In full disclosure, you should know that I am a white, bearded, thirty-something male with musical roots mostly in rock and metal. Since Trey and I have been friends for as long as I can remember, some of our musical influences have rubbed off on each other. Dungeon Family’s Even in Darkness was the first hip-hop album that really struck a chord with me. Rappers were actually saying something credible, with eloquence, and without dropping the F-Bomb or the N-Word every other syllable. And on top of that, the songs were catchy, with each member’s style so distinctive, I could actually tell them apart.
I have such fond memories of riding around with Trey and listening to that album, I’ve always wanted to hear more from the same group. Well, here we are over a decade later with a new Goodie Mob album, it’s approximately one-fourth of the Dungeon Family members I care about, so what the hell, I’ll take it.
After one listen through of Age Against the Machine, I felt that it was both better than I expected and also disappointing. My disappointment comes from something that Trey mentions as well: the interludes/skits/mini songs. In rock, it’s best to have a tight knit album, a collection of solid songs from start to finish. Anything else in between is what we call filler. Filler breaks up the album, ruins the flow, like bad grammar pulls you out of a good book. On AATM, we get a collection of good songs crippled by filler. I feel like there is a solid EP right in the middle of this record with the rest being unfinished tracks or Cee-Lo solo songs. It’s possible that at the end of the Mob’s studio time in Jamaica, they just gathered what they had and splorked it onto the record with no concern for completeness or flow. It’s a shame because the good songs on here really are good.
I’m impressed how well Cee-Lo fits into this album, considering his recently found pop status. He doesn’t feel out of place when all the members are on the same track. He doesn’t shine above the rest or stick out like, “Oh, there’s Cee-Lo” as something separate from “those other guys”. It feels very natural and it’s good to hear Cee-Lo rapping again, even though he is an astoundingly good singer. There are a couple of instances where I feel he may have snuck into the studio at night and inserted some of his own solo tracks into the mix. While not bad, those songs do stand apart and don’t gel quite right with the album as whole, furthering the overall disjointed vibe.
The production here is excellent and I’m glad to see from a prog-rock perspective that these guys take some risks with the tracks, changing up rhythms and using odd sounds here and there. It’s an impressive effort that keeps the good songs from sounding too same-y.
At the end of the day, I’m glad I got the album. Big Rube’s voice on the intro track transported me back to 2001 and made me relieved that even as I get older and everything changes, some things still remain to take me back there again. I like this album purely based on nostalgia, but I also recognize the moments of actual quality that shine through from time to time. If you aren’t a fan of hip-hop, it probably won’t sway your opinion much, but you could do a lot worse. You could do a lot worse.
-Attikuh Isley
And now on to Trey-K and the main event:
Unfortunately in 1999, Goodie Mob ran into a roadblock with their third album World Party. Surprisingly, Goodie Mob ended up doing what many fans thought OutKast would do a long time ago - venture too far away from their core sound in an attempt to innovate and then alienate their core fan base. Despite being disappointing, the album was not that bad. The Mob's rhymes were above average, and the production was still solid (even then-unknown producer Kanye West laced the song "Rebuilding"). However, when your group name means "The Good Die Mostly Over Bullshit" and you lead with the single "Get Rich To This" and "What It Ain't" featuring TLC, you are gonna have fans scratching their heads. At best, the singles misrepresented the album, though they were not bad songs. They just did not belong on a Goodie Mob album.
