It was a long time ago that the likes of Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park soured rap-rock as a genre in my eyes. But, over a decade later, the Marietta, Georgia-based Vonnegutt are trying their hand at a successful rap-rock combination. Founded by emcee Kyle Lucas and guitarist Neil Gerrard, Vonnegutt grew to a be a four-piece with the addition of drummer Taylor White and bassist Patrick Postlewait. And, yes, their name is an homage to legendary American novelist Kurt Vonnegut.

Together, the foursome make what they describe as a blend of hip hop and rock, with pop sensibilities. And that hybrid of sounds is surely what attracted the attention of Big Boi, on whose Purple Ribbon Vonnegutt recently re-released their EP The Appetizer. A full-length album, Falling Up The Stairs, is slated for a release early next year on Purple Ribbon/Favorite Gentleman.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You probably heard their first single “Bright Eyes” blaring from a car speaker this summer, and it’s no wonder why. Like the rest of their four-song EP, “Bright Eyes” is an infectious, airwave-friendly song that sounds like it was written just for your little sister and her posse of pre-teen friends. Vonnegutt’s music definitely has a place, and while that place might not be my iPod, it’s easy to see exactly what the band’s growing fanbase (and Big Boi) loves about them.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Check out Vonnegutt’s official CMJ showcase at Sullivan Hall next Friday, October 22 to decide for yourself.  They’re also playing S.O.B.’s on October 21.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE CONTEST

Outkast’s Big Boi is coming to town this week, in support of his spectacular debut solo album Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty. The album is one of the best of the year, and the show–which includes tracks from the project as well as Outkast favorites–is not one to be missed.

We’re giving away a pair of tickets to the show. Click the link below to enter the contest.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE CONTEST

Most of y’all know that Big Boi’s album Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty was one of the best albums of the year, so I’m glad to see that he’s touring to support it after a long hiatus. Unfortunately there is no word on whether Andre 3000 will make any appearances at any select dates but an Outkast reunion would be the business. Just sayin’. (via Pitchfork)

Tour Dates (East Coast Dates in Bold)

08-18 Miami, FL – Sobe Live
08-19 Salt Lake City, UT – Twilight Concert Series
08-26 Atlanta, GA – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
09-02 Iowa City, IA – University of Iowa
09-04 Atlanta, GA – Heineken Red Star Soul
09-05 Atlantic City, NJ – Casbah
09-06 New York, NY – Brooklyn Bowl
09-08 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
09-17 Chicago, IL – Congress Theater
09-18 Providence, RI – Brown University
09-22 Arcata, CA – Arcata Community Center
09-23 San Francisco, CA – Regency at Grand Ballroom
09-24 Las Vegas, NV – The Palms Casino
09-25 Fontana, CA – Epicenter
09-28 Atlanta, GA – The Tabernacle
10-01 Bloomington, IN – Indiana University
10-08 Columbia, SC – University of South Carolina
10-15 San Diego, CA – UC of San Diego
10-23 Seattle, WA – Showbox Sodo
10-28 Charleston, SC – Charleston Visitors Center
10-29 Asheville, NC – Asheville Civic Center (Moogfest)
10-30 Houston, TX – Tom Bass Park Amphitheater
11-12 Chattanooga, TN – University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
11-18 Sydney, Australia – Fox Studios

In 1994, I became obsessed with hip hop and music in general. The album that did it, Outkast’s debut, Southernplayalisticcadillacmusik. Prior to that point, all I knew about Southern hip hop was that I thought the Geto Boys were the most “real” rap group I’d ever heard in my life, “My Mind’s Playing Tricks On Me” was the dopest and most unique song I’d ever heard, and that Mr. Scarface was the most underrated emcee in all of the game. The second I popped Outkast’s debut into my Walkman, I knew three things. Foremost, Outkast was unlike anything I’d ever heard before. They were a blend of funk, soul, honesty and superior lyricism. I also felt that they had an uncanny chemistry, like a Simon and Garfunkel of rap. As well, I told every single one of my friends that Big Boi and Dre were going to be the base of a Southern hip hop revolution. Well a Ludacris, Master P, Lil Wayne, Paul Wall, T.I., Soulja Boy and Gucci Mane later, and we’ve hit another evolutionary point. And here comes Big Boi once again with new release Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty to yet again set the creative and stylistic precedent for the Dirty South.

Whereas Dre evolved into Andre 3000, a celestial rap superpower with his feet firmly rooted in the streets, Big Boi has merely become one of the best meat and potatoes emcees in the industry. There’s no flash or eye catching glitter to his style. It’s straight ahead lyricism over crunk, trunk destroying rhythms, still, 16 years later, the kind of music you play in your Cadillac as you cruise the trap in the SWATS on a humid summer evening. In taking nearly three years to put together Sir Lucious Left Foot, the industry changed, and Southern hip hop definitely veered away from lyricism and into the realm of producers, namely Fatboi, Tha Business and Bangladesh becoming in many ways larger stars than the rappers that rapped over their tracks. In one hour flat, Big Boi, in an era with T.I. serving time and Lil Wayne firmly entrenched in a Sun-Ra esque period of interpretive rhyming, resets the game and brings it back to basics. With producers familiar to him like Scott Storch, Organized Noise, Salaam Remi, and yes, rap partner Andre 3000, a veteran crew performs in a veteran manner to execute a stellar album.

