Big Boi, one half of the legendary hip-hop group Outkast, finally earlier this year released his long awaited solo album titled Sir Lucious Left Foot, The Son of Chico Dusty. Big Boi manages to blend style, humor and great production together to deliver an incredibly strong record with some incredibly strong material on it. While certainly the world will hold on for more Outkast, this is greatness in its own right.

First and foremost, there famously were a few tracks that were supposed to be on this album that featured Andre 3000, Boi’s counterpart from Outkast of course, that were dropped due to some record company scuffles. Although there is no doubt that those tracks would have possibly elevated this even further (and I believe you can find those tracks by searching out there online), what we do have within what was actually released is pretty stellar stuff. “Shutterbugg” is one of the top songs of the year and combines great lyrics with some excellent production and style to be just an awesome jam. It is an incredibly stellar track.

But this is definitely not a single-heavy record designed for some cross-over hits. You have some straight ahead rap jams in here as well as some more pop-oriented production on a few tracks to get a great blend of both. There is also some of that great off-beat flavor that carries over from some of the Outkast work with some of the more musically unique hip-hop tracks like “Turns Me On”. “You Ain’t No DJ”, “Follow Us”, “Daddy Fat Sax”, everything is really strong. Pretty much every track here finds a great groove to it and there are some absolutely clever and classic lines throughout the album.

From start to finish, this album really excels with great lyrics and excellent production. There is not really any low moment for the album and this is easily one of the top hip-hop albums of the last few years. Big Boi’s skill as a rapper is on full display here and he delivers strongly on all counts.

“Tangerine” by Big Boi from Sir Lucious Left Foot, The Son Of Chico Dusty