A lot has changed for the Goodie Mob since 1999. While OutKast's popularity went into the stratosphere, the Mob called it quits in 2002, citing creative differences with their record label and within the group. The members ventured into their solo projects, but the Mob eventually came back together minus Cee-Lo on 2004's One Monkey Don't Stop No Show. Fans widely considered the album's title as a diss to Cee-Lo, who at the time was saying in interviews that the Goodie Mob was nothing without him. The group always claimed that the title referred to the industry and personal obstacles (Khujo had lost part of his leg in a car accident in 2002), but fans refused to believe it. Fortunately, the group reconciled there differences, and by 2006, they were talking about releasing a new album. However, around that time, Cee-Lo's side project with producer Danger Mouse i.e. Gnarls Barkley took off behind the mega-hit "Crazy." Next thing you know, Cee-Lo went from an artist with two under-appreciated solo albums to a pop music darling. The reunion looked like it was dead, but Cee-Lo and the group were adamant that a new album was coming. They even did a reunion tour in 2009-2010 (I was so mad I did not go when they came to New York back then. Luckily, I saw them in Brooklyn earlier this week. Great show!). Cee-Lo then hit even bigger on his own with his 2010 album The LadyKiller and the infectious hit single "Fuck You." This new found success led to new opportunities in the industry, including a role as the judge on NBC's The Voice. Nevertheless, Cee-Lo and the group maintained their goal of releasing a new album, and after a 14-year wait, we finally get the new Goodie Mob album Age Against The Machine.
With this album, Goodie Mob faced a lot of obstacles. After not working together for so long, would they be able to establish the same chemistry as the previous albums? Not a problem here. Furthermore, has the time away from each other affected their lyrical prowess, especially Cee-Lo with many of his recent projects containing more singing than rapping? Not a problem here, either. Would Goodie Mob try to be progressive with the album's production or try to recreate the sound that people loved from their debut? This was probably the toughest obstacle for the group.
Personally, I never doubted the Mob as emcees, and I never doubted Cee-Lo either because he has been doing both singing and rapping at an exceptional level for years. Still, one wondered whether Cee-Lo's solo success would influence the new album's sound, as he has pushed musical boundaries with his work. While Goodie Mob has done that as well in the past, the musical landscape, especially in rap, is no longer as open to innovators as it used to be. Most rap artists with popular songs on the radio have very little lasting power and will likely be forgotten in a few years. A lot of that has to do with the way that the music industry rapidly churns out artists in order to keep up with the short attention span of listeners with disposable income. From listening to their interviews before the album's release, Goodie Mob was very aware of that. They remained dedicated to bringing a message in their music and not be limited by the current musical landscape. After all, their dedication in doing that with their previous albums is the only reason that they are relevant today.
It's refreshing to hear that in a sincere, non-self indulgent tone (check Kanye if you want the opposite), but the question is whether it would pay off. Both taking chances and sticking to the same formula have worked and not worked for rap artists. OutKast, A Tribe Called Quest, Run DMC, and the Neptunes made their careers being innovators. However, Kanye West's failed attempt at a new sound threatens to derail his successful run in hip hop. Jay-Z has established a musical empire by basically sticking with the same formula throughout his career (though he did open himself up with new producers). On the other hand, DMX's refusal to take chances with his music caused his career to stall (his personal and legal issues did not help, either). At the end of the day, no one can guarantee whether staying the course or innovating will pay off. At the very least, you can respect anyone who tries to do something different. I felt that way about Goodie Mob before this album, and I still feel the same after listening to it.
Let me speak on the issues I have with it first. The abundance of skits, interludes, and short songs can be too much and kind of a let down. I am not opposed to them not one bit. In fact, I complimented the use of skits on Kendrick Lamar's recent album to enhance its appeal. Unlike Goodie Mob's previous efforts, they do not add much to the listening experience. Fortunately, they are short for the most part, so they do not hold up the album too much.
In addition, Cee-Lo's thumbprints are all over the production on this album, and the results are mixed. Many of the tracks sound like they could have been on a Gnarls Barkley album. I was surprised that DangerMouse did not produce the tracks "State of the Art (Radio Killa)" and "Power" because one could easily be fooled. I like Gnarls Barkley and always have liked them, but I was not expecting that much influence for a Goodie Mob album. Even though the Mob always want to do something different on each record, I was disappointed that longtime producers Organized Noize had no involvement in the album. As innovators themselves, ONP could definitely have helped Goodie Mob develop a new sound yet still be accessible. Also, Cee-Lo basically has three solo songs on the album, and it makes it feel like the rest of the group are just frequent guests. The aforementioned "Power" has no other members on it, and only Big Gipp spits a short verse on the track "Amy," which has Cee-Lo and guest vocalist V singing throughout the song. The track "Nexperience" doesn't bother me as much, though, for it is a sequel to Cee-Lo's excellent solo track "The Experience" off of Still Standing. While it pails in comparison to the original track, the song's message is possibly more relevant now due to Cee-Lo's recent crossover success and his observations dealing with a new audience that he has never dealt with before (strangely, "Power" addresses that issue directly and misses the mark).
