The Bottom Line

Issue date: 9/20/06 Section: Music

Outkast's Idlewild, their first album since 2000's Stankonia, isn't really a true follow up. After the wildly successful release of 2003's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, a double CD package of a solo album from both official members of Outkast, rumors have floated around about Outkast staying together. So while Idlewild is the first album that both Andre 3000 and Big Boi have worked on together since Stankonia, it's also littered with solo tracks, making it more of a full length EP with a handful of Outkast tracks, a handful of Andre 3000 tracks, and a handful of Big Boi tracks. The Big Boi tracks will be the most attractive of the album because they are the most radio friendly he has made, going in the same direction of Speakerboxxx. Andre 3000 also heads in his direction of playing more blues and soul oriented music, almost taking some of his tracks off of the hip hop map. The Outkast tracks, which I'm sure people have been anticipating, are also nothing extraordinary. This is the theme through the entire album. Idlewild is by no means bad, but nothing stands out. Nothing grabs you and makes you listen to it. It seems somewhat rushed, which is quite possible because of the accompanying movie, which may be a piece of the puzzle that I'm missing. So, with the occasional misstep ("Mutron Angel," "A Bad Note"), Outkast's Idlewild will always be their average album. Not bad by any means, but not great either.

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