The illustrious rapper Shaquille O'Neill on his brilliant LP "Shaq Diesel," once told listeners "Ali Ali Ali Baba/Go tell yo Pops and yo Mama/That Shaq is the man/Period, Comma." Needless to say, when I heard that an artist named Gnarls Barkley was coming out with his record "St. Elsewhere," I anxiously awaited its release, hoping that it would match Shaqzilla's rhyme skills. Also, needless to say, I was pleased (albeit a bit disappointed) to find out that "St. Elsewhere" is not actually the product of the former NBA power forward, Sir Charles Barkley. Instead, the album springs forth from the hands DJ Danger Mouse (of "The Gray Album" fame) and Atlanta hip-hop staple Cee-Lo, and is about as far from cultishly awful athlete rap as an album could possibly be.
Indeed, "St. Elsewhere" represents a departure from most musical genres, not solely athlete rap. Filled with short, punchy tracks that defy classification, "St. Elsewhere" is perhaps the most original hip-hop album since Outkast's "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" or The Streets' "A Grand Don't Come For Free." On "St. Elsewhere," Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse eschew lengthy song evolution, with all but one of the disc's 14 tracks clocking in at under 3.5 minutes. The album hits the listener like a train and leaves them wondering what the hell just happened.
Although starting off on a bit of a shaky note with "Go Go Gadget Gospel," a track that recalls an Outkast B-side played at high speed, "St. Elsewhere" quickly sends forth its mission statement with the album's first single, "Crazy." "My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on a limb / and all I remember is thinking I wanna be like them," the song states, finishing by deducing that perhaps we are all, in fact, crazy. Although our sanity has yet to be proven, it can be safely said that listeners are indeed crazy about this single, as "Crazy" became the first song to reach No. 1 on the UK charts based solely on digital downloads. The song reached the top of the singles charts even before its physical release, and has resided at No. 1 for five straight weeks with little sign of faltering. Indeed, if Gnarls Barkley and "St. Elsewhere" are to be successful, it will be as a result of the mainstream popularity of "Crazy."
The mastery of the album is not, by any means, confined to a single song. In fact, Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo's biggest asset is their ability to resist becoming a one-trick pony. The album shuffles through styles and genres; the track "The Boogie Monster" resembles TV on the Radio, while "Just a Thought" recalls DJ Shadow's "Endtroducing..." The songs occasionally even remind the listener of Wyclef Jean or Pharrel Williams.
"St. Elsewhere" is not without its faults, however. At points on the album, the artists seem like fish out of water -- perhaps because many of the songs were recorded separately, with Danger Mouse mailing beats to Cee-Lo and Cee-Lo spitting over them in his own studio. "Transformer," "Storm Coming" and "On-Line" all seem thrown together, as if they are slightly missing the point. "Transformer" and "Storm Coming" in particular seem rushed and awkward, with a disconnect between Cee-Lo's singing and Danger Mouse's beats.
At other times, however, the unique sounds of Gnarls Barkley keeps the songs strongly afloat. "Smiley Faces," for example, is a carefree tune in which Cee-Lo explores Danger Mouse's grooves as if to see what they can support. In a recent interview, Cee-Lo said, "I guess I'm kind of messing around a bit, just trying to really charter some new territory as far as my writing." Luckily for us, Danger Mouse's edgy beats provide a great background for this experimental writing. As a result, "Smiley Faces" comes off without a hitch, and is likely to be the second single off of the album.
The record unleashes an array of hits, including "Gone Daddy Gone" (a wacky cover of the Violent Femmes' original), "Feng Shui" and "Just A Thought," as well as the two aforementioned singles. More importantly, Gnarls Barkley strays from the typical, allowing each artist to use the other to push the edge of the envelope. The album is by no means error-free and contains its fair share of mood-kills and breakbeats. Still, "St. Elsewhere" is unique enough to catch the listener's attention, and may very well bring about a change of direction in modern hip-hop. Instead of leaving the listener with an image of present-day hip-hop, the album instead paints a picture of what could possibly happen in the future. We can only hope that Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo don't shy away from the challenge and continue pursuing their musical revolution.
