Many people are going to listen to ‘The Outsider’ and simply think Shadow has sold out. The ‘hiffy’ (Bay Area’s latest hiphop fad) rapping about bitches and bling isn’t exactly what Shadow fans have come to expect of him. However, I think it’s more that Shadow wanted to do something different. If he wanted to go commercial, why chose relatively unknown rappers? Sure, Shadow and Eminem might be a ridiculous notion, but so is the notion that he has sold out for fame, profit and glory, especially in context of the album as a whole.
The release starts strong, with a poetic introduction talking about an Outsider who comes to save the population from evil forces. It could be something to begin a Manga film. The first track, This Time (I’m Gonna Try It My Way) is basically Shadow telling everyone to get fucked because he’s doing what he’s doing, and doesn’t care what people think. The singer is not mentioned, but it’s a great soulful track, harking back to the late 70s for inspiration.
He then proceeds to bombard us with rap that is pretty damn average. Keak and Turf on 3freaks, Droop-E on the creatively titled Droop-E Drop, and Banner’s Seein Thangs could all be rapping about third world poverty, but it’s so typical in style and structure of the popular (and in my opinion) dull RnB style, it lost me the moment they opened their mouths. On subsequent listening, it is all about bitches and bling anyway. It is all so generic and boring that it’s almost as if it’s a cynical satirical homage to the music.
In reality, it probably demonstrates Shadow should stick to making solid beats for good MCs like Gift of Gab or singers like Thom Yorke. Because the album does get better. Broken Levee Blues is a nice little slide guitar blues number. Artifact sounds like someone let a speed addict lose on a drum machine and guitar in the 1980s – very alternative for a ‘commercial’ album. It reminds me a little of The Dead Kennedy’s. Backstage Girl is a cautionary tale of Myspace fans, featuring Phonte Coleman on vocals, and is comparable to ‘The Private Press’s Mashin’ On The Motorway. That is, it’s damn good.
Triplicate/Something Happened That Day is also an odd number for a someone who’s supposedly sold out – there’s no beat; just guitar, piano and wind instrument creating a haunting piece of music that’s typical of Shadow. The Tiger, Erase You and You Made It (the latter two featuring the Thom Yorke sound-a-like Chris James) are very much Shadow in his UNKLE mode. Q-Tip and Lateef bust a party jam with Enuff, but the album closing with a couple more crap raps by E40 on Dats My Part and a “remix” of 3freaks which sounds so like the original I just had to use quotation marks.
I have to admit I am disappointed by The Outsider. There’s enough crap rappers about going on how much of a bitchin’ n-word they are that I feel Shadow’s talent is wasted here. Shadow has always been an outsider though, and this album just goes to show how willing he is at trying something completely different and unexpected, even if the end result will potentially alienate fans.