Join Daisy as she reflects on bangers from the past as a Throwback Thursday. This week’s pick – Speakerboxxx/The Love Below by OutKast.
Today’s pick sees us travelling to Atlanta for an album that has some of the greatest songs ever made on it.
In all honesty, I was stuck as to which album to pick by Big Boi and André 3000. Their album Aquemini is an absolute late 90s classic. You also have their millennial release Stanktonia, solely for their legendary track Ms. Jackson (among other great tunes). But I thought I’d choose the one that I will always remember, which is their 2003 masterpiece, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.
Here is some quick maths (no, not Big Shaq type of maths) to understand the concept of this album:
Speakerboxxx = Big Boi, with his more Southern hip hop sound with elements of psychedelic funk.
The Love Below = André 3000 with jazzy and poppy songs. Again, with the psychedelic funk sounds.
Although they seem to appear as two separate solo albums in one, both feature on each other’s tracks.
A standout classic from The Love Below for me is ‘Roses’. I always find myself doing a carpool karaoke when I hear the opening word “CAROLINE”. It’s a great song and Big Boi’s Speakerboxxx verse halfway shows how supportive he was of his former band mate to be as weird as he wanted. Also, the whole US high school talent show kind of video never fails.
Now, another standout track comes from the Speakerboxxx is ‘The Way You Move’. With guest vocals from Outkast Mentor Sleepy Brown and of course, Mr. André 3000. With the super heavy Atlanta bass and funky horn section, with low key drums, I always find that I feel the need to do what the song tells me each time I hear it.
Finally, the ultimate. A song that at first got right on my nerves it was played that much but now, I love it and it’s a classic. It features on The Love Below and in all honesty, doesn’t need any introduction, bigging up or description on what makes it so great. All I will say is shake it like a Polaroid picture!
So, this is my pick for this week and I know I could have picked out some lesser known tunes from the album, but these three are the ones that everybody needs to be reminded of today. Especially if you need a bit of a pick me up, listen to the 5th studio album from one of Atlanta’s finest duos. Even if you don’t like the way they split their tastes in half for the album, you have to admit the amount of respect and trust they had in each other for letting each other go ham but manage to make it into one cohesive masterpiece.
Let us know your favourite track @pieradiouk
