There was some astute cat on an internet messageboard once, and he wrote
probably the most accurate observation of Outkast I've read: Outkast is
to the mid-late nineties what Tribe Called Quest was to the early 90's.
Different sounds, quality tracks, and classic albums you could play all
the way straight through without having to lift the needle off the
platter. Two emcees with two different styles, yet meshing perfectly
together, always complementing, never canceling each other out. 

Yet Tribe called quest stumbled on their 4th, and fell completely off on
their 5th. The quality of their first 3 held steady at brilliant, but
was tarnished by their failure. And word on this 4th Outkast was that
they too would fall prey to the ailments that struck down Tribe. They
ventured too far into a new sound that wasn't quite workin, stuck with
it too long, and got stagnant while alienating their fanbase. The new
album would be all technofied. They'd abandoned the funk.  And the leak
of B.O.B seemed to confirm that suspicion among the hardcore heads.
People started voicing their worries that Andre (now Andre 3000) had
finally gone off the deep end, that he was dragging Big Boi into some
weird space shit. It was gonna be Tribe Called Quest's fall all over
again. Were the perceptions correct? Were the leaks indicative of the
downfall the group was inevitable heading for?

What the fuck we're ya'll trippin on? The streak is still intact. 4
straight bomb as fuck albums in a row. The only major change in sound is
that Organized Noise doesn't handle even half of the production.
Earthtone's got his thumbprints all over this one, and the results are
satisfyin. This isn't Outkast's "Beats Rhymes and Life." Not to say
there aren't any stumbles on this one, but they're more like snagging
the house shoe on the phone cord than slipping on the concrete an
banging their head: Easily recovered from and few and far between. Let's
get a lil in depth, shall we? As always, with me, we will skip the
interludes and intros, because no matter who do em, they're almost
always wack as fuck, and don't count.  So here we go.

Gasoline Dreams: Hype shit. Easy to get into, get you head  noddin. Dre
kills on the chorus, ain't heard him this amped since
Southernplayalistic, even surpassing the energy on the previous albums
"ChonkyFire." Actually, this song can be seen as picking right up where
"Aquemini" left off, the songs are similar enough to draw that
conclusion. Khujo makes his presence felt as always, and Big Boi drops a
verse that lets you know cat has improved over his improvement on the
last cut. People making the claim that Dre is better than Boi might have
to think on that one harder after hearing this album. Boi's caught up. 

So Fresh, So Clean: Singalong brag track. Beat is oddly infectious,
which is to be expected with Outkast. Nothin special, but a nice bridge
to...

Ms. Jackson is the fuckin shit. Soulful shit, on the surface a "baby
momma" song, but taking the subject serious for once, and carrying out
powerfully. Big Boi especially painting a somber picture, outshining
Andre on the track, with lyrics about the wedge driven between a family:
"Look at the way he treats me, shit, look at the way YOU treat me/You
see your little nosy ass homegirls done got your ass sent up the creek
G/Without a paddle you left to straddle and ride this thing on out,
now/You and your girl ai'nt speakin no more cuz my dick all in her
mouth/you know what I'm talkin about, jealousy, infidelity, envy,
cheating, beating.." The beat is a perfect compliment, and the hook
anchors the whole thing to that funk solidly, guaranteeing you'll be
humming along long after the joint leaves your deck. And thinkin on
shit, too..

Snappin and Trappin is the kind of gangster track that No Limit been
wantin to make forever. Killer Mike subs in for Andre and drops some
battle shit in an aggro voice. The beat is a little TOO odd, though,
what with aimless squigglin keyboard lines wrigglin on top of the drums
like someone tipped over an oldschool arcade game on an SP-1200, but the
808 almost covers it all up. This motherfucker will bang a trunk hard,
yet for some reason, is hard to groove to. So at this point, the
weirdest track on the album don't even have Andre on it. Funny, huh?

Spaghetti Junction: You can tell ONP took over on this one, as it funks
like a motherfucker, horns stabbin off in the track as Andre and Big Boi
trade off like a millenial Run DMC (who they even reference in the song)
stoned out of their mind and kickin it with George Clinton. Subject
matter is "don't bite us and watch the fuck you doin." and they flip it
nice. And yet again another chorus catchy as hell, with turntable
trickery on the fadeout roundin the track nicely.

The Kim and Cookie interlude is alright, even if it sounds like Cita,
the digital chickenhead from BET happened upon a pound and found a
microphone. 

I'll Call before I Come  is DEFINITELY twistin it a lil: The whole beat
sounds like it was done on and oldschool Wurlitzer home organ, and at
first I wasn't feeling it, but it starts to grow after the first few
bars. It lends the track a cheezy little charm, almost as if it was a
Funkadelic outtake, circa 1975,  especially on the chorus, with it's
playful nonsensicalness. Basically, if Outkast was to perform on Sesame
Street, this would be the song they play. Gangsta Boo shows up and shows
yet again that she has the poorest judgment in the south by staying with
the 3-6 mafia and not dumping those suckers in a gutter somewhere.  Eco
drops a respectable little verse, doesn't shake the fun vibe the track
has.   

B.O.B ya'll heard, and it's one of two things. Either the throwback
booty bass vibe hooked you instantly, or you wrote it off as techno
soundin bullshit--for the first few weeks before the utter funk dopeness
sucked you in and had you shakin your ass relentlessly. Either way, you
can't duck the funk on this motherfucker. It is unavoidable. It is your
destiny.  However, the track DOES differ from the single version out
now, in minute ways. The keyboard lines in the "bob your head, rag top"
break is missing, and the track doesn't seem as jam packed as the
original version was. Minor quibble, tho. 

