I know there are a lot of Andre haters out there who'd be quick to accuse him of being a prince wannabe (which I think he is to a certain extent, but not in a bad way), and even his fans have, accurately, attributed the overall sound of the love below to prince's influence. But specifically, I think it just "feels" a lot like SOTT particularly, not that it's on the same level but it is reminiscent of it more than any particular prince album. She Lives in My Lap is like a cross between The Ballad of Dorothy Parker and If I was your girlfriend (while lyrically resembling She's Always in my hair), Happy Valentine's Day seems like it has aspects of SOTT itself, Play in the sunshine and Housequake combined. Dre's idiosyncratic pop numbers like Hey Ya, Roses remind me of Starfish and Coffee, I could never take the place of your man, U Got The Look etc.. All the ballads of TLB have a certain prince feel even if I can't draw exact parallels with any from SOTT. Anyone else think so?

Yeah. When I first heard it I thought most of it sounded like outtakes from Parade, Dream Factory and SOTT.

raveon2tnek said:

what's wrong with that?


christ, i get so tired of people talking about how younger artists should give props to their influences, and how much people would make "real music" like Prince does.


and then they go and do it, and it never fails... it gets trashed for being a rip-off or phony.


what a shizo fan community
[Edited 11/26/04 3:24am]

i heard that record twice. to be honest it sounded more like Cameo to me.

CinisterCee said:

Ouch that's cold

Andre 3000 is cool

I don't think it sounds like SOTT
[Edited 11/26/04 7:51am]

The Love Below is a very good cd and at times it does remind me of Prince's sound, but I wouldn't say it reminds me of my favourite cd SOTT.

CinisterCee said:

Dammit. What's wrong with Cameo?

kisscamille said:

Agreed. T.O.B. is not SOTT and will never be. But, I can't knock Dre for trying to give homage to the funk.

The problem with Andre and his co-hort is that they're lousy performers. Definitely studio artists.

Hotlegs said:

haha I don't know I didn't mean it as a dis!

CinisterCee said:

Ya know, now that you mention it, Outkast does sound kinda like Cameo, especially on the "Happy Valentines Day" song. I think you got a point there.

SOTT? Not really. Everybody knows it has some obvious Princely songs in terms of arrangements. But it doesn't remind me of any specific Prince album. "Roses" reminds me of nothing more than one of the most obnoxious songs ever, and "Dracula's Wedding" is the sleeper.

NO

Supernova said:

Ok now, I really hate the song Roses b/c the lyrics lack in content. However, I will say that the instrumental arrangement of that song kinda mimics some of Prince's 80's sound a little w/the exception of SOTT.

The song that most remindes me of Prince by OutKast is "Toilet Tisha" and is not even on Love Below, but Stankonia. The way the synthesizers and drum pattern sound, it remids me of Prince.

TLB may be a good solid album, SOTT is far superior.

Some people might consider Andre to be the new Prince, but he's got some work to do. infact lots. It's nice that he gives P props though. Prince should pat him on the head next time they meet.

Andre has got a lot of work to do indeed, but I still believe he could really be the new prince in the sense that he is definitely looking forward and bringing pop music to a higher level.

I thought The Love Below was unique, for it is the best attempt so far at incorporating modern hip hop's sounds and production techniques into carefully crafted pop songs. This is no more no less what Prince did at the time of 1999: modernize black music by mixing most recent styles with most recent sounds. It was no revolution, just a major breakthrough (called by many a "Parliament rip-off" at that time, which to some extent is true if you listen to their late 1970s albums: Andre haters should think about that!). Andre today is years ahead of all others in my view.