I’ma be straight with y’all. This is not an optimal time for record listening. It’s 12:45 in the morning, and the stresses of writing camp have taken their toll on me. I’ve just scraped through half of Aristotle’s The Aim of Man, of which I’m sure 90% went straight over my head. We’ll get through this together.
All of that is unfortunate, too. I’ve been looking forward to this record for a while now. I’ve heard the pretty standard Outkast singles before (Ms. Jackson, Roses, Hey Yeah), and they all kick ass. Everyone talks about Stankonia and how amazing it is, so I figured it was time to give it a listen.
Yeah, it’s awesome. Calling Outkast’s music “hip-hop” does not do it justice. Freak-hop, maybe? Still, that doesn’t quite capture its off beat insanity.
Yeah, Andre 3000 and Big Boi rap, so I guess technically, this is hip-hop. It’s just that there’s so much going on in Stankonia compared to the other rap records that I’ve been exposed to. I’m in awe.
Calling Stankonia “hip-hop” just feels restricting. These guys sample everything under the sun, in a way that makes me think of Girl Talk—it just sounds that good. It’s also mostly catchy as hell, which is always a good thing.
It also helped that I knew a bunch of songs going in—songs that I didn’t even know I knew. Sure, everyone’s heard the standard Ms. Jackson, but I recognized a few more. That’s always cool.
I’m going to sleep. Night.
Swole Ear 