well as "Ms. Jackson", and "Slum Beautiful". This is some seriouly good stuff. If you have any interest in Hip-Hop, check out both of these albums!

I echo the Prince comments, and also feel that there's a wild barely-keeping-it-sane Fishbone feel in a lot of places.

What I like is that it has that soul groove thang, something lacking in my hip-hop diet.