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You know, there's nothing better than an unexpected pleasure.
Having heard appreciative mumblings about Cee-Lo on the grapevine, I picked this album up (cheap too!) on a whim. And it blew me out of my shoes. Simply put, it's the best hip-hop/soul album of the decade, and a new entry into my Desert Island Discs canon.
Cee-Lo hails from the Goodie Mob originally, and shares more than a few similarities to O***kast. But in breaking away from them he's forging a a far more interesting solo career. He's 5'6, with a voice that can switch from speed rapping to soul crooning that would make Uncle Al Green proud, he's come up with a perfect record - sprawling and ambitious, but coherent and beautifully realised. It's funny and serious, inventive and respectful, cerebral and booty shaking.
The opener has Cee-lo delaying the start of the album, so he can play with his son, before launching into a bombastic theme song, complete with female backing trio singing his praises. Before you can blink he's into the first track proper, 'The art of Noise' a typically skillful Neptunes grinder. From there on the album goes all over the place, from the breezy 'All Day love affair' that channels daisy age early 90's hip-hop into a joyful celebration of relationships, to the fearsome gring of 'Glockapella' a masterful battle-rhyme to shame all pretenders, set over a staccato gun clap beat.Ludacris turns up on 'Childz Play' and for once does something worthwhile, with the two trading impeccable double-time verses. Or we have 'I am selling Soul' a two part meditation on his own inclusion in a canon that includes Curtis, Marvin, Al, Shuggie and the rest. Or 'Sometimes', a swirling piece of almost spoken word, that rests over a sprightly flute loop that could come from 1972.
It's basically a condensation of everything I love about hip-hop and soul music into just over and hour of music, from a performer who's versatility and basic likeability is astounding. It's a one-disc take on the overrated Love Below/Speakerboxx album, and, to me at least, is a far more coherent and ultimately interetsing piece.
It is, quite simply, the best thing to come into my life for a long time, and everyone should own a copy. Really.
Oh yeah, and it ends with his two year old son doing a drum solo. What's not to love. |
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