Speakerboxxx / The Love Below

Great album. A must have for the vinyl collector.

-- Outkast - one that has been excluded from society or system. A group of this caliber couldn't have had a better name. Excluded in the sense that NOBODY does music like these Gawjaw boys; and excluded in the sense that society has acclaimed them as one of the few pushing boundaries for Hip Hop music. Big Boi & Andre 3000 are musical legends and they have a knack for finding the groove. Outkast don't just create hip hop music, but they create MUSIC every person can enjoy. They sprinkle every inkling of music into each of their albums i.e. rock, soul, blues, funk, country, classical, hip hop, r&b, techno, breakdancin, gospel, jazz etc. etc. Each album is amazing and neither flat outshines the other; instead they perfectly compliment each other. If you listen to one of the albums you will be compelled to listen to the other. Outkast is definitely one of , if not the, best groups hip hop has ever produced. Not only do they continue to impress their longtime fans, but they somehow find a way to add new fans with each subsequent album. They do it by staying true to themselves and the music, and never following a formula. An Outkast has no boundaries; An Outkast has no home (set style), and they prove it with their albums. Never have you heard an Outkast album that sounds like another Outkast album. Don't go thinking that because the album is split into two parts, that Outkast has lost their chemistry. Big Boi & Andre display their brilliance individually, making one wonder who really was the genius of the group. The answer to that would be both of them. Each has a hand in the other's album rather it be writing the song, a feature, production, or ad-libbing and doing the chorus. It is true that opposites attract. With musical styles so different it's amazing how well they `mesh'. Check `Ghettomusick' on Big Boi's album with its incredible beat (don't even know how to categorize it), then it breaks into some slow Patti Labelle sample, and then Andre comes in rhyming the chorus super fast and it is simply musical heaven. How do they think of stuff like this?!?!?! Or check `Roses' on The Love Below, with the chorus `Roses really smell like Booboo' and Andre singing about wishing some girl would crash into a ditch and die. Then Big Boi comes in and backs up his boy, rapping about the challenges of coping with relationships gone horribly wrong as well as checking the girls who think they are `all that'; then Killer Mike comes in at the end chanting `Crazy B!tch'. Normally, this might sound offensive, but they make it work and will go down as one of the Dungeon's greatest songs. On Speakerboxxx, the gospel tinged, `Church' displays the groups religious side, with an incredible break `Why Are We Here?' and a great chorus, then breaking into an all out church stomp. Talk about catching the holy ghost. Andre talks about falling in love on the great and metaphorical `Dracula's Wedding' featuring Kelis. The first time I thought he was talking about a woman, but now I think he's talking about music and how he's terrified of the potential the music he produces could have. In other words, the rest of the music world should watch out (all speculation of course). And featuring Kelis on the track (who is not known to be conventional and experiments with different type of music as well) just added to the song's aura. `A Life In The Day Of Benjamin Andre' is 6 minutes of Andre going on & on about his life and his career up until now; a great introspective storytelling track. `Bowtie' on Speakerboxx brings back that old Bootsy Collins/George Clinton funk with some southern playalistic type of vibe; Sleepy Brown knocks it out the box. Or the Prince esque `She Lives In My Lap', on The Love Below, which is simply amazing. You might be curious as to why I reviewed this way. Simply put, you can't have one without the other...it just wouldn't sound right. I couldn't imagine only listening to one of the albums, and not have the pleasure of enjoying the other half. I could go on forever talking about how great this album is. This is easily the best album to drop this year...and that says a lot considering how great a year hip hop has been having so far. A complete Masterpiece.

