Despite the label wranglings, Big Boi’s delayed solo debut couldn’t have had a more timely release. Between mainstream hip-hop’s current squalor and Dirty South’s failure to progress beyond weak Lil Wayneisms, Boi’s protegé Janelle Monaé’s rising star and André’s hibernation, SLFF represents a crystallization of all of Outkast’s eccentric brilliance shoe-horned into current production templates to create what is no doubt the most important rap record of the year, delivered by one of the few artists still capable of true influence in the genre.
Words: Daniel Gray
