Big Boi is like that left-field, experimental, semi-intellectual, eccentric kind of album that is extremely diverse! It’s a rollercoaster of an album that’s ambitious, and what I like about this album is that Big Boi isn’t scared to go indie and show off his more feminine side! It’s a really cool album in terms of its instrumental pallets - I love it!
OutKast’s “Stankonia” is an iconic hip-hop album that was influential, bold and they showed that you don’t have to sell out to make a magnificent #1 hit! Stankonia is a fearless, explosive, experimental album that is ahead of its time! The fact that it just got ranked in the top #100 of the RollingStones top #500 album further cements its place as a classic, even though RolingStones is a bit rubbish!
People Under The Stairs is definitely underground but was a breakthrough album that features such great production and is an album that has aged nicely, unlike Jurassic 5’s Power In Numbers, an album that’s aged poorly in my opinion.
Redman’s Muddy Waters is just such a quality album, and is definitely Redman’s best album! The beats are exciting, the flow of the album never gets tiring, and Redman is very entertaining on the mic on Muddy Waters! There’s a really nice mix of club, mellow, chilled, boom-bap, quirky and underground songs on Muddy Waters. It’s a cohesive project and it sounds fresh!
This will be an odd comparison, but it's something I have thought since I first heard Sir Lucious...
Big Boi is to Outkast as John Paul Jones is to Led Zeppelin (okay, okay...don't abandon me here!)
John Paul Jones was always overshadowed by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant (and to an extent Bonham). You have the storied session guitarist turned Yardbird turned riff god who became the musical backbone of these massive songs indelible to the hard rock canon. And you have the blonde-haired, swaggering front man with massive pipes. JPJ was no slouch - besides bass adding melotron, mandolin, etc. But he's seldom going to be the first member mentioned in Zep.
He put out a couple of albums (Zooma, 1999 & The Thunderthief, 2001) on Robert Fripp's label, Discipline Global Music. They were a mostly instrumental endeavour. They didn't carry the strength of any Zep heyday albums, but they were good and they could be intense. When I heard them, it made me rethink my thoughts on the musicality accolades given to Zep (note: I hardly listen to Zep anymore and can take or leave a lot of that dick-swinging machismo rock, but credit where credit is due).
Between those two albums JPJ plays: 4, 6, 10, and 12-string bass guitars, bass steel guitar, acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin, electric mandolin, piano, organ, synthesizers, Kyma, koto, autoharp, ukulele, harmonica, mandola, bass lap steel.
I got to see him open for King Crimson on tour ~2001 and he played Zep's When The Levee Breaks on bass lap steel and it cut through my guts!
So, where's the comparison? Listening to his albums and seeing him live let me appreciate his magnitude that was always under the surface of Zep.
Sir Lucious was the same thoughts. Big Boi is great with Outkast. I certainly don't think he was ever as marginalized as JPJ in Zep; however, Andre 3000 was more of the celebrity and his lyrics, IME, were always more lauded and concentrated on (and for good cause - he's one of the best MCs to ever do it).
However, Big Boi getting his own album was like Jean Grey getting the Phoenix Force. You always knew he was great, but the album showed just how great. Yes, there are some awesome features but BB shoulders that album with great skill.
To recap: Zep, Big Boi, and Phoenix Force for you Marvel nerds.
