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Album Details

• Artist: Outkast
• Album: Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
• Label: Arista
• Year of Release: 2003
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2003-12-04

I don't think Big Boi or Andre 3000 could have even guessed at the success they would see in their 10 year existence. Obviously, starting at ground level, people started paying attention to the duo a few years back with their Stankonia release hitting all the charts. Now, Outkast have pretty much outdone themselves with a double album that actually works. This is their formula for their success on this album. Big Boi has taken the first CD, calling it Speakerboxxx and Andre 3000 takes on the second disc, calling that one The Love Below. With each of them off doing their own thing, they brought back fresh ideas. And although it took me the minimum 110 minutes to get through the entire set, I found myself bopping along with pretty much every track.
Speakerboxxx kicks in right away with an past Outkast styled intro. Big Boi takes no time to get right into things with "GhettoMusick", kicking on all speakers. The single that is climbing the charts right now is "The Way You Move" with Sleepy Brown guesting. It's a smoother styled track but it still has the strong Outkast drum track. Speakerboxxx sticks to a little more tried and true form. And for Outkast, that still means cutting edge, pushing hip-hop in a new direction.
The Love Below starts off with a smoky jazz intro and melds into a crazy guitar track just before another jazzy ditty hits your ears ("Love Hater"). Then the first actual hip hop track kicks in around "Happy Valentine's Day". On "Spread", Andre uses the Prince styled high-pitched vocals. Complete with the ping pong style drum track, it is one of the more interesting tracks on Love Below. "Prototype" promises to be a smooth jam from beginning to end. "Hey Ya!", one of the singles released, is a fun track with a guitar based rhythm driving us through the track, reminding more of a Byrds style 60s pop than hip hop. One track that is crazy cool is the standard "My Favorite Things" with a drum track kicking out as fast as possible and a piano keeping speed. Norah Jones takes the spotlight on "Take Off Your Cool". In the end, Speakerboxxx reigns supreme but I would have to say that I think this collection could have easily been a single album. A few edits here and a few of the skits taken out. It's a solid album still.

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