A well-known modern pop music fact: everything the OutKast men touch turns to gold.
A well-known modern pop music fact: everything the OutKast men touch turns to gold. Responsible for the first half of the Atlanta duo’s 2003 magnum opus Speakerboxx/The Love Below (with CD2 accordingly being Andre 3000’s finest hour), Antwan Andre Patton, aka Big Boi, follows up what was essentially his first solo album with an absolute stunner – even by his own high creative standards.
Not once buckling under the weight of its lengthy title, Sir Lucious Left Foot Son Of Chico Dusty is meant to simultaneously tickle the fancy of pop, hip hop and rock fans alike – and suffice to say, it’s a killer from start to finish. The production, as with all Big Boi/Outkast-related releases, is out of this world; the crisp beats augmented by dense, throbbing bass, funky guitars and deliciously bleepy synths.
Long acknowledged as one of the most mellifluous US rappers, Big Boi maintains his smooth flow throughout, hitting the pinnacle on the record’s first single and smash hit Shutterbugg (which is already shaping up as THE hip hop track of 2010). The stellar guest appearances also come thick: Turns Me On features the familiar lugubrious vocals of Sleepy Brown (as heard on Speakerboxx‘s shimmering The Way You Move), Vonnegutt sings Follow Us‘ anthemic chorus, Janelle Monae returns the favour to Big Boi for his Tightrope cameo on the similarly-infectious Be Still and funk legend George Clinton narrates the intro to Fo Yo Sorrows.
Even though he declares it at the end, the man hardly needs a Back Up Plan and no one should really be surprised when Sir Lucious starts popping up in the year’s best albums’ lists. Pure class.
