In the commercial rap arena, few prospects are riskier than making the transition from a conventional sound to more avant-garde leanings. It can either bring you critical acclaim and general acceptance from the populace (Andre 3000) or it can alienate your original fanbase without appealing to the new audience whose eye you'd hoped to capture (Common). Cee-Lo's latest record, however, treads the line perfectly, allowing him to play by his own terms, while maintaining the kind of strong hooks, production, and songs that pretty much anyone can get into.
His solo debut, 2002's Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections, was solid but ultimately forgettable and singularly toned. But Green seems to have focused on cohesion this time out, as this new collection of songs tie together nicely, despite the record's diverse melting pot of spoken word, R&B;, rap and gospel. Those expecting the pensive introspection and homemade synth-hop of his debut should look elsewhere, as this record draws on his greatest strength: the excitable rhyme flow that initially made him stand out from the rest of the Goodie Mob.
Cee-Lo's most interesting aspect is his adaptable persona: The way he shifts from an apologetic former gun-toting drug dealer to a discotheque lover man to a church preacher gives this album a ridiculous depth of replay. And lyrically, he dominates much like he did on the Outkast side project Dungeon Family's Even in Darkness, spitting battle salvos ("I've been running since 'Rock Box'/ I've cocked glocks and locked blocks/ And rocked rocks in drop-tops") and street knowledge ("When it hit ya, it usually hits somebody with ya/ Make 'em risk a total eclipse of the sun to get richer") with the confidence of a man on a mission.
His mission statement is "The Art of Noise". Produced by The Neptunes with background vocals from Pharrell, the track is equal parts In Search Of... snares, and the piano part from Jay-Z's "Allure", making for a minimalist exercise that burrows into your skull with its emphatic chorus. Cee-Lo sounds as excited to have this beat as we are to hear him over it-- and he doesn't disappoint. Employing his half-singing/half-rapping cadence, he draws attention instantly, asking the listener to "Have mercy, if I seem to be heavy/ I don't mean to be heavy," as if asking for acceptance regardless of his many distinguished quirks. Needless to say, in a post-"Hey Ya" environment, a song like this could easily make a giant dent in the singles chart.
The playgrounds that this "five-foot-six-inch god" inhabits, for the first time, match his obvious technical proficiency, maintaining a general tone of futuristic chops and bombastic horns throughout the record that recall Lyrics Born's monster debut Later That Day. Standouts include the Organized Noise-produced stuttering chopped toy piano and xylophone on "Childz Play", the shockingly original DJ Premier production of finger snaps and subtle cop-show sax on "Evening News", and the Roswell synth whistle, exploding black-college horn line and "We Will Rock You" stomp of "Scrap Metal". The only drawbacks are the occasional disco and 80s R&B-inspired; cuts, as they fail to completely fit in context with the other beats.
Cee-Lo doesn't come out completely unscathed himself: At 18 tracks, there's a bit too much music here, and some tracks, like the occasional spoken word-style pieces, prevent the record from being the opus Cee-Lo is clearly capable of making. But even with these minor faults, a happy medium is achieved-- especially given that the record contains only two skits (the "Intro" and "Outro", both roughly 20 seconds long). Which leaves us with a strong experimental record that draws on Cee-Lo's malleable style of rap, staying deeply grounded in the Southern traditions that started his career even while he pushes the boundaries of convention, making for one of the year's strongest hip-hop albums to date.
