GauthamCity

In case you missed it, Outkast's Bombs Over Baghdad was named the top track of the decade by Pitchfork. Obviously I approve of the choice, since it's probably one of my three favorite Outkast tracks, along with "Git Up, Git Out" and "Da Art of Storytellin".

Once upon a time I used to write about a lot of things aside from just politics, sports and federal IT. I even listened to new music, a thought that's pretty tough to comprehend given my current ignorance of 90% of what's playing on the radio. So when I saw this review I wrote for my college paper six years ago upon the release of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, I couldn't help but smile. (except for the fact we got the title of Andre's album wrong. How did that get by the editors??)

One of the worries I had about becoming a professional journalist, especially a business journalist, was having to suppress my voice in my writing in order to appear more objective and professional. It has been a process. When I was still blogging regularly, I had a frequent outlet where I could just be myself. Nowadays that outlet would probably be Twitter, except that I'm constantly aware that at least half of the people reading my feed are either people I know through work or people I may need to impress at some point in the future. So as much as I may want to tweet something hilarious, I usually limit myself to fairly mundane links and observations.

With that in mind, it's refreshing to read the review, in which I was clearly not worried about much besides expressing how much I loved Outkast:

The Love Down Below is Andre 3000 at his most open and unapologetic as he is literally and figuratively naked throughout the disc, much like the women on the cover of every Outkast CD. If this record is him stripped to the core, then his essence is focused on one thing: booty. On "Happy Valentine's Day," he delivers a monologue over the infectious beat for two-thirds of the track before bursting into rhyme with: "Got a sweet lil' darling off in my corner/ Below I know I want her but act like, I don't want her/ Surrounded by the lovely but yet feel like a loner/ Could be an organ donor the way I give up my heart." The next track, "Spread" finds him continuing, "I've got an eye out for she who cries out passionately/ We'll do things backwardly, forwardly, horizontally/ I'm too young to be settling down, quick to change my mind/ So now can I borrow your timid torso." The beats sample from every corner of the musical atlas, but if there is one failing in The Love, it's that too often Andre is content to croon in his falsetto instead of putting his formidable lyrical skill to work. The first single "She Lives In My Lap" is one of my least favorite songs, but next track "Hey Ya," more than makes up for it, with an effusive background that can't help but move feet when it comes on.

Finished several months prior to The Love Down Below, Speakerboxxx is more of a hip-hop album, but by no means conventional. The opening track, "Ghetto Musick" moves at a breakneck pace, and Big Boi maintains that momentum through "The Way You Move," a combination of rapid-fire rhymes and a smooth chorus that has been the first single to hit radio. "The Rooster" follows the break-up of a relationship, the minor key emphasizing the downbeat nature of the lyrics, but complementing the jazz trumpet in the background. The album has a few more questionable tracks, such as the collaboration with Jay-Z and Killer Mike titled "Hip Hop Rock," but on the whole flows well and lives up to Big Boi's legacy as the soulful thug star of 1996's Aquemini. [link]

While I definitely hint at the possibility of an extended hiatus, in hindsight I should have probably seen it coming. At the time Andre was just branching out into the movie business and his clothing line Benjamin Bixby, now a hit, was just a twinkle in his eye. Unlike most fans I didn't begrudge Andre his decision to avoid touring for a few years; no less than Ghostface himself admitted at a recent show that he just doesn't feel like writing much anymore. But I would by lying if I didn't admit that the absence of Outkast for the past six years has had a lot to do with my diminishing interest in new music in general.

So the news that Andre and Big Boi are both releasing solo albums this fall on top of a new, new Kast album in the coming months is almost too much to hope for. My expectations are so wildly out of control that I'm worried the album can't help but disappoint. Nevertheless, you can be sure that when all three of them drop, you can check here for the first take.