Big Boi: Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors
After Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty in 2010, Big Boi exited 2012 with another solo album, Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors. I’ll get this out of the way now, we are approaching 7 years since the last Outkast album, and whether you like it or not, Big Boi’s solo projects should be more than enough to give you your Outkast fix. In all honesty, the one thing I didn’t like about Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors, there was no Andre.
Otherwise, Big Boi remains the most thug-loving-hippy in all of hip-hop. Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors has the sound of a very experimental hip hop album. The sounds remind me a lot of Gorillaz‘ Plastic Beach in 2010 in terms of the psychedelics meeting hip hop. Most songs are filled with heavy beats, strong hooks, and could play the entire album straight through to entertain a party. It’s almost like every song Big wants to be a radio hit.
When it comes to Big Boi’s lyrical content, nothing has changed since 1994. The witty punch lines allow Big Boi to remain the same confident, Jordan wearing, drug dropping thug he has always been. The lead single, “Mama Told Me” featuring Kelly Rowland, is more than enough to create a buzz: loud, bubbly, and fun like a 90’s Mariah Carey Pop/Rap hit. Originally I saw a video of “Mama Told Me” Live featuring Little Dragon, I still remain a fan of that sounds instead of Rowland’s.
The most gangster rap song on the album remains “In the A” featuring Ludacris and T.I. I feel like deep down these three got into the studio and wanted to outdo the other in every way. T.I. may be labeled as “King” but it would be very unfair two leave Big Boi and Luda out of that discussion. At the end of the song, I think Luda and T.I. would both agree Big had the best verse. “Lines” with up and coming rapper A$AP Rocky or “Gossip” featuring UGK and Big KRIT, both could very well be the next singles. A few sleeper songs that may never see the light of radio are “CPU” which features indie-pop band Phantogram, “Raspberries” which features Mouche and Scar, and “Descending” featuring Little Dragon.
Overall the album is definitely worth a listen, there is a sound throughout the album that constantly pull listeners in asking more for more. This album definitely gives fans their Outkast fix for the next year or so, but I really do hope Big Boi isn’t too comfortable alone.
Rating: 8.5/10
MP3: Big Boi featuring T.I. and Ludacris “In the A”
Buy: iTunes or Insound! vinyl
