After Speakerboxxx, after Big Boi Presents Got Purp?, after Sir Lucious Left Foot, it’s now possible to say that Big Boi, the solo artist, has his very own aesthetic — one pretty far removed from the ruminative Dungeon Family gutbucket soul-funk that animated the first three OutKast albums. Big Boi’s sound builds on the anarchic plastic funk of Stankonia, pushing it further, weirding it up. On Big Boi’s own records, sound veer in all directions, squirming and veering and switching up mid-bar. Producers pile on the guitar-squiggles and horn-stabs and synth-noodles until the tracks seems like they’re about to fly apart. It’s a sound that mirrors Big Boi’s precise, tourettic, ADD delivery. In the context of all that, Big Boi’s longtime, much-remarked-upon Kate Bush fandom makes a lot more sense; of course he’d love listening to another virtuosic and idiosyncratic vocalist, another artist who pushes her voice in every unexpected direction at once and who encourages her collaborators to do the same. That aesthetic is a tough one to pull off, and the enduring strength of both Speakerboxxx and Sir Lucious Left Foot is even more impressive in hindsight. Vicious Lies And Dangerous Rumors, Big Boi’s new one, isn’t quite as inventive and skillful as those two ones, but it’s still an end-to-end rewarding experience, another missive from a craftsman unafraid to risk complete embarrassment in the pursuit of fleet-footed funk euphoria.
A few years ago, word circulated that GZA, the Wu-Tang legend, was working on a new album with a whole host of indie-rock new jacks, and I witnessed a godawful mess of a surprise set that he played with the Black Lips at SXSW. I prayed that that album would never come out, and blessedly, it never did. But when the details of Vicious Lies And Dangerous Rumors showed up online, I got that same worry in my soul: That an aging rapper would tarnish his immaculate legacy by chasing relevance, enlisting a bunch of indie festival staples to make sounds that had nothing to do with his own music. And bits and pieces of Vicious Lies are just as ill-advised as I’d feared; the thin and smarmy Wavves/B.o.B. collab “Shoes For Running” is definitive skip-button material. But for the most part, Big Boi has made room for people like Phantogram and Little Dragon within his own sound, inviting them to his studio and using their breezy and luminous voices as pure-float counterpoint to his syllabic spray.
And the sound here is, if anything, even busier than what Big Boi and his collaborators managed on Sir Lucious Left Foot. Grooves don’t get a chance to ride out for long before a stray guitar-solo or a manipulated vocal squeak comes along to interrupt them. This isn’t comfortable ride-out music; it’s itchy and anxious and sometimes uncomfortable. But the songs still hang together more often than not, and they sometimes achieve banger status. On “Thom Pettie,” Big Boi and old buddy Killer Mike trade hornball verses over a track that feels simultaneously slowed-down and sped-up. “Apple Of My Eye” is rippling Afrobeat that could’ve fit beautifully onto Speakerboxxx. And on “In The A,” faded-superstar guests T.I. and Ludacris join Big Boi in reclaiming their old embattled triple-time snarl.
Near the album’s end, Big Boi even practically abandons rapping for an improbably gorgeous three-song stretch. “Rasperries” is a pinched, tortured, sexed-up back-and-forth with soul-singer guests Scar and Mouche. “Tremendous Damage” is simply a gorgeous canned-orchestra survival ballad, one full of touching and none-too-heavy lines about Big Boi’s father. And on the beautiful extended outro “Descending,” Big Boi and Little Dragon’s Yukimi Nagano coo emotively over weightless acoustic guitars and strings. That placid grown-man stretch might indicate a new way forward for Big Boi’s voice, not that he needs one. For the most part, though, Vicious Lies And Dangerous Rumors doesn’t bring new ideas; it coasts on Sir Lucious Left Foot‘s relentless rumble. But if anyone has earned the right to coast for a bit, it’s Big Boi. Of the man’s three de facto solo albums, Vicious Lies is easily the weakest, and it’s still miles better than any other new record you’ll hear this week.
Vicious Lies And Dangerous Rumors is out now on Def Jam.
Other albums of note out this week:
• Bruno Mars’s weirdly Police-y Unorthodox Jukebox.
• The Game’s thudding, snarly Jesus Piece.
• The orchestral-ennui-heavy This Is 40 soundtrack.
• Kidz Bop 23. I don’t know. It’s a slow week. Vicious Lies is good, though.
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In comparison to Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty this is a certainly step backwards and very big disappointment. Bear in mind that the standards after that album already were really high so I don’t blame him, it’s still good record.
