The album starts out strong with “Mighty O”, a song many thought would be the first single released by the group. It reminds the world that Andre 3000 still is one of the best lyricist out, as he does what so many have longed to hear him do... trade verses with Big Boi on a hip-hop track. They both lay down killer verses to a track that's largely based on Cab Calloway's "Hi-De- Ho" and make it look easy. It then begins shifting gears as the pair trade solo songs a'la SpeakerBoxxx/The Love Below with Dre's Banjo laced, “Idlewild Blues” and Big Boi's, marching band romp “Morris Brown” being the highlights. A slight surprise follows next with “Hollywood Divorce” as the duo trades verses again, but this time with Lil' Wayne and Snoop Dogg, who both do a pretty good job of staying on subject, as they muse about the exploitation by Hollywood of black culture in general and black music specifically.
If this were a play “Hollywood Divorce” would mark the end of the first act and the Zora interlude would be the beginning of the second. The album then really starts resembling a soundtrack with the infectious, jazzy “Call The Law” leading the way. Newcomer Janelle Monae takes center stage and entrances with a performance that will certainly lead to a solo album. “In Your Dreams”, another standout track also features Ms. Monae along with Sleepy Brown lending their vocals to the hook. All other tracks are either directly from the movie or are related to the movie. I would suggest seeing the movie to fully understand them, but even if you don't they're still very impressive. At the end of the day if you consider it a full length album or a soundtrack one thing remains the same, Idlewild proves that not only is Outkast one of the greatest hip-hop groups ever, they are one of the greatest musical acts ever.
