REVIEWED BY CHUCK ARNOLD
CRITIC'S CHOICE
HIP-HOP
For sheer ambition, it would be hard to top OutKast's last effort, the eclectic and electric double CD Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, which won 2003's album of the year Grammy and had everyone from Atlanta to Alaska shaking it like a Polaroid picture. Idlewild, the soundtrack to OutKast's new movie musical set in the Prohibition Era, finds André 3000 and Big Boi continuing as hip-hop's deliciously outré duo. Who else would think of doing a Cab Calloway-style call-and-response in a rap song? Which is exactly what they do on "Mighty 'O'," this disc's rousing first single. They ingeniously incorporate period sounds—a bit of blues here, a touch of jazz there—throughout Idlewild, while employing the talents of film costars like Macy Gray. Performing separately and together, each has his moments: Big Boi on the Earth, Wind & Fire-esque "In Your Dreams," Dré on "Idlewild Blue (Don'tchu Worry 'Bout Me)," which funkily riffs off the Stevie Wonder classic "Higher Ground."
DOWNLOAD THIS: "In Your Dreams"
Paris
DANCE-POP
Having gained notoriety for a sex tape in 2004, Paris Hilton plays up her tarty image to the hilt on her dance-pop debut, coming on like the lost Pussycat Doll. And while Paris isn't exactly burning, the disc is not without its guilty pleasures. "Turn It Up," one of five songs that Hilton cowrote, is a sexy, Britney-esque thumper made to be pumped in the strip club, while the single "Stars Are Blind" has a reggae-pop shimmer that makes for frothy summer fun. But Hilton—who can sing just well enough to let hit producers like Scott Storch (Beyoncé, 50 Cent) work their magic—fails to breathe any life into "Heartbeat," the album's only ballad. Meanwhile, "Jealousy," with lyrics that seem to be directed at former best friend Nicole Richie ("You used to be that shoulder/That shoulder I could lean on through it all/But now it's getting colder/There's no love between these walls"), strikes a hollow chord.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Turn It Up"
Kelis Was Here
R&B
With Kelis, R&B never stands for "routine and boring." Her banging 2003 hit "Milkshake" gave the mainstream a taste of her genre-bending blend of soul, funk and hip-hop. Now the sassy singer is back shaking things up with her fourth album, which establishes that Kelis is here to stay. Working without longtime producers the Neptunes for the first time, Kelis demonstrates that she is a woman firmly in control on cuts like the slinky first single "Bossy," on which she boasts, "I switched up the beat of the drum/That's right, I brought all the boys to the yard." From '80s electro-funk (the will.i.am-assisted "Weekend") to breezy '70s soul ("Lil Star," produced by Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo Green), Kelis confidently handles it all. She even brings out the freak in Britney Spears producer Max Martin on the rock-edged "I Don't Think So."
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Lil Star"
If You're Going Through Hell
REVIEWED BY RALPH NOVAK
COUNTRY
While Atkins's tenor is pleasant enough (if a bit nasal), he doesn't have much of a sense of humor, as evidenced on his overcooked No. 1 country hit "If You're Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)," the title cut of his third CD. He is a little wittier on "Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy)," about a father sending his daughter and her date off with a promise that "I'll be up late, cleaning this gun." But "About the South" is a lazy recycling of Phil Harris's more clever '40s hit "That's What I Like About the South."
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Cleaning This Gun"
Landon Pigg LP
ALT-POP
Landon Pigg proves that geography isn't everything. He hails from the country-music capital of Nashville, but he follows in the moody Brit-pop tradition of Coldplay and Radiohead. Pigg displays a keen sense of melody to go along with the melancholy on his full-length debut. First single "Can't Let Go" juxtaposes bright guitars and bummed-out lyrics ("I can't move on from the past/Without lifting a finger you're holding me back") delivered with Pigg's aching, falsetto-tinged vocals. Other highlights include the sweetly atmospheric "Keep Looking Up" and the near-flawless "Perfectionist," a dreamy ballad on which Pigg gives Coldplay and the other blokes something to brood about.
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Perfectionist"
Turned to Blue
REVIEWED BY V.R. PETERSON
JAZZ
Wilson, 2004's Grammy winner for best jazz vocal album, takes her song lyrics personally, infusing them with fresh meaning while extracting ever-surprising emotions. That skill delights throughout this fine set, on which Wilson is surrounded by big-band arrangements, reflective sextets and guest soloists including flautist Hubert Laws. She cruises through Ellington's "Take Love Easy" but flares dramatically on pop covers like "Just Once." The originals also impress: The title cut makes a Maya Angelou poem a percussive lament, and "Knitting Class" needles with attitude: "I'll be fine without you/Life is not about you."
DOWNLOAD THIS: "Knitting Class"
For more information on where to find our Download This picks, go to www.people.com/downloadthis
ANDRÉ 3000
FEIST Let It Die
THE JAZZ CRUSADERS Young Rabbits
WOLFMOTHER Wolfmother
BIG BOI
N.W.A Niggaz4life
GOODIE MOB Soul Food
DUNGEON FAMILY Even in Darkness
FAVORITE RAP ALBUMS
The actor-comedian, 35, and best friend Stu Stone revealed themselves to be aspiring rap stars (wink, wink) on MTV's Blowin' Up. Now the two have released their debut CD, also titled Blowin' Up.
RUN-DMC, RUN-DMC That was the first thing that I ever listened to that was rap music. They weren't singing, and the music was different and funky.
PUBLIC ENEMY, FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET Chuck D was saying all of this important and interesting stuff, and yet Flavor Flav was comical.
THE PHARCYDE, BIZARRE RIDE II THE PHARCYDE It's just a trip. It's almost like Pink Floyd, but for rap.
N.W.A, STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON That introduced me to West Coast hip-hop, dudes just coming straight at the police.
WU-TANG CLAN, ENTER THE WU-TANG (36 CHAMBERS) It was a group of people that were so creative. It unleashed the id.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
