OutKast
Stankonia

THE REVIEW

It's been a full six years since that late summer wonderfully tormented by one of the most fantastic hit singles of all time (not just in hip-hop): Ms. Jackson. So more than half a decade since a milestone inserted into the colorful wall of black music.

Talking about hip-hop is still possible for an album like this but only in part: 'Stankonia' is a true kaleidoscope of sounds where thousands of influences blend to create something brand new. A monumental work extremely attentive to the groove, tied to tradition and projected into the future. The ideal successors to stars like Parliament/Funkadelic, Sly & The Family Stone, and Prince are OutKast...
An incandescent rhythmic flow a sticky sound mix like few others: slapped basses and genius bases with two fearsome masters of ceremony on top one more straightforward and hard, the other eclectic almost like a cartoon. One track after another, the album flows, enumerating unforgettable new classics: the same Ms. Jackson irresistible with that overturned and dragged beat; other songs have a darker mood but do not lose groove, for example, Snappin' & trappin' (starting like Temples of Boom to evolve into raggamuffin) or Xplosion (made even more exceptional by B-Real's feature).

Then listen to B.O.B. (acronym for Bombs Over Baghdad), an attack on Bush Jr.'s management in unsuspected times, an unlikely cocktail in hip-hop sauce of rock and drum‘ n’ bass rhythms. Or We luv deez hoez: a marvelous gooey funky-rap that it's impossible to resist and not shake your booty to the rhythm. And the Caribbean Humble mumble, often tinged with jazz and featuring the precious duet between former lovers Andre 3000 and Erykah Badu. And in closing, Stankonia: magnificent digital funk, sounds exactly as if Prince had decided to write a Purple Rain for the 2000s...

'Stankonia' is too beautiful, I don't know what else to say I would continue to praise it endlessly. Every time I listen to it, it captivates me and I fall in love. 'Stankonia' cannot (must not) be missing from your collection.