I was finding it hard to put my finger on what was so average about it but really, it’s just that none of the songs are that good – neither of those two standouts properly blew anyone away as singles (were there any singles, really?). A lot of it works better than it has any right to on paper, and there’s not really any plain bad tracks (although the Wavves one is kind of annoying), but Big Boi just fades in to the background. While it’s the furthest he’s moved from his classic sound, it somehow comes across as actually less adventurous & playful.
At the same time, it’s not really bad. Pretty listenable, just not much to keep you coming back.
“In the A” keeps me coming back.
“Get stung like the Crocodile Hunter”
feels bad man
Love the Krispy Kreme shout out.
…wooops, sorry wrong blog.KIDZ BOP 23 WAS ROBBED!
It’s tough, they kind of set an impossible standard with Kidz Bop 22. Once you listen to Kidz Bop 23 a few times you will begin to appreciate it as it’s own unique album and not just in the context of a follow up to Kidz Bop 22, it’s really solid. Basically…
Kidz Bop 22 = Merriweather Post Pavillion
Kidz Bop 23 = Centipede Hz
It’s the 2012 curse. Anotehr album so excellent we can’t understand it yet.
I know it’s probably not a popular opinion, but I think Kidz Bop17 is still the real masterpiece, 22 is WAAAY overrated IMO.
…but if there’s anything we’ve learned from this week, it’s that opinions are like assholes, and even though kidz bop 1 thru 23 are unique on their separate merits, they’re all somehow equal on the asshole scale of equality.
tl; dr: WE ALL HAVE ASSHOLES AND THEREFORE ALL ALBUMS ARE BUT ONE ALBUM.
Kidz Bop Albums Worst to Best…
A$AP wrote a song about what’s going on here.
Yeah, if only the Kidz Bop people wouldn’t have bounced their check…
They spent all their money on those One Direction licenses.
I have no idea whether Stereogum would ever be willing to sell their album of the week, but look at the alternatives. Big Boi got AOTW by default, wrong week to call shenanigans.
i have no idea either. maybe they don’t need to from the spike in ad revenue they’ll no doubt get. read the review, click the banner. read the review, click the banner.
Purple Swag?
thank you for understanding me
The description of Bruno Mars’ album as Police-y actually makes me want to listen to it, and gawd knows I hate Bruno Mars.
why don’t you just listen to the Police then?
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see
You know it’s just a coincidence, c’mon.
You know you would have picked Bruno Mars as album of the week if you weren’t such a sellout
I do like the Police.
SYNERGIES
haha +1
I believe you mean Synchronicity, or maybe the joke is ironic, idk.
Was really listening to Sir Lucious in anticipation. The hook on “Follow Us” really throws a wrench in that album. It starts off, and I’m like “wow – this production is awesome – how come I don’t remember this song?” but then the hook comes in and I remember why. Cos I skip that song every time – it’s a damn good thing it gets followed by such a banger lik Shutterbug, makes it easy to forget.. Also – the David Blaine joke – c’mon – why’d you put that in there Left Foot?
I don’t know what the fuck is going on with my punctuation.
Yeah, Vicious Lies is basically a continuation of the through-line started by “Follow Us”– decent, flexible rapping, busy production, and a sub-par contribution by a sub-par indie rock group
Here’s my album review: 10 years ago I was in a band that was touring with Outkast. One night while passing their bus Big Boi leaned out the window and said “sup playa, wanna smoke good?” I replied “yes, yes I would like that, thanks.” I proceeded to smoke great with the likes of Big Boi, Slim Cutta Calhoun et al. This album gets 5 out of 5 stars.
Slim Cutta Calhoun! “It’s OK” is an all time classic party jam.
Sure is! Classic Andre verse. Slim performed it every night of that tour, and every night of that tour I ate it right up. One time he asked me if I had rubbers. Blush.
I was actually really enjoying this album until the wavves song, then I thought it was kinda downhill
I liked Wavves’ guest appearance more than Kid Cudi’s, and I don’t even like Wavves.
OK, so I listened to all three of the actual albums listed.
Vicious Lies is OK, but the production feels almost too adventurous, and comes across as a bit boring, taking away too much focus from Big Boi.
However, I will say I was incredibly surprised by The Game’s new record. The Game hasn’t really stepped up his game, but the guests and production are fantastic. So that’s my album of the week.
But that’s just my opinion.
I want to hear your opinion on Kidz Bop 23 though.
A pointless, monotonous release. All the good shit (Carly Rae Jepson, One Direction) was on 22. But the production was aight.
Y’all forgot that Unwound put out a live album this week? Much more an album of note than the Game or This is 40.
If they were allowed to do reissues and stuff like that, Voodoo would probably take the win, even though Unwound is great too.
Tremendous Damage is the worst rap song I’ve ever heard.