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40 tracks · 135 min
40 tracks · 135 min
This is Outkast's fifth outing, and the Atlanta duo has split down the middle to make a double album. Speakerboxxx belongs to the apparent player, Big Boi, and The Love Below is the product of the so called (filthy minded) poet, Dre. They help each other out here and there but...you get the general idea. Of the two Speakerboxxx is most clearly the offspring of 2000's masterpiece, Stankonia. The opening track "Ghetto Musick" jumps from hardcore rave to sauna soul without pausing for breath, a curiously addictive juxtaposition. The frantic pace continues from there on in as we jump from electro, to P-funk to swing, via mariachi, techno and whatever else takes Boi's fancy. It's hip hop, but not as we've known it. There's humour, including the seeming ode to casual footwear, "Flip-Flop Rock", and the odd bit of sex; but on the whole it's social and political issues which come to the fore. The difficulties of being a single parent, the horror of war with Iraq and the dangers of organised religion are all here; gunshots and gangsters are notable by their absence. Cutsie, kinky and complex - Dre's half of the deal is an altogether stranger brew. Sex and love are explored from numerous …