Outkast
Aquemini
1998, LaFace
Outkast's third album takes the best parts of their first two, and then sheds all of their inhibitions allowing the group to explore the craziest experiments they can concoct. The result is nothing short of an absolute epic. Much like The Roots and their Soulquarians collective who would release Things Fall Apart a year later, Outkast and their Dungeon Family crew and extended fam would opt to create this record organically. Rather than write a bunch of songs and bring them into a studio to record, these songs all emerged out of jam sessions involving a rotating-door stance on guests. They also decided to abandon all preconceptions of what makes a hip hop album, opening up their sound to not only the electro-funk they had dabbled with on ATLiens but also embracing folk, jazz, blues and reggae. However what sounds like a mess on paper is a completely cohesive experience where not a note is wasted. A brief instrumental intro gives way to "Return Of The G," an insane rap track that hits hard and would have felt just as at home on their debut. Here the group lashes out at all nay-sayers who might see them as going in a soft hippy direction. The centerpiece of the album (or what would have closed out side A on the cassette) is "West Savannah," a track that was actually supposedly a leftover from Southernplayalistic while the album closer is "Chonkyfire" a hard hitting electro-rap piece with scorching guitars. These three pieces spread out to form a tripod for the record to stand on, and it's all the remaining songs that truly delve into the weirdness and genius of Outkast. The single "Rosa Parks" of course features a harmonica breakdown. "Synthesizer" features, well synthesizers and George Clinton. The two-parter "Da Art Of Storytellin'" begins with a tragic story of a soul lost to drugs and the hardship of life, while the second feels the armageddon. "Spottieottiedopaliscious" is a seven minute dub-reggae piece with barely more than spoken word to vocalize. "Nathaniel" is but a minute-long acapella piece performed over the phone. "Liberation" is a full on jazz-trio piece with improvisation and guest vocals from Cee-Lo and Erykah Badu. And having pointed to all these sight-seeing highlights, I haven't even mentioned the lyrics, all of which are just as crucial. This is a record that is sprawling, but never feels long. That's left-field, but never feels exclusionary. It is a complete and utter masterpiece that gets better with each and every listen as new revelations come through. The tricky thing about Outkast is that all of their albums could be your favorite. And this one... could be my favorite.