Speakerboxx / The Love Below (double album)

This CD is mostly about sex, and even the edited version is obvious and explicit.

Artist: Outkast
Genre: Rap Label: La Face Parental Advisory: Yes Edited Version Available: Yes Release Date: 09/23/2003

Common Sense Note

This CD is mostly about sex, and even the edited version is obvious and explicit. Though musically imaginative--perhaps even groundbreaking--it isn't a great album.

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Kathi Kamen Goldmark

There's a lot to like here, but not quite enough for a high-profile double CD. There's no cohesive link; the double CD really does sound like two separate albums that happened to be packaged together. There are wonderful lyrics, terrific guest vocals, excellent rhythm tracks, all marred by careless production and apparently hodgepodge sequencing.

Alternative family values abound. The singer's baby-mama leaves him. A toddler who can barely talk tries to say the "M-F" word, to his dad's great delight. There's lost love, found love, drunk love, and careless love, all poetically recounted in more graphic detail than we may really need. There are also some very creative (some might say visionary) musical moments and clever rhymes, almost worth the price of admission.

Andre and Big Boi deserve a lot of credit for daring to be musically different. But they do often sacrifice artistry for weirdness, and one gets the feeling that they're throwing a lot of stuff at the wall, wondering what will stick.

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Content		CS	adults	kids
Content
Sexual Content Even the edited version is very explicit.
Violence A few violent references--nothing really awful.
Language It's very clear what's been edited out, of course, and there's an adorable toddler trying to pronounce "*erf*er--you get the idea.
Message
	Social Behavior There are some confusing images of relationships.
	Commercialism This is anti-commercial, if anything.
	Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco A couple of references, but sex is the whole deal on this CD.