Already released singles “Shutterbugg” and “Shine Blockas” (with Gucci Mane) are the mainstream club crunkers we expect. However, this album being three years in production is fire from beginning to end. “General Patton” features Big Boi at his braggadocios battle emcee best, while “You Ain’t No DJ” features support from buzzed about neophyte Yelawolf, whose style isn’t too much of a far cry from the established Outkast playbook. “Tangerine” once again shows Chico Dusty’s boy to be a top level storyteller, not having slacked since the days of “Git Up, Get Out.” This album is likely Big Boi’s precedent setter for the rest of his career. Having largely been silent insofar as a creative direction, with guest shots from Janelle Monae, George Clinton, Too Short, Jamie Foxx, Joi and Sleepy Brown, we get the method to his madness here, and it’s truly exemplary.

Following in the fine footsteps of the Wu-Tang Clan, The Roots and Jay-Z, Big Boi’s release shows that there is a definite necessity for hip hop’s veterans to be active stewards of setting the standard of excellence for the game to aspire to for the next generation. This album, by merely featuring a hip hop stalwart doing his job to the best of his ability, is likely a contender for being one of the finest rap albums of 2010.

So the word around the interwebs is that there was/is some apparent beef between Big Boi and Jive about this song making it onto the final cut of Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (which it didn’t). Jive didn’t ‘know what to do with it’ (WTF is that about?) and in a way they set out to make it disappear. HA! Some of those guys over at the ’big’ labels are so funny. Still thinking that’s possible in 2010. Silly record label execs.

Anyway, suffice to say Big Boi is pissed and confused; a fact he let be known to GQ Magazine. But fortunately for us MP3 heads the song mysteriously leaked onto the net yesterday and although the thought of a major still not being able to grasp the concept of the digital revolution still angers/puzzles me, just seeing the names Andre 3000 and Big Boi on a song together is a great  enough distraction for the moment.

“Lookin’ For Ya” is an awesome treat for an Outkast fan. It is produced by Boi Wonda and also features Sleepy Brown which together makes up the crew that laced us with ”Playa’s Ball” .  It’s innovative hip hop and man… André sure knows how to ride that beat well. Peep it below and to read what Big Boi had to say about his tiff with Jive click here. 

Big Boi – Lookin’ For Ya Feat. Andre 3000

Big Boi – Shutterbug

Big Boi just dropped his first single, “Shutterbug” off his upcoming Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty album. Right from the jump the beat comes in and just snatches you. It’s that old school 80′s type beat - fit for candy painted whips and long drives to nowhere. Still not too sure of the album release date but word is that we can expect cameos from T.I, Jaime Fox and Andre 3000. Peep the song.

6.) Dr. Dre – Detox

Slated for release ever since 2004, Detox has had a default slot on everybody’s anticipated album list for almost half a decade. 2010 is supposed to be the year. Yes, I’ll believe it when I see it, but my sources say it’s true. Will Dre go the Jay-Z “old man” route and school the youngin’s? Or will he take new rappers like Freddie Gibbs and Nipsey Hussle under his wing like he did with a young Snoop Dog? Only time will tell.

5.) Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

Expected to drop in 2009, Big Boi’s first official solo release has been shelved for the better part of this year. Even though Royal Flush received amazing buzz on the Internets, and they actually filmed a video for “Somethin’ Gotta Give,” Outkast fans have been left waiting. All is not lost: Big Boi has been touring the country for the past few months, and he just dropped a new track, “Shine Blockas”, with Gucci Mane. All is not lost.

4.) Lupe Fiasco – Lasers

Ever since Lupe dropped his Grammy nominated album, The Cool, the Chicago rapper has been somewhat of a mystery. I truly believe that Lupe is confused and fustrated. He’s easily one of the best MC’s this decade but he never got the respect from the old hip-hop crowd that he deserved, and the new school’s lack of respect for lyricism won’t help him either. However, as his freestyle rant at MTV’s “hottest” rapper list would show us, he is still hungry, and hopefully he will be out for blood in 2010.

3.) Diddy – Last Train To Paris

This album will either be a game changer, or the biggest bust of 2010. Hyped for almost all of 2009, via Diddy’s Twitter, a Felix The Housecat produced mixtape, and an MTV show, the electro-tinged Last Train to Paris is a concept album, which follows your boy has he chases a girl from London to the French capital. Will it be too European and avant-garde for American audiences? Possibly. Or it could be the next 808s and Heartbreak. It will all be revealed next year.

2.) Corinne Bailey Rae – The Sea

After dropping the single Like A Star and becoming a commercial and critical darling 2006, Ms. Rae simply dropped off the face of the earth. The sudden death of her husband last year kept Rae out of the public eye, however a few weeks ago, she posted a video on her site, detailing her comeback. Shortly thereafter she made appearances on UK television with her newest single “I’d Do It All Again”. The Sea, promises to be a deeply personal album, dedicated to her husband, and fitting follow-up t0 her self-titiled debut.

