“Idlewild” is meant to be the soundtrack for the OutKast movie musical about life in Prohibition-era Georgia, as well as the basis for a Broadway show and the follow-up to the Grammy-winning “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.” It’s a testament to the duo’s impressive talent that “Idlewild” even comes close to pulling any of this off.
“Idlewild” has loads of nice moments–the successful single, “Mighty ‘O’ “; the unexpected bounce of “Chronomentrophobia”; the icy electronics warmed by rhymes on “Hollywood Divorce”; and the playful Big Boi groove of “Buggface.” Even the songs that advance a story line or show off some link between hip-hop and the ’30s, like the jazzy experiment “Makes No Sense at All” or “PJ & Rooster,” are pleasant enough.
Unfortunately, there aren’t enough moments of knock-you-over greatness and certainly no “Hey Ya!” surprise to freak out over.
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Though “Idlewild” still shows plenty of the ambition that led OutKast to rewrite all of hip-hop’s rules, the songs simply don’t meet their previously ultra-high standards.