DUBCC - Tha Connection > Outbound Connection

"The Love Below" (Listen Again for the First Time).....

(1/4) > >>

Suga Foot:
With the help from a review at HipHopSite, I finally relaized that Andre's "The Love Below" is, without a doubt, one of my all time favorite albums.  I was diggin the album before I really realized what it was, but I fuckin love it now.  Let me tell you what I'm talkin bout.

The Love Below is a concept album. It's an album that tells the story of Andre Benjamin, a lost soul looking for love, trying different personalities on for size in order to capture it. In this search, he delivers an abundance of sounds, and over the course of 20 tracks, he tells this story. It begins with the aforementioned lonely lounge singer, who by track #2 ("Happy Valentine's Day"), decides to get out there, take the bull by the horns, and meet Ms. Right-For-Tonight. This incredibly musical excursion kicks the album off with Funkadelic inspiration, as Andre defines himself as a player looking for action, never one to be struck by Cupid's "bullet". His night on the town leads to the melodic "Spread", a fast paced, drunken romp through the club scene that ends up an intoxicated drive home and zippers coming quickly undone as Andre sings "Spread, spread for me!". The next morning, Andre begins to wonder if his one-night stand was more than that, over a breezy morning ballad ("Prototype"), singing "I think I'm in love again....". As Andre settles in with his new boo, he reveals himself sprung on the spacey "She Lives In My Lap", then celebrates his new love on "Hey Ya!", where he plays Mick Jagger on this lively 60's rock anthem. But Andre's newfound fascination doesn't last, as he begins to scratch the surface of his relationship on "Roses", where he sings "I know you like to think your shit don't stank / but lean a lil' bit closer see / roses really smell like poo-poo". But "Behold A Lady" and "Pink & Blue", Andre instead takes interest in an older woman. However Andre's new interest doesn't seem to last either, despite his plea on "Love In War" "let's kiss, not fight". He examines his own mother's plight as a single parent on the incredible "She's Alive", driven by its mellow jazz pianos, however gets cold feet at "Dracula's Wedding", as fear of commitment scares even The Count from settling down. Andre's future is then put into his hand, as "Vibrate", says "the hell with love", and chooses masturbation instead.  What may at first seem like an experiment gone wrong (especially to those looking for an album of standard hip-hop), is actually a brilliant piece of music produced entirely by Andre himself, pushing the boundaries (actually dancing outside of them) of what hip-hop is; and one that must be ingested in whole, rather than a piece at a time.

-HipHopSite


Now that you have read that, and realized that the entire album tells a story, go listen to it again for the first time.  Fuckin dope album.

SGV:
It's a dope album. I was suprised by it. Dre came with a lot of dope styles. But, the album isn't for the closeminded. If you only like Hip Hop, you won't like this album. IMO, if Big Boi's disc would've been better, the LP would've been the best of the year.

KURUPTION-81:
i love the album aswell i listen to it every day.

Trauma-san:
In comparison to other concept albums, it sucks.  Maybe to you it's genius because you've never heard anything similar, but evvvvvverybody has done this.  Album didn't impress me at all.  

Kaidy:
I love that cd, i havent taken it out of my player since i bought it a couple weeks ago. easily my favorite of the year. i dont really agree with that synopsis of the album tho, its definitely a concept album dealing with a lot of aspects of love, but i dont see it as a story. i think they're looking too much into it

i have to give Andre a lot of props for having the balls to come out with an album like that. The risks he took musically are real inspirational. Great album, im glad i can actually say that this year after all the shit i've had to listen to.

anyone else still playing this daily?

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page