Outkast - Idlewild
MusicMash Rating: not rated yet
arts.guardian.co.uk Rating: 0
The skit's protagonist is a fruity-voiced black actor, protesting that rappers "who get into acting are disrespecting the craft - they're taking jobs from us trained actors". This is not so far from Samuel L Jackson explaining why he turned down a role in 50 Cent's biopic Get Rich or Die Tryin': "Hollywood people tend to think that because one is successful in one area of entertainment, they can bring them into this particular world." Admittedly, no one told Samuel L Jackson to "act like he got some sense up in his bitch" as happens here, but it's hard not to draw a parallel.It doesn't end there. Although much of this album consists of songs from Outkast's forthcoming movie musical, Idlewild, awkwardly interpolated between them are non-soundtrack numbers that focus on Hollywood itself. "Things have changed, the cast is Hollywood," complains Life Is Like a Musical. "Don't let them change us." The mournful Hollywood Divorce flatly accuses the film industry of racism: "All the fresh styles always start out as a hood thing ... by the time it reaches Hollywood, it's over ... take our game, take our name, then they kick us to the kerb." Outkast have never made things easy for themselves - Andre "3000" Benjamin's defiant dandyism spawned a rumour that he was gay, a career-killer in the notoriously homophobic world of hip-hop - but this represents a whole new strain of bloody-mindedness: simultaneously trailing your debut feature film and attacking the institution that allowed you to make a feature film in the first place.Intriguingly, both tracks are solo efforts by Benjamin. It's a moot point whether his concern about Tinseltown racism and snobbery is founded in his own painful attempts to start an acting career: simply watching Guy Ritchie's Revolver is enough to instil a profound loathing for the entire movie industry, so imagine how Benjamin must have felt after taking a supporting role in the film. But either way, it certainly makes for peculiar listening.A more pressing question is why the songs from the soundtrack seem such hard work. The movie is set in the 1930s, and the music understandably follows suit. It is OutKast's misfortune to become fixated on updating swing-era jazz at precisely the same point that everyone, with the possible exception of Michael Parkinson, has become heartily sick of the idea of updating swing-era jazz, stupefied by toothsome young men doo-be-dooing their way through Radiohead's Fake Plastic Trees, unable to face another unprovoked assault on the Great American Songbook by Robbie Williams or Rod Stewart. It doesn't matter how dextrously the duo do the updating - and while you'd never confuse anything here with the oeuvre of Jamie Cullum, there's certainly nothing as exotic or intriguing as the similarly minded Bowtie from Idlewild's multi-platinum predecessor, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. The mere sound of another big band parping into life is enough to leave the listener feeling like a foie gras goose: shove much more of this stuff down my throat and I'm going to burst.If that was all that was on offer, we would be in deep trouble, but when Idlewild the album shifts away from Idlewild the movie, it soars. Forthcoming single Morris Brown is spectacular. A rare collaboration between OutKast's two members - Benjamin provides the music, partner Antwan "Big Boi" Patton the rap - it features a clattering rhythm, a glorious chorus rooted in 60s sunshine pop and the unexpected appearance of a marching band. Famed for his catholic music tastes, Benjamin's non-soundtrack contributions are suitably off-the-wall. Life Is Like a...
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