1. ) Sade – Soldier of Love

Yes, this one is a no brainer. I mean, come on, it’s the first album from Sade in 10 years!!!! Nuff said.

It’s good to have a true original back in the limelight. At 50, Ms. Adu has still “got it,” and during her almost 30 year career she has not yet disappointed me. I will be first in line to cop this for sure.

BONUS – Other albums that are eagerly anticipated:
RJD2 – The Colossus
Hot Chip – One Life Stand
Vampire Weekend – Contra
Radiohead (rumored)

Photos by EvaBlue. PLEASE SUPPORT!

Bonjour! Big ups to our homie Laurent and his peoples at 33 Mag in Montreal, Canada for providing this amazing review of this show! Look for more cross-border collaborations with Couch Sessions and 33 Mag real soon!

After a fast and absolutely unscientific survey, I can affirm that nobody could remember if Outkast ever stepped in the 514 during their career. Sizzurp, apparently, hits more than we’d like to believe.

So, the presence of Outkast’s Big Boi at Club Soda in Montreal’s notorious Red Light District had a particular significance for North of the Border’s playas and Montreal’s Funk Freaks. There were definitely people waiting to hear a blasting sound system exerting from the upcoming Sir Luscious Left Foot: The son of Chico Dusty. But most of us were there for a travel across time and space: Direction Stankonia, Georgia, era 1994-2000.

After pushing the audience’s patience to its limits, the last of the multitude of opening acts finally retreated where they should have never left: backstage. Four hours after the doors opened, alas, the tired host announced, trying to be as convincing as he could, that the South was in the building and ready to jump on stage. Yesssssssir, ‘cause with beers at $6.50 a pop, I was drinking more dollars an hour than my hourly rate at work.

Without wasting a second, “the least effeminate half of Outkast” (as a good friend of mine puts it) was rocking the room with the hits he wrote with Andre 3K–2 Dope Boys in a Cadillac, Git up Git out, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, Ms Jackson–all in 15 minutes! Woah. I didn’t need the ATLiens chorus to raise my hands in the air and wave them like a Wacky Waving inflatable arm flailing tube man. The projection of the amazing videography of Outkast was flawless and (surprisingly) perfectly coordinated with the song performed on stage. It made me realize though, how much hip-hop needs more artists capable of producing inspired and varied videos. I mean, who else can claim to have recorded videos with an entire pet shop, crazy indu-alien chicks and fierce pimps and playas from the A-Town?

The mood couldn’t have been smoother to introduce the new joints from Big Boi’s LP. It was a real treat to (re)discover in such good conditions Royal Flush (with Andre 3k and Raekwon), Shine Blockas (with Gucci Mane) and For ya Sorrows (featuring George Clinton & Too $hort), one of my favourite tracks of the year so far. A twitter leak is always good to spread the word but a blast-in-the-face performance is still the best way to break singles. Yet aware that new tracks are always a bit rough on a crowd’s spirit, Hot Tub Tony rapidly got back to its most known material and sped up the night with its best shots. You could have had your booty dipped in liquid nitrogen, I like the way you move, Bombs over Bagdad, The whole world and Player’s ball would have made your shorts bounce left to right. The grand finale was a wink at those who followed Big Boi’s adventures with the Purple Ribbon All-Stars. The explosive Kryptonite gave a chance to C-Bone to shine a bit outside of his backing vocal role and drained the last bit of energy out of the fans. ”I be on it/On it/On it/I be on that kryptonyte!” Ya!

I left with my ears buzzing happily and totally satisfied, something that doesn’t happen at much of these pre-album promo tours. DC people, be assured: Big Boi still got the stank! You better catch him when he hits your town.

Empire Isis – Participate

If you’re in Montreal, you best the head over to Club Soda Saturday night to check out my homegirl Empire Isis and Big Boi of Outkast perform. Moroccan-born Empire Isis has been making movies up North for quite some time now, with her blend of world music and hip-hop styles. And Big Boi really needs no introduction. The other half of Outkast is supporting his album Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty and just dropped a new single with Gucci Mane. It’s a good look for my Montreal peoples for sure.

Big Boi – Shine Blockas (feat. Gucci Mane)

This showcase is gonna be insane! Big Boi of Outkast is performing with a LIVE BAND, and the Dallas Austin Experience as well. K’Naan and the ever sassy Janelle Monae will be on the bill as well. Also include is the Florida Black Punks Whole Wheat Bread who we profiled way back in 2005.

My Thursday schedule is insane, so I don’t know if I can make it for the entire bill, but if you’re on Austin that night, you have no choice.

Anybody down in Atlanta going to this? I’m not the biggest ballet fan, but this type of thing is such a good look for Big Boi. It pretty much Outkast can do pretty much anything and still come out on top.  However, didn’t we all think that Andre 3000 would do something like this first?

If you’re in Atlanta and are going to this, I would love to get a review.

More Info/Tickets from the Atlanta Ballet Website.