When it works, though, it works when the Goodie Mob are all together unified and hitting you with the food for your brain for which fans have gobbled up since their debut. The aforementioned "State of the Art (Radio Killa)" could be a progressive, modern version of Ice Cube's "Turn Off The Radio." While their verses are short, the entire Mob expresses their distaste for mainstream radio and how the lack of substance on the radio is affecting the youth. The single "I'm Set" is when the album really kicks into gear, and over a pounding The Grey Area beat, the Mob reminds listeners that they are still a force in rap music. Another highlight is the Get Cool-produced track "Pinstripes" featuring T.I., a furiously-paced street anthem that would be a great choice for the next single.
The lead single "Special Education" featuring Janelle Monae continues Goodie Mob's tradition of dropping knowledge in an easily digestible fashion. If any track shows that the Mob hasn't lost a step, it is this one:
Scientists stood around in silence as I was being born
Was I quote-unquote "special" or was there somethibg wrong?
My skin was black, my heart was gold and my tounge was silver
And the fact that I could TALK already, that was a (THRILLER~!)
I fear what I don't understand so let me warn you
Especially when you make too much noise about being normal
Unusual but beautiful, the bond, the blessing
Summa cum laude, School of Exceptional Youth, X-Men
Let me put something poetic into plain English
I'd rather die than to not be distinguished
Outsiders have no desires to be equal
When V.I.P. stands for Very Insecure People
This song has been labeled as an anti-bullying song, but there is more to it. Many public schools have been criticized for putting outspoken, creative children in special education as a way to stigmatize them as well as receive government money to "educate" them. Many public schools receive money for every child in special ed, so they are motivated to diagnosis children with some sort of disorder, even though teachers with no training in child psychology usually make the diagnosis. At the same time, children believe that there is something wrong with them and get crushed by that stigma. Maybe I am reaching here, but that's the first idea I thought about when Goodie Mob released this single. Anyway, I do think that Janelle Monae's hook did not need the vocal effect on it, but that's a minor issue.
The rest of the album remains a mixed bag. Songs such as "Kolors," "Understanding" featuring V, and "Father Time" gives you that nostalgic Goodie Mob feel that takes you back to the Soul Food/Still Standing days. However, other songs such as "Come As You Are" and "Southern Girl" seem like Cee-Lo tracks where the rest of the Mob is just along for the ride. That does not mean that the music is bad. "Come As You Are" is a nice, high energy track that I wish could have been a little longer, and "Southern Girl" could actually be a sleeper hit thanks to banjo-assisted production and Cee-Lo's catchy ass chorus. Beneath the experimentation and eclectic sounds are messages that one does not hear enough in hip hop, which is a great thing. However, in my opinion, finding the messages beneath the production is the main problem with this album. Goodie Mob's main appeal to their fans was their courage to be upfront with their opinions, put it in the listener's face, and do it with some banging production BEHIND the message. Here, the production takes priority on most of the songs, and it can be frustrating to those expecting to be brought back to Goodie Mob's heyday of the late '90s. My frustration with the production is similar to the problems I had with Kanye's Yeezus album. However, Goodie Mob at least maintained some competent, conscious lyricism on the album while Kanye eventually got lost in the dark, damp place better known as his own asshole. I cannot say that I love Age Against The Machine. I kinda like it, but for the most part, I respect and admire this album. These four boys from ATL still have some fight in them, and I hope there is more music to come from them in the future. I understand that it could be a long time due to Cee-Lo's popularity, but I hope that when it happens, then it will be the Goodie Mob instead of Cee-Lo featuring those 3 other guys from that group Cee-Lo was in.
P.S. - their show in Brooklyn on 8/24/13 was off the chain! Y'all need to come back!
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