The most impressive contributions are made by both members of Outkast, with Andre 3000 showcasing a ridiculously great flow on "Thought Process" and Big Boi being his usual self in "Dirty South". Even though all four members are perfectly capable of carrying songs on their own, the guest rappers on here do nothing but pull the overall quality of the album up even more. Although Cee-Lo is clearly the rapper with the most interesting and singular delivery combined with an exceptionally great voice, the other members, Khujo, T-Mo, and Big Gipp complement each other very well with a more agressive delivery which bring a good balance to the album. But what is really striking in Soul Food is that it is not only the lyrical content that is excellent but the way it is delivered as well. This same sense of struggle and injustice is detailed in nearly every song of the album, and helps delve into other subjects such as violence, religion, drug addiction, segregation, police misbehaviour and many other subjects. The opening song, "Free", is sung by the group's most famous member Cee-Lo, and is a great display of the album's best assets, which are the very engaged and precise depictions of the "constanst struggle" lived by the community from the ghetto "each and every day", as said in this same intro. It helped coin the phrase "Dirty South" to describe the southern hip-hop scene, and it has been quoted by UGK's Bun B and Outkast as being a great source of inspiration, encouraging them to try and break new grounds, which in turn lead to the making of Outkast's ATLiens and UGK's Ridin' Dirty.īut Soul Food isn't only an influential album, it is also an outstanding hip-hop masterpiece, in that it manages to combine an accurate and strong criticism of the inequalities in society with great emotion and soul. Simply put, it is the single most influential hip-hop album out of the region, with Outkast's Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik being the only other relevant album in the conversation. I shall not go further in my review without stating how influential this album is inside the southern rap scene.
While the main message behind Soul Food is the call for unity in the black community, it is also a tremendous showcase of soul, something rarely seen in today's southern hip-hop scene, and even in the hip-hop scene in general. It is both this sense of unity and identity that are best described by the title of Atlanta's Goodie Mob debut album, Soul Food, which is a type of traditionnal food appreciated by African Americans, particularly in the southern regions of the United States.
It is also a strong vector of unity, as people unite around the same table to enjoy their favorite meal. Review Summary: The GOOD DIE Mostly Over Bullshit, and Soul Food is a classic.įood is and has always been a strong part of cultural identity: you can associate meals with groups of people, regions, countries.