Words by Jake Henneman//Illustration by Shannon Palmer
Anybody who says they wouldn’t want to hang out with the Outkast, AKA Big Boi and Andre 3000, is telling a soulless lie. These guys could make an evening of Scrabble seem absolutely thrilling. The lasting image I have of Dre in my mind was at the 2004 Grammys where he was decked out in green garb that made Liberace and James Brown look like they were dressed in habits, and somehow he pulled it off. Big Boi has a style that makes pimps drop to their knees and beg to be enlightened. There have been few performers that encompass their body, soul, and style like the musical odd couple that is Outkast. Heads turn, and ears perk up whenever that misspelled word is uttered. So, what does an artist do when they’ve achieved street cred, critical cred, and a mantle full of awards? The answer is, as it has always been for Outkast: Go bigger.

“Speakerboxx/The Love Below” was an undeniable behemoth. It made the whole music world take notice of the Atlanta duo. Now that they have our undivided attention, they figured they might as well take advantage of it. Enter “Idlewild,” a musical film set in the Depression starring the duo, and the accompanying soundtrack (although this is as much a proper sixth album for them as it is a soundtrack). On their last effort they embraced their creative juices, separately dividing the workload exactly one side apiece. Here we have the return to the creative meshing of the two forces onto the same disc. The dual personality complex has been Outkast’s forte since its inception and it is no different here. The two personalities may be vastly different, but are both striving toward the same goal: making great music. I don’t envy those who had to pick the singles from this album because there are easily a dozen songs on “Idlewild” that could supplant much of the music currently polluting our airwaves.

As always, the guests that join the ride are numerous and effective. “Hollywood Divorce” features rhyming by both Dre and Big Boi, as well as Lil’ Wayne and Snoop Dogg. It’s an easy choice for single with its flow matched by that undeniable southern tinged synth drive and themes of the pitfalls of showbiz. Dre’s single “Idlewild Blues” encompasses fully what they were trying to portray with the film. Its bluesy guitar and jailhouse harmonica riffs of the Depression era belittle today’s electric evolution. Then there’s “Morris Brown” with its big band horns and boisterous marching band percussion, featuring contributions from Big Boi’s Purple Ribbon lablemate “Sleepy” Brown, who is present on a handful of the total 25 tracks. At nearly the full allotment of 80 minutes, the second half teeters on the brink of being longwinded, but it is held up in the end because of the overflow of creativity, as well as the crisp production, that cannot be brushed off.

Some criticize Outkast for their lack of consistency. These criticisms are not unfounded. The two do sometimes seem like the ying to the others yang. Stylistically the album is somewhat inconsistent, but there is one striking consistency throughout that overrides all the genre hopping and two-facedness, and that is that the songs are all consistently good. The first half of the album is immaculate. It combines out-of-leftfield instrumental schemes with danceable grooves and colorful flourishes that could only be conceived by these two men with more aliases than a maximum security prison. Andre 3000 is like the lost stepchild of Parliament Funkadelic, and here he shows his versatility, breezing through genres and even creating his own “Maggot Brain” in the nearly nine minute album closer “A Bad Note” (if only he had Eddie Hazel…).

With all the ideas packed into this album, it is a wonder it is able to remain intact from all the forces exploding from it. Outkast continue to surf through the sky like a Technicolor comet, blazing brighter than the starry background. “Idlewild” is unique, innovative not only in Outkast’s discography, but the whole spectrum. It is more of what we expect from them, but enough of the inventiveness that makes us come back for more. To ask again, how does one follow up a gigantic life-changing project? The answer is easy: create another one.