Speakerboxx/Love Below

[Dangerous A 0]

Which section of Outkast's last album did you think was better? I thought the album as a whole was great, but I liked Speakerboxx just a tad better than Love Below.

[Ripper 0]

Its even really. They are so different, its hard to say what is better than the other. Although Draculas Wedding and Take Off your cool almost push Love Below over the edge.

[Skywarp! 0]

"Love Below". That a rap album can be so experimental, forward-thinking, show a rapper who is emotionally vulnerable and not trying to be a thug gangster, and still be a commercial success should be a major lesson to the industry and Andre's peers. It's a road map for the direction rap should move in.

[Guest Dids]

Your response makes me want to cry.

 

I really like Andre's album, but the fact that it's going to elict stupid "that's what rap should be like" responses from people still turns me off.

 

There's nothing wrong with gangsta rap. The problem is that a lot of it is shitty. When done well, it's just as nice as the best song off of TLB.

 

Love Below wins not for subject matter, but because the production is just a step up from that of Speakerboxxx.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

The Love Below isn't even a rap album. Anyway, I voted Speakerboxxx; it's tight, lean and actually the more forward-looking of the two albums. For all the talk of TLB's "weirdness," Andre isn't doing anything that hasn't been done before, he's just doing it very well (though the album is bloated and slightly pretentious). Big Boi's disc is the real innovator.

[Spicy McHaggis 0]

Love Below wins not for subject matter, but because the production is just a step up from that of Speakerboxxx.

Andre singing and playing guitar & piano is just production?

[Guest Dids]

Yes.

[Skywarp! 0]

I don't know. There's too many bad choruses on "Speakerboxxx." That's another reason why I don't like it as much.

[ant_7000 0]

I like them both equally. Love Below won the Grammy thou. I wish Dre 3k goes back to rapping on the regular.

[Nighthawk 0]

Speakerboxxx for me. Yeah, more of an actual hip hop album than the experimental business, which is good too, but yeah, it's been discussed. I agree with that.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Speakerboxxx for me. With the exception of the atrocious "Tomb of the Boom" that slogs up 5 minutes smack in the middle of the album (8 if you count the skit that uses the same blah beat), it's solid all the way through. The Love Below is very good, but doesn't hold up in terms of consistency. That wouldn't be a problem if it really were as far-reaching and experimental as it portends to be, but a lot of its supposed big leaps are really just little hops. Instead of exciting sprawl, a few sections of that disc just degenerate into dull sprawl.

[godthedog 0]

speaking as a non-hiphop fan, i enjoy 'speakerboxxx' a good deal more, mostly for the reasons already stated: more solid and lean. in places, 'the love below' draaaags. sometimes andre lets the tape run long after song stopped going anywhere & after the novelty of the sound has worn thin.

[Jorge Gorgeous 0]

Speaking as a really big Hip-Hop fan, I gotta go with Speakerboxx. Andre is, in my opinion, a better rapper, but thats just what his album is lacking - rap. People tout The Love Below as a revolutionary masterwork but the album certainly isn't revolutionary, and its far from a masterwork. Its like saying Elvis was the first guy to do Rock and Roll. The Love Below has a "Happy Hardcore" version of 'My Favorite Things' from The Sound of Music, a song that contains the words "Poo-Poo" in the chorus and Andre crooning with Norah Jones about "Taking off your cool." The Love Below is certainly different from the norm in rap, but different doesn't mean good. It definitely has some enjoyable tracks in "Behold a Lady," "A Day in the Life of Benjamin Andre" and "Hey Ya" and apparently "Dracula's Wedding" (I hate that track), but I certainly wouldn't call it better than Speakerboxxx. I find something that I like every time I listen to it. It flows well, has some great beats, it was featured in MADDEN, it features some other good rappers (Jay-Z, Killer Mike, etc.) and most importantly, it sounds like Outkast - and THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH SOUNDING LIKE OUTKAST. But thats just my take on it.

[Ripper 0]

I am amazed about how few people actually listen to what Andre is saying on the Love Below though. I heard way to many people say "This isn't rap" and stop listening.

 

Love Below has more of a running theme throughout the album...its about love and relationships. SpeakerBoxx goes different places and is defingately more hip hop.

 

As a hip hop album Speaker Boxx is better. but as music in general, I still say they are about even.

[B. Brian Brunzell 0]

I enjoy the hell out of both albums, but I have to go with The Love Below. Speakerboxx is the more traditional Hip-Hop/OutKast album, but something about The Love Below screams of greatness. From the cool jazz "Love Hater" to the Prince-esque "Roses" to the early 60s pop/soul feel of "Hey Ya!" to the early 80s hip-hop beats of "Behold a Lady" that albums is just ALL OVER THE PLACE, and I love it.

 

Speakerboxx, while not a bad album at all, and like Cool Jew said, there's nothing wrong with sounding like OutKast just doesn't hold up as well for me. It's not a bad album, I just like Dre's more.

[Vyce 0]

Love Below.

 

Why?

 

I FUCKING HATE RAP AND HIP HOP.

