As part of the
OutKast
posse, this 14-strong Southern hip-hop collective is guaranteed a certain amount of attention, but on
Even in Darkness
they show that they've got enough talent and individuality to transcend the attendant hype. Like
,
the Dungeon Family
make use of intensely funky production and loopy, good-natured, decidedly non-gangsta humor a la
P-Funk
. But this isn't just Outkast, Jr. at work; the combined talents of
Big Boi
, cult hero
Cee Lo
Backbone
, and all the rest make this a distinctive effort. With an inventive production sensibility that bears echoes not just of
and
, but even of
Prince
, and a truly collective approach wherein the whole is even greater than the already-impressive sum of its parts,
is accessible but sophisticated, fun but substantive, and one of the hip-hop highlights of 2001. ~ Rovi Staff