By DEVON SHERIDAN
STAFF WRITER
Most music lovers lament the existence of at least one skeleton hiding in their CD, vinyl or digital music collection closet. Typically, these musical hiccups are leftovers from our adolescence, a time of blissful ignorance. The beautiful thing is that, usually, out of the sound and the fury of those nascent musical years, an album or two inevitably emerges that you ubiquitously call “your own first album.” It is the album that you thought was cool to like then and is still cool to like now. Either it is the first album you bought yourself out of your own financial investment, or it is the album that your older sister or brother showed you back then, for your friends to discover years later.
The announcement earlier this month that OutKast would reunite to perform at a number of festivals this year, including New York City’s Governors Ball, struck a nerve with me, as OutKast’s 2004 album Speakerboxx/The Love Below was the first I ever “truly owned.” The Speakerboxx side, belonging to one-half of the Atlanta-based duo, Big Boi, is a more Southern roots rap vibe, while The Love Below half, belonging to Andre 3000, is more playful and stylistic. My love for this double album is a fact I proudly boast.
Of course, enthusiastically lauding OutKast is no novel sentiment. This is the album on which two of the most energetic, musical and permeating rap songs of the 2000s, “Roses” and “Hey Ya,” appear. When I was in fifth grade and “Roses” came out at as the first single of the The Love Below side, everyone was immediately on board; my parents liked the song just as much as my 10-year-old classmates. For the first time in my life, however, an album that I love now makes me feel old.
Like all works of art subjected to the test of time, Speakerboxx/The Love Below could easily grow stale after a decade of seismic shifts in music, especially rap. Some of the songs on the album certainly do not hold up well. For instance, nine of the 21 songs on the album are interludes and skits, a terrible byproduct of early 2000s rap. Also, Andre 3000 and Big Boi’s outfits have always been outlandish. The weird thing is that, unlike Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears’ denim disaster style, OutKast’s style is still pretty cool in retrospect.
The hidden jams are numerous on Speakerboxx/The Love Below. Jay Z fans will appreciate “Flip Flop Rock,” a rare collaboration between Hov and Big Boi. “Bowtie” is a song that, put simply, should be more prevalent at parties. On The Love Below, side both “Take Off Your Cool,” featuring Norah Jones, and “Spread” are nostalgic souvenirs of the strange sexuality in hip-hop and R&B in the early 2000s.
It’s wonderful that OutKast is back together, even if it’s just for a few shows. The fact that they’re giving us at least one more chance to experience some of the most original and fun music of the 21st century is happy enough news for me.
