The end of OutKast?

OutKast is forever
The “Idlewild” soundtrack is misunderstood. “This album is what I wanted it to be,” raves one Amazon reviewer. “Completely different and unpredictable.” Another points out that there’s “not much good rap out these days so this is a welcome release from a group that experiments with its sound. That’s what music should be.” Some online apologists ask fans to remember that “Idlewild is a soundtrack that supplements the movie, not an album supplemented by a movie.”

The movie has a lot going for it. “One of the weakest and most ridiculous aspects of popular culture is its narcissistic now-ness,” writes “Village Voice” movie critic Michael Atkinson. His “Idlewild” review goes on to say, “the movie assembles a Depression morphed and tickled with hip-hop, digital animation, and movie memories. But “Idlewild” has a sober, loving respect for history and the old South, and there by grants itself a measure of distinction.” So there.

OutKast is, was, and will always be about experimentation. “Their name should tell you their story,” says one online fan. “They have actually grown more into that name now than ever before.” According to an Amazon reviewer, “Followers of OutKast know that Big Boi and André 3000 always push the envelope.” And as Patton says in the “L.A. Weekly” interview, “We’re still students of music. We’re still learning, still looking for that moment.”

Big Boi and former presidential candidate Wesley Clark agree. In a 2003 campaign ad, Clark tells some young constituents, “I don’t care what the other candidates say, I don’t think OutKast is really breaking up.” And in a recent Associated Press interview, Patton confirmed it. “All them haters would love for us to break up … sorry haters!”

New York City-based writer Helen A.S. Popkin hopes OutKast fans, both new and old, will follow the advice of one Amazon reviewer and “Put down the Hatorade and pick up the love.”

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