Outkast's 'Speakerboxxx' looks to be doubly funky


By Steve Jones, USA TODAY


Leave it to the groundbreaking, Grammy-winning duo Outkast to come up with a unique project. On the double CD Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, which hits stores Aug. 26, Big Boi and Andre 3000 will solo together. Each has a disc to himself, though each also will appear on the other's side.
"It's going to be funk, funk and more funk, but sophisticated at the same time," says Big Boi, who is featured on Speakerboxxx. "I think it's a natural progression from the last album (2000's Stankonia)."

Andre 3000 says The Love Below (which features Norah Jones on Take Off Your Cool) is a little calmer, but the entire package has the group's signature vibe. He produced four tracks on Speakerboxxx, and Big Boi raps on three songs on The Love Below.

"If you took Outkast and dissected it like you would a scientific frog, you'd be able to see how much we are alike but also how much we are different," says Andre.

The first song to go to radio will be Ghetto Music, which features a Patti LaBelle sample and will appear on Speakerboxxx. The singles Church by Big Boi and She Lives in My Lap by Andre 3000 will hit airwaves Aug. 1, and there will be videos for both.

Lap's video features actress Rosario Dawson, who will star as Andre's love interest in an as-yet-untitled 90-minute musical the duo is doing with video director Brian Barber for HBO.

can't wait 2 see it...

That's what I'm talkin' about. I knew Andre would have something like this up his sleeve. Dre and Big Boi are good together but you could tell Dre ,in particular, wanted to stretch out in different directions. A Double cd
with each of them featured on their own disk is a good idea. Together we know what they can do so those cuts they are both on should be tight. Dre's disk on its own might be amazing. If it isn't and it's a flop you can atleast be sure Big Boi's will be solid-- a little something for the vehicle.

'stankonia' was cool, but i always hoped dre would do a solo thing. now he's done that, but you still got to buy the whole package right?

magnificentsynthesizer667 said:

damn straight.

Can't wait!

Joi mentioned on her message board about a year ago that she, Whild Peach (one of the DF's background singers), Cee-Lo, Andre 3000, and Sleepy Brown (of Organized Noize) were in the works of putting together a group called Pimp Trick Gangsta Clique. She mentioned that it was very funky (in the same groove as Parliament Funkadelic/The Brides of Funkenstein) and Dre handled most of the production. However, with contract obligations and whatnot, no one knows if the group will ever see the light of day or not. I'm still praying that they do!!!

I'm very curious about this new double cd.
I hope there are no Ja Rule, 50 cent, eminem type collaborations..

Outkast Solo Albums Being Turned Into Movie Musical

With one unique idea inspiring yet another, you could say Outkast are keeping things so fresh and, well, so fresh.

Not only are Dre and Big Boi releasing solo albums in an unprecedented single collection, but now the SpeakerBoxx/The Love Below package is being turned into an HBO movie based on the stories in the music.

"It's our version of a musical, with music from both albums," explained the movie's director, Bryan Barber, who worked with Outkast on "The Whole World" and "Land of a Million Drums" videos. "It's pretty dramatic, pretty shocking. We set out to do something totally different from what might be expected from a rap video or rap movie."

The still-untitled movie, which will debut early next year, will star Dre and Big Boi and possibly Rosario Dawson, who appears on Dre's The Love Below. The videos for the first singles from both rappers will be extracted from the musical and will tie together.

Robert Guralnick, who is producing the movie for Mosaic Media Group, described it as a period piece in the vein of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" but centering on a love triangle.

"It's a little bit about reincarnation and coming back to life and doing things the way you are supposed to," Barber said. "We go through periods of life where if we knew then what we know now, things would have gone better. It's just about finding the uniqueness of your inner self and letting that get you through tough moments.

"The characters are pretty complex in the movie," he added. "They are based on Dre and Big, both totally different people. We really wanted to play on that and show the public just a different side of what you might see onstage. There's action, drama, comedy, suspense. We just want to entertain."

The movie will include about 10 songs from SpeakerBoxx/The Love Below, which is due August 19. It will be the first in a series of six films to be written and directed by up-and-coming urban filmmakers for HBO Films.

"Both Dre and Big are pushing the envelope and are taking hip-hop to a different place," said Barber, who recently helmed Ludacris' "Act a Fool" clip. "You know how powerful their songs are. We got 'Bombs Over Baghdad,' then we go to war. Dre's starting wars with his songs and doesn't even know it."

For more Hollywood happenings, check out MTV's Movie House.

—Corey Moss

Hell yeah!!! This is gonna be the shit!!!