For those of you who have heard this album but are unfamiliar with Outkast's earlier works, allow me to give you a quick summary. They debuted with the remarkable "Southernplayalisticadillacmusik" album in 1994. In 1996 things got even better with their classic album "Atliens" album. That album is undoubtedly their best work and one of the best albums in hip-hop history. Aquemeni came in 1998. Though not as good as Atliens it was still considered to be a hip-hop classic by many. Outkast later tried new innovative sounds in 2000 with Stankonia. If you liked Speakerboxxx/The Love Below then you should go and pick up all these albums too. Now for the review. Speakerboxxx When I first heard Dre and Big Boi were doing solo albums I was a little skeptical. I always loved how well they complemented each other on their other albums but I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out. I bought the album anyway since they're one of my favorite groups. Speakerboxxx starts out with a short intro and then gets into the powerful uptempo beat of "Ghettomusik". The production is great and Big Boi's laid back and mellow flow goes well with the beat. Standout tracks on this album include the radio smash "The Way You Move", "War", "Church", "Tomb of the Boom", "Flip Flop Rock" and "Reset". On "War" Big Boi gets socially conscious. Killer Mike and Jay-Z appear on Flip Flop Rock for a stellar performance. I wouldn't mind seeing a video for this song but I doubt Big Boi will choose it as a single. Tomb of the Boom was a track that surprised me. It features southern rappers Konkrete, Big Gipp, and Ludacris. Except for a few, most southern rappers don't appeal to me. However, Big Boi and all three of his guests rip this song. It's great. The only problem with this cd is a few of the skits and the song "Last Call" with Lil' Jon. The hook is annoying and so is Lil' Jon's voice. It's the only one I have to skip all the time. Love Below As you may all know by now, Andre put away the rhyme book this time around and decided to sing instead. I hear that he's bored with rap right now and I can't blame him for that, the way rap music is today. Andre produced all tracks on his disc and the only guest appearances are from Kelis on "Dracula's Wedding" and Norah Jones on "Take Off Your Cool". By now the whole world has heard the hit single "Hey Ya" so I won't bother explaining that one. My favorite tracks on this disc were "Prototype", "She's Alive", and "Spread". The production on the album is great and even though Andre isn't a premier vocalist, it doesn't seem to matter here. He makes up for it with nice choruses and with the piano and organ notes he uses in many of the songs. I just can't stop listening to this album. All in all, if you're bored with the poor state hip-hop is in right now then pick this album up. It's something refreshing and innovative in this industry of bling, ice, hoes, and guns. Even if you're not a hip-hop fan, this album will draw you in. Big Boi's disc will expose you to innovative hip-hop, though Andre's disc will probably appeal to non hip-hop fans more. Since both discs were so good, it's hard for me to say which is better, you be the judge. My advice, BUY IT!!

Good listen and Dance music

Amazing album

I resisted getting this CD for a long time because I found the prospect of a two CD set too daunting. Most single CDs now are too long with not enough quality material. (I wish the music industry understood that just because you can get 80 minutes of music on a CD doesn't mean all that time needs to be used up - maybe that would help their sagging sales). A lot of CDs would be hugely improved if they included the best 10-12 songs and kept the running time to around 50 minutes. So I was very pleasantly surprised to find that this double CD is highly entertaining and includes almost no filler. There's still an overwhelming amount of material here but it works if you treat this sprawling work as two separate CDs. Which, in fact they are: one by Andre and the other by Big Boi. These two CDs are stylistically very different so you don't lose anything by treating them as separate works. No question, Andre's is the more inventive of the two. But Big Boi's is a heck of a lot of fun. These guys have pulled off a small miracle by coming up with over two and a half hours of highly enjoyable urban music in one release. Had they trimmed this to one CD and only kept the cream, no doubt this would have been a five star release.

This is a really great vinyl. I personally only buy vinyls of albums if I like every song or most songs. This album, every song brings the heat🔥🔥🔥, on Big Boi and Andre’s part. The sound quality of this vinyl is great for a standard size room. To make it louder like if you want the sound to spread through the house/host a party or hear the bass better you should get an amplifier. The vinyl came in neatly. The case was sealed. Each disc has its own paper sleeve. All 4 discs had no scratches or dust/debree on them. Get this album before it’s gone! I promise you will not be disappointed! This was worth every penny!😊

Best CD Ever 💿

Buen estado, pero el lado C y el lado D era el mismo lado ósea el lado C era el lado C mientras que el lado que debiera ser el lado D era el mismo que el C Literalmente dos lados iguales C

Les deux styles de ce CD sont parfaits pour mes différents types d'humeur ! La seule question est : quelle est l'humeur du jour ? ;-)

Schönes Album

Disco necessário pra quem curte rap e R&B.

Perfetto.Grazie