It’s been almost 20 years since Antwan “Big Boi” Patton and André “3000” Benjamin thoroughly put Atlanta on the map. During their time, they’ve cranked out hit after hit, and solid album after solid album.
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The closest the duo ever came to do doing solo projects was when they released their diamond-selling smash, Speaker Boxxx/The Love Below, which was packaged together, but contained their own separate discs.
But now in 2010, Big Boi releases the first actual solo album between the two with Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty. Due to industry red tape, André 3000 wasn’t able to vocally join his partner, (who has his solo deal through Def Jam) but he was able to produce on the record along with Lil Jon, Scott Storch, Salaam Remi, and of course Organized Noize.
Big Boi also invites the likes of Too $hort, T.I., B.o.B., George Clinton, Janelle Monáe, Jamie Foxx, Yelawolf, Gucci Mane, and the Dungeon Family’s Big Rube for spoken word purposes along with Khujo Goodie and Sleepy Brown to the party.
From there, the ATLien makes his solo presence felt with flawless sounds of ‘Daddy Fat Sax’ equipped with 808’s and its scratch-laden hook. He then gets a little mellow on Sleepy Brown and Joi-assisted ‘Turns Me On,’ as he caters the song strictly to ladies. Nas’ production buddy Salaam Remi then loans his talents to the catchy and bouncy ‘Follow Us’ (feat. Vonegutt).
The opera-esque ‘General Patton’ then takes center stage, as Big Boi somewhat slows down his usual fast rhyme style to ride the beat to perfection. Since Jive Records wouldn’t allow André 3000 on the record, Big Boi went and got the next best thing, which is B.o.B. who turns up on ‘Night Night’ and fills in without a hitch.
Sir Lucious maintains the same tempo throughout the album until the Lil Jon-produced and Jaime Foxx-featured ‘Hustle Blood’ comes into play, which changes the mood with its slower aura.
Other songs that help Chico Dusty’s son tie his first official solo project together are ‘Tangerine’ (feat. T.I. and Khujo Goodie), the hypnotic ‘Be Still’ (feat. Janelle Monáe), the quirky ‘You Ain’t No DJ’ which is produced by André 3000 and features Yelawolf, and ‘The Train pt. 2.’
Besides having one of the longest album titles of the year; Daddy Fat Sax AKA General Patton AKA Sir Lucious L. Leftfoot AKA The Son of Chico Dusty AKA Billy Ocean AKA Hot Tub Tony AKA Francis the Savannah Chitlin’ Pimp also has one of the best albums of the year to go right along with it.
Proving that originality isn’t dead, Big Boi successfully constructs a record reminiscent of any body of work pertaining to OutKast, but with his own twist on it; and it’s the same twist that have kept the fans coming back for more and more all these years.
