brilliantbrown

So I got the new Outkast album early, Idlewild and I’ve been listening to it on repeat for about a week now. It’s more of a companion album to the movie, than a pure soundtrack. Like all Outkast albums, it’s stylistically all over the place. But how is it?

praises & high points

Keeping in tune with the time period of the movie, some of the songs have a bit of a ragtime feel to them. To my ears, these are the standout songs of the album. I’ve had a long-standing love of swing, big band and ragtime music. So when I heard the guitars and horns on such danceable songs as PJ & Rooster and Idlewild Blue, I couldn’t help but get happy.

But, again, this isn’t a soundtrack to the film of the same name. Less than half of the 25 tracks follow the psp theme. Most of the tracks are contemporary hip-hop and funny interludes.

Standout songs such as the Mighty “O”, which sounds like the Outkast anthem, and N2U, which I’ve been singing since I heard it a week ago, will get heads nodding and toes tapping. Make no mistake, Idlewild is the album you’ll hear bumping out of stereos for the next month or so… at least in ATL.

In addition to the danceable tracks, there are introspective songs such as The Train, which is one of the best cuts on the album. But the lines are blurred, these are songs that make you think AND make you tap your toe. With only one exception, mentioned later, every song on this album was genuinely entertaining, yet offered a little something for those who chose to look beneath the surface for meaning.

There was a lot of complaining about how Andre did practically no rapping on the last album. Those waiting around to hear the return of the verse spitting Andre will be happy to hear that Andre does rap a lot more on this album and that he’s still a good damn rapper. Though, he has just as many singing and experimental tracks as rapping ones, so don’t expect this to be a return to Player’s Ball. Outkast doesn’t move backwards…

But Outkast has in many ways outgrown the title of “southern rappers”. They have a universal appeal that people around the world can relate to and, specifically, they talk about things that all black people should be able to appreciate.

For example, in the song Hollywood Divorce, Outkast (along with Lil Wayne and Snoop Dogg) talks about the mainstream’s history of appropriating aspects of black culture to get rich without repaying those who originated the ideas and styles. Andre advises young rappers and entertainers in his verse to:

promise that you gon’ stack/
promise that you gon’ ball/
make sure you put away/
three-fourths of it all/
For what?/
so you kid’s kid’s kid’s can have some cheese

This doesn’t just apply to those in entertainment and the subject matter of the song. This is advice that could and probably should be taken by most young people.

criticisms

Like every Outkast album since ATLiens, there are going to be fans of the group who will be upset about the groups departure from purist rapping. Those people will sadly be left behind, again on this album. I said earlier that Big and Dre have a universal appeal, but there’s no such thing as “everyone likes you all the time.”

Songs that I love, such a Makes No Sense at All or Chronometrophobia, are not going to appeal to traditionalist hip-hop fans and will probably draw much criticism.

Even I don’t like every track. For example, I’ve never actually made it to the end of A Bad Note, the last track on the album. It’s just a little to draggy and meandering for me to pay attention to until the end. The fact that it’s almost nine minutes long doesn’t help.

so are they breaking up or what?

I’m probably not the most objective reviewer in this case, as I’ve been a long time Outkast fan. I go all the way back to Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. In fact, the only Outkast album I didn’t buy was Big Boi and Dre Present… Outkast that came out in 2001, and that’s because I already had most of the songs on other albums. There is one thing that can be consistently said about the music of Outkast, and that is that it grows and changes with every album. Some people grow with Big and Dre, some grow away and some new fans are picked up along the way.

It’s even been speculated that Big Boi and Andre have been growing away from each other over time. Their last album being two solo albums packaged together only added fuel to this fire of doubt and speculation. Idlewild could have been the album to stamp all of that out. Instead we get (not counting interludes and intros) six track with only Big Boi, eight tracks with only Andre and only three where they appear together (The Mighty “O”, PJ & Rooster and Hollywood Divorce). What gives?

Outkast is like Voltron

Andre and Big Boi are like Voltron, where other rap groups/duos are more like Power Rangers. Give me a second to explain. If you’ve ever watched both shows you’ll notice that the Power Rangers (aside from being a Voltron knockoff) are all but useless when separated. It’s only when they come together that they can beat the baddies. Voltron’s lions, on the other hand, kicked ass as individual units and kicked even more ass when they combined into a giant robot. Outkast is like Voltron.

They’ve figured out how to be individuals without breaking up and how to be a group without being joined at the hip. When Big and Dre do solo tracks on this new album, they can stand alone and they can develop as individuals. When they come together, they create what I believe is the best in southern hip-hop… nay, the best in all of hip-hop.

conclusion

Idlewild is a really good album. There’s a little something for almost everyone who loves hip-hop. The only real criticism that I have is that this album won’t really appeal to narrow-minded listeners who don’t want hip-hop to grow beyond their self-imposed limits. That’s not really a bad thing.

This is an album that will not bore you with more of the same sounds over and over again. Every track is distinct from the others. So if you have broad tastes and are a fan of hip-hop, you’ll probably like this album. It’s definitely worth the buy.

8.5 of 10 stars