Review: Big Boi, Sir Lucious Left Foot

Big Boi
Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
9.5/10

I’m going to cut straight to the chase: Big Boi’s debut solo album, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty, is dope! No questions asked. I must admit that over the last few years I have pretty much been a hater of most new music released under the ‘hip-hop’ genre. This is due in part to my love-hate relationships with both T-Pain (it’s hard for me to continuously hate his music after he joined forces with Andy Samberg for “I'm On a Boat”) and Lil Wayne, coupled with my complete and utter dislike of artists such as Gucci Mane and Bangs. Over the course of these past few summer months, I have tried to mentally accept that the music industry is changing; genre roles are changing and therefore, hip-hop must also change. And, although I do miss the innovative styles of such artists as Eric B. & Rakim and De La Soul, not all of the hip-hop artists today are complete crap. Actually, some of them are pretty damn amazing.

I first heard Big Boi rapping on Southerplayalisticadillacmuzik as part of the duo OutKast. This album dropped in 1994 and I distinctly remember little ol’ me sitting in the back seat of the car as my older cousin drove around Chicago with this album on full blast. By the time Stankonia dropped in 2000 I was finally old enough to seek out the album myself and sing along to the lyrics whenever I was clear of adults. At this time I knew very little about production quality or lyrical flow and judged music solely based on the beat. It’s now 2010, I’m older, wiser and I have become a hell of a lot better at distinguishing albums that I will blast for a season then quickly forget from those that I believe represent true artistry.

I can’t get enough of Sir Lucious Left Foot. Big Boi has definitely been able to hold his own both as part of Outkast and as a solo artist. Despite doubts as to his potential success releasing a full solo album not accompanied by Andre 3000 (Speakerboxx was released with Andre 3000’s The Love Below so it doesn’t count in this instance) Big Boi has proven to be a definite innovator in the music industry. Maintaining the oh-so-precise calculations of production Outkast was so well-known for, Big Boi serves listeners with back to back dope tracks. He spits ill rhymes that had me continuously saying to myself, “Oh snap, he said that”. My top four tracks off the fifteen-track album are “Follow Us ft. Vonnegut”, “Shutterbug ft. Cutty”, “Hustle Blood ft. Jamie Foxx,” and “Fo Yo Sorrows ft. George Clinton, Too Short and Sam Chris”. Some of the tracks are slow jams while others remind me of summer parties back home but all fit together so perfectly that I enjoy listening straight through the album. If you have not yet listened to Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty I highly, highly, highly, recommend you do so. And soon. I for one will definitely be rocking this album for seasons to come.

Disclaimer: I would have given the album 10/10 but I had to deduct points for Gucci Mane’s presence on the track “Shine Blockas” (Gucci’s voice is a drone but the track otherwise is pretty awesome).

-- Dominique Barron