Xplosion I aint feelin, honestly. it's a little TOO jaggedy sounding, on
first listen, although the keyboard line kinda smooths shit out on
repeated listens. B-Real's cadence fits a little better over it, as the
beat is more along the lines of the shit Hill's doin now anyway, and if
anything, sounds more like a Cypress Hill song feat. Outkast than
Outkast featuring B-Real. He uses this shot to rail against XXL, who
apparently does nothing but piss off rappers anymore anyway. Almost
makes me want to check the mag out again, actually. Big Boi comes in and
tries to up this track to the level of the rest of the album, and just
barely succeeds. I wouldn't fast forward past it, but I'd probably turn
the shit down and start yappin at my boys in the ride when this song
came on instead of vibin hard to it as I had been to the rest of the
album. 

We Luv Deez Hoez redeems instantly, though, with some pimpish shit,
funky keys squirmin along with the humpin bassline. ONP on production
again, and it's instant to tell, as the low end makes a return, which is
odd because you almost expect Outkast to be bumpin like a motherfucker
on EVERY track, but on this one the 808's seem bottled up for the most.
Backbone lends some syrup smooth flow to the track, and Gipp locks it
down. I love this cats flow, that scratchy smooth shit. The chorus
("hahahahahaa, we love these hoes!")kinda balances that thin line
between catchy and unintentionally corny. it could be one of the other
on any given day, depending on mood.

Humble Mumble is the return of the Wurlitzer soundin beats, and the flow
is better on this one, as a latin/jazz tinged track compliments Big
Boi's verse nicely. and then the track switches up to straight funk
shit, ditching the wurlitzer and bringin in a dope ass bassline that
will have you up out your seat if you weren't already tappin your toes
and noddin your head in the first place. Andre brings a fat little verse
about dealing with a critic and hip hop elitism in the same verse: "I
met a critic, I made her shit her draws/She said she thought Hip Hop was
only guns and alcohol/I said "oh hell naw!" but yet it's that, too/You
can't discriminate because you done read a book or two" Erykah does her
thang nicely, as well, which is kinda unexpected, because I think this
is the first time I've heard her over a tempo faster than dripping
molasses. This cut is HIGHLY satisfyin.

? is Andre's shit, and to be honest, It's skippable, and it's all
because of the beat. The lyrics themselves are pretty decent ("What make
a nigga wanna loose all faith in/Anything that he can't feel through his
chest wit sensation") but the beat is just too irritatin to make it
through. 

Red Velvet picks it back up though, even if it sounds like an Aquemini
outtake. Like that's a bad thing. A stutterin, skippin beat stalls out
and plinks along as Big Boi drops his verse, and locks down for the
chorus. Dre brings his helium voice style to this one, and it works
better here than it ever has on any of the other tracks he's done it on.
Solid slab of funk right here. 

Gangsta Shit got that slow 808 burn goin on, as Slimm Cutta Calhoun,
C-Bone and T-Mo get down on this posse cut. T-Mo just drops a real quick
hit and bounces out in about 30 seconds, C-Bone holds his own, Big Boi
does a K-Solo impersonation, turnin his verse into a spellin bee, but
pulls it off. Slim lends some drawlin funk to it, but Andre bring it
NICE: "We'll pull your whole deck, fuck pullin your card,/and still take
my guitar and take a walk in the park/and play the sweetest melody ever
heard/now bitches sucking on my nouns and I'm eatin their verbs." You
see why cats, even though they appreciate Andre 3000, still wish the
southernplayalistic pimp would show up a lil more often. 

Toilet Tisha is the Kast attempt at a Prince song, at least musically,
to me. Subject matter is pretty deep, (14 year old pregnant)  and
handled very well, evoking a somber, desperate mood that Prince himself
never really got a good grip on. Big Boi fills in the details that Andre
only hints at in his singin. Think of it as the dark sequel to
"SpottieOttieDopaliscious." Put it right up there with "Retrospect for
Life" and 

Slum Beautiful can't help but pale in comparison to the preceding track,
but that doesn't mean it's a disappointment. Boi, Dre, and especially
Cee-Lo spend the track praising the beautiful women around their way.
The track complements nice, never overpowering, but never really
catching, either. But the voices and the lyrics, like Cee-Lo's shit
right here--"Exploring everything about you from the ground to the God
above/ Suddenly I started dreamin, travelin in time so fast/ I could
almost taste outer space/ I saw the face of God and it looked like you
and me too.." elevate the cut. 

Stankonia (Stanklove) doesn't just sound like some old P-Funk. It IS
some old P-Funk. How they managed to clone George and Garry Shider and
Bootsy and get em on this molasses thick slow jam is beyond me, but I
ain't fuckin complainin in the least. The logical progression from
"Funky Ride" on the first album, the beat oozes funk from the grooves on
the wax. Sleepy Brown adds the sangin, and Big Rube, with that odd
helium effect that Andre been usin lately, drops yet another lil jewel
on an Outkast album. While I think the voice detracts from Rube's power,
his words still fit the track like a glove and ends the track perfectly. 

And there it is. Stankonia. If you ain't picked it up, you better do
that shit now. Don't let that foolish notion that Outkast has gotten too
weird fuck with your head. Like Outkast ain't successfully tweaked their
sound with every progressive album out. It's still funky as a
motherfucker, it's still smooth most times, it still drills home
messages with more force than most touchy feely emcees could ever hope
to do, and it still makes your trunk rattle, your windows shake, and
your ass move. The shit don't get stagnant in Stankonia. Take a trip.

Staaaaanklooooove
Fatboy