 

It's neither of those.

 

It shows how great some of these guys could be if they STOPPED doing the hip hop shit. Andre was channeling Prince there at times. He became a music GOD.

[Ripper 0]

Love Below.

 

Why?

 

I FUCKING HATE RAP AND HIP HOP.

 

It's neither of those.

 

It shows how great some of these guys could be if they STOPPED doing the hip hop shit. Andre was channeling Prince there at times. He became a music GOD.

WHOA~!

 

A negative Vyce post about hip-hop. Get the fuck outta here!

 

 

*gets the fuck outta here*

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

I was excited to pick up the Outkast album, but I find myself not listening to both equally. Its good and all, I just can't get into the groove of it. I honestly think the overplaying of Hey ya turned me off. My mom loves that song and proclaims to really like some of their songs, which certainly endeared the album more to me. Seriously, its cooler to hear my mother who's grown up on Sting and Elton John like it than some backwards bumpkin for Oklahoma who starts a thread "i like all rap because of outkast, what should I get next?"

[Ripper 0]

than some backwards bumpkin for Oklahoma who starts a thread "i like all rap because of outkast, what should I get next?"

Angelslayer?

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

than some backwards bumpkin for Oklahoma who starts a thread "i like all rap because of outkast, what should I get next?"

Angelslayer?

It can apply to anyone really

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

I perfer Love Below. I'm not sure why, it's just more my type of thing.

[SamoaRowe 0]

"The Love Below" is far more interesting.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

"The Love Below" is far more interesting.

I think my above comment can be applied to this post/poster.

[SamoaRowe 0]

"The Love Below" is far more interesting.

I think my above comment can be applied to this post/poster.

Huh? Are you referring to that line about bumpkins liking all rap because of Outkast? Because if that's the case, then you are wrong. I was a fan of rap in the mid 90's, got turned off by it, and Outkast has been partly responsible for my more frequent interest in it nowadays. A lot, and I mean A LOT, of aspects of rap/hip hop annoy me, but I do feel there is a lot of good in it as well.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

"The Love Below" is far more interesting.

I think my above comment can be applied to this post/poster.

Huh? Are you referring to that line about bumpkins liking all rap because of Outkast? Because if that's the case, then you are wrong. I was a fan of rap in the mid 90's, got turned off by it, and Outkast has been partly responsible for my more frequent interest in it nowadays. A lot, and I mean A LOT, of aspects of rap/hip hop annoy me, but I do feel there is a lot of good in it as well.

Do they conflict with your love for Creed?

 

Besides, the Love Below isn't even rap or hip/hop. He does very little rapping, sucka.

[SamoaRowe 0]

"The Love Below" is far more interesting.

I think my above comment can be applied to this post/poster.

Huh? Are you referring to that line about bumpkins liking all rap because of Outkast? Because if that's the case, then you are wrong. I was a fan of rap in the mid 90's, got turned off by it, and Outkast has been partly responsible for my more frequent interest in it nowadays. A lot, and I mean A LOT, of aspects of rap/hip hop annoy me, but I do feel there is a lot of good in it as well.

Do they conflict with your love for Creed?

 

Besides, the Love Below isn't even rap or hip/hop. He does very little rapping, sucka.

My love for Creed? Huh? I say Creed is overbashed, but let's not assume I "love" them in any way.

 

And you are right, "The Love Below" features many songs that are not traditional rap. However, at what point did I ever say that it was? I just said it was better than "SpeakerBoxx." And just for the record, I enjoy BOTH volumes, so just because I favor Andre's disc doesn't mean any disrespect towards Big Boi. Furthermore, I owned Stankonia and Big Boi and Andre Present... Outkast long before there was this new double cd. So for future referance, let's not make blind assumptions about each other.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

Furthermore, I owned Stankonia and Big Boi and Andre Present... Outkast long before there was this new double cd. So for future referance, let's not make blind assumptions about each other.

Wow, you really have them pegged by owning those albums.

[Skywarp! 0]

Furthermore, I owned Stankonia and Big Boi and Andre Present... Outkast long before there was this new double cd. So for future referance, let's not make blind assumptions about each other.

Wow, you really have them pegged by owning those albums.

Be quiet. He put you in your place and you're still trying to flame? Just stop.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

Furthermore, I owned Stankonia and Big Boi and Andre Present... Outkast long before there was this new double cd. So for future referance, let's not make blind assumptions about each other.

Wow, you really have them pegged by owning those albums.

Be quiet. He put you in your place and you're still trying to flame? Just stop.

Well it is foolish to consider themselves outkast fans without owning or even MENTIONING Atliens and Aquemini - arguably two of the best hip hop albums of the 90's. Its like owning the Beatles 1 Album without even knowing Sgt Peppers or the White Album.

[B. Brian Brunzell 0]

^^

 

So very true. A majority of the people I know like OutKast due to the HUGE success of "Miss Jackson" and Stankonia. Most of them had never heard of Aquemini or ATLiens, let alone Southernplayalisticcadillacmusik.