Reviews
 Keep It Simple
Van Morrison
Roger McGuinn @ the Huntington IMAC, Long Island, NY - April 4, 2008
Emily Saxe @ the Allen Room/Jazz at Lincoln Center - April 5, 2008
Another Country
Tift Merritt
Be Your Own Pet
Get Awkward
Paul McCartney – The McCartney Years (DVD)
Juno – Music from the Motion Picture
Various Artists
Yes - Their Definitive Story
Day and Night Driving
Seven Mary Three
InterMedia Arts Center 2/2/08
Huntington, NY
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Outkast
Get ur freak on. By ignoring the mind-numbingly redundant aspects of the gangsta code and concentrating on originality, Outkast represents a style that, like the title of their other hit single, is ‘so fresh and so clean’. Based in Atlanta, bandmembers Andre and Big Boi played no role in rap’s New York vs. Los Angeles violence, except perhaps to prove how ridiculous and pointless it was. At first, their geography did indeed make them appear to be outcasts in a coastal war zone, but rhyming about something other than guns or bling-bling braggadocio was enough to make them unique. By modernizing the time line of psychedelic funk that passed from Hendrix to Sly Stone to George Clinton, and then to De La Soul, Outkast proved that the self-imposed boundaries of rap were unnecessarily restrictive. In the process, they became the most progressive hip-hop act around.
Big Boi and Andre have set up a good cop/bad cop routine that keeps their credibility intact while messing with everyone’s heads. Like a ragtag football team with the craziest book of plays you ever saw, Big Boi plays the line spewing out tough-edged commentary, while Andre spins around on the outside, shaking off all comers by remaining one step ahead of the competition (or confusing them entirely).
After three albums that defied rap’s mainstream and brought them both critical and commercial success, Outkast outdid themselves with their fourth release, Stankonia (where all funky things come from), and its first single, “Ms. Jackson.” “Ms. Jackson” is unique in all of rap by virtue of whom it addresses. After all, how many MC’s would rap about their mother-in-law (or mother of their significant other) without resorting to trash talk? In “Ms. Jackson,” Andre is completely respectful and apparently sincere, apologizing “a million times” for breaking up with her daughter (who in real life happens to be Erykah Badu). While pleading his side of the story, he also makes it very clear that he is still bound to the relationship by their child, and that he will remain paternal. The apology, regret and responsibility are believable, but also amusing, especially when trying to reevaluate exactly what the couple meant when they promised to be together ‘forever’ (“Forever-ever? Forever-ever??”). Few rappers, if any, would allow themselves to be so emotionally vulnerable. It is to their credit that Outkast would expand the palette of rap by recognizing that good rhymes don’t need to follow established patterns.
 
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