Taylor's Choice:
Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
Since their fifth release and double-album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, OutKast, the southern Hip-hop duo of Antwan "Big Boi" Patton and Andre "3000" Benjamin, has been something of a split force. However, this divisiveness gave the two rappers the opportunity to explore their creativity separately and to further discover themselves as artists. Although it can be argued that the two parts of the aforementioned double album were in fact their debut solo efforts, both are coming to a point to release their first official solo albums respectively. Big Boi's is the first one up, and after years and years label disputes and whatnot, Sir Lucious Leftfoot is finally here. And it's better than I could've imagined.
Big Boi uses this debut as an opportunity to show off his explosively creative musical mind, drawing from both retro and modern-day influences (that's not Auto-tune you're hearing on "Shutterbug," its a talk box - yeah, that talk box). Make no mistake, this album is firmly rooted in the mainstream Hip-hop sound; however, rather than using the cliched and dull-natured tools that rappers like Lil Wayne uses, Big Boi uses his mainstream position as a challenge to invent rather than stay the course, which is just what OutKast is known for. The tracks here are unusual and full of tricks and treats, and even the songs that stroll through the waters of modern rap are done in a way that distinguish themselves from any other artist's work. Big Boi is a fantastic rapper; his delivery is incredibly versatile and constantly changing from song to song, and his lyrics are thoughtful and sharp; even during moments when he's saying stuff that many have before, he says it in such a way that no other rapper could, using double entendres, puns, and various other tools of the english language that few rappers have the audacity, or even talent, to use. The music backing his rapping is fresh and exuberant, and while it is a mainstream sound, Big Boi is more sonically creative than your average MC. And his guest list is as dizzying as it is fitting; I'm not exactly a fan of Gucci Mane, but his spot on "Shine Blockas" (arguably the album's best track) is perfectly fitted for the song, and his quick, molasses-dripping lines finely contrast Big Boi's smooth, darting delivery. This is a rap album for the ages, and perfectly shows that while the mainstream may be dry, it nevertheless has its diamonds in the rough. Now all we need is Andre...
Big Boi uses this debut as an opportunity to show off his explosively creative musical mind, drawing from both retro and modern-day influences (that's not Auto-tune you're hearing on "Shutterbug," its a talk box - yeah, that talk box). Make no mistake, this album is firmly rooted in the mainstream Hip-hop sound; however, rather than using the cliched and dull-natured tools that rappers like Lil Wayne uses, Big Boi uses his mainstream position as a challenge to invent rather than stay the course, which is just what OutKast is known for. The tracks here are unusual and full of tricks and treats, and even the songs that stroll through the waters of modern rap are done in a way that distinguish themselves from any other artist's work. Big Boi is a fantastic rapper; his delivery is incredibly versatile and constantly changing from song to song, and his lyrics are thoughtful and sharp; even during moments when he's saying stuff that many have before, he says it in such a way that no other rapper could, using double entendres, puns, and various other tools of the english language that few rappers have the audacity, or even talent, to use. The music backing his rapping is fresh and exuberant, and while it is a mainstream sound, Big Boi is more sonically creative than your average MC. And his guest list is as dizzying as it is fitting; I'm not exactly a fan of Gucci Mane, but his spot on "Shine Blockas" (arguably the album's best track) is perfectly fitted for the song, and his quick, molasses-dripping lines finely contrast Big Boi's smooth, darting delivery. This is a rap album for the ages, and perfectly shows that while the mainstream may be dry, it nevertheless has its diamonds in the rough. Now all we need is Andre...
Hipster Rating:
9.1
Friend Review:
So it’s 12:20 a.m. the morning before I leave for orientation at A&M and I’m watching this really weird movie on Netflix. Ladies and gentlemen, can you imagine a better time to write a music review?
So before listening to “Sir Lucious Left Foot”, the closest I’d ever gotten to Big Boi was shaking it like a Polaroid picture in middle school. And even then, he wasn’t involved with “Hey Ya!” at all, as far as I know. This just goes to show that I was venturing out into uncharted waters with this dude. The first thing I have to say is, if you’re going to make an album, spell check is your friend. Heck, if you’re going to make anything, spell check is your friend. I’m of course referring to the fact that “Luscious” is misspelled on the cover of this album. I’ve been informed that this is because Big Boi pronounces “Luscious” as “Looshus”. Big Boi, this is no excuse. Get your spelling together. Your 7th grade English teacher is disappointed. I don’t even mind that Big Boi is spelled with an i, rather than a y, but the “Luscious” matter has got to be stopped. So, on to the stuff that really matters: the music. Overall, I was very pleased with the sound of the album. I listened to it while running and it had good flow. “General Patton” was one of the best tracks I’ve heard all year, full of energy and I felt like I could’ve run for miles while listening to it. While this album did sound good overall to me, it was not short of some major flaws. The lyrics become very bland throughout the album as one of the common topics is drugs. Alongside this there is a lengthy dialogue between Big Boi and a female which gets boring very quickly is absolutely unnecessary to the rest of the album. These two things just sounded like major clichés which resulted in a much lower rating than the album could’ve had. Big Boi is capable of producing a much better sounding album, he just needs to stick to his sound and fall away from everything that is overused and typical.
So before listening to “Sir Lucious Left Foot”, the closest I’d ever gotten to Big Boi was shaking it like a Polaroid picture in middle school. And even then, he wasn’t involved with “Hey Ya!” at all, as far as I know. This just goes to show that I was venturing out into uncharted waters with this dude. The first thing I have to say is, if you’re going to make an album, spell check is your friend. Heck, if you’re going to make anything, spell check is your friend. I’m of course referring to the fact that “Luscious” is misspelled on the cover of this album. I’ve been informed that this is because Big Boi pronounces “Luscious” as “Looshus”. Big Boi, this is no excuse. Get your spelling together. Your 7th grade English teacher is disappointed. I don’t even mind that Big Boi is spelled with an i, rather than a y, but the “Luscious” matter has got to be stopped. So, on to the stuff that really matters: the music. Overall, I was very pleased with the sound of the album. I listened to it while running and it had good flow. “General Patton” was one of the best tracks I’ve heard all year, full of energy and I felt like I could’ve run for miles while listening to it. While this album did sound good overall to me, it was not short of some major flaws. The lyrics become very bland throughout the album as one of the common topics is drugs. Alongside this there is a lengthy dialogue between Big Boi and a female which gets boring very quickly is absolutely unnecessary to the rest of the album. These two things just sounded like major clichés which resulted in a much lower rating than the album could’ve had. Big Boi is capable of producing a much better sounding album, he just needs to stick to his sound and fall away from everything that is overused and typical.
Friend Rating:
8.2
Coming up next, Jenna Fischer and Pam Beesley!
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