Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

09/18/2003 5:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Dan Leroy

Even for OutKast, who've given hip-hop a new language of flamboyance and ambition, packaging two solo albums as a nearly 40-track double seems excessive. In practice, though, it was the only avenue left for a restless duo committed to upping the ante with each release, even if this one won't satisfy fans knocked out by the genre-bending perfection of 2000's Stankonia.

The short, superficial take is that dividing Big Boi and Dre provides the former a chance to explore his Southern rap roots, and the latter an opportunity to go buck wild. That's especially true on The Love Below, which finds Dre unleashing his every Princely impulse; the result has the manic brilliance and maddening digressions--from Beatles jangle to continental jazz--of many a Purple platter. Abandoning rhymes for a substandard croon, Dre compensates with guitar-based experiments ("Hey Ya!" and "Roses") with charm and catchiness that can't be denied.

Yet while not as exhilarating (except on the techno-crunk monster "Ghettomusick"), Speakerboxxx mirrors its less-flashy creator and emerges as the more substantial listen. A refinement of OutKast's deep-fried but futuristic funk, its hooks, horns, and bounce make it seem a respectable successor to Stankonia, even though Big Boi's everythug tales sometimes miss Dre's off-the-wall spark. Combining the two discs might have insured an unbeatable follow-up; however, the flawed, fascinating separation reveals what makes this partnership so special.