Outkast - B.O.B.

Album: Stankonia (Arista/ LA Face, 2000) Chart pos UK#61 US#69 (Hip Hop)



I thought today of doing something a bit more mainstream even though this single was as much a big as flop as the rest of the songs I’ve reviewed so far. In 2000 Outkast’s fourth album Stankonia was an album that wowed the public as well as the critics and was also thier international breakthrough. The album fused hip-hop with George Clinton-esque funk and created something that had a more forward thinking attitude that the vast majority of hip hop music has had over the past decade. Although Mrs. Jackson was the smash hit the finest cut (and most leftfield) from the album was the lead single B.O.B (Bombs Over Baghdad). The song launches is to some sped up jungle beats while Andre 3000 and Big Boi trade off rapid fire rhymes before the sound of eerie organs, gospel choirs, scratching and overdriven guitar solos are added into the mix before finishing on an extended chanted refrain. This is the sound of two men throwing in everything but the kitchen sink , while standing back and watching all the elements work together beautifully.

Unfortunately the video here isn’t the official video as the assholes at Sony have disabled embedding.