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Title: Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections
By: Cee-Lo
Released by: Arista
Released on: 03/19/2002
Rating (out of 10): 5
Date: 06/28/2002

More Imperfection Than Anything Else

Ever since Hip-Hop music first started flooding into the rap industry from the Dirty South, rappers from that region have been stereotyped as only being able to spit extremely poor and simplistic rhymes. Only recently in Hip-Hop's timeline have southern rappers really begun smashing the archetype. Acts such as Big Boi and Andre 3000 from OutKast, Mystikal, a constantly improving Scarface, and the Goodie Mob's Cee-Lo have worked hard to show that emcees from below the Mason Dixon can be as lyrically adept as any of the best emcees from the East Coast.

Cee-Lo is easily one of the sharpest rappers ever to touch the mic. His verses on all of the Goodie Mob efforts have shown the complexity and intelligence that few rappers are able to successfully pull off, regardless of region. However, though the rapper claims “in no fashion have I lost my passion for the pen,” his debut album Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections focuses almost exclusively on his burgeoning singing abilities. Unfortunately, the rotund rapper is nowhere nearly as proficient with crooning as he is with the spoken word, so as a result, his attempts to expand into other musical genres completely falls short. Cee-Lo's debut ends up highlighting more of his imperfections than anything else.

It's so disappointing that Cee-Lo chooses not to emcee that much on this album. The few times he actually raps, he turns in very impressive performances. Over a very sparse track dominated by a thick, booming bass reverb, Cee-Lo flaunts his “Big Ole Words” in a spirited freestyle session. “One for the Road” has the rapper emceeing in a highly stylized delivery over ominous piano quarter notes, with slick brass winds announcing the chorus. Both of these tracks feature the rapper at his lyrical best.

And to his credit, Cee-Lo does actually come up with just a few worthwhile songs to sing. He reminisces on his difficult past as well as current career and life struggles on “Gettin' Grown.” The producers here arrange a light, appealing piece marked by a charming piano melody; a nice break from the heavy-handedness that's prevalent on this CD. Also, “Young Man” is a serious piece addressing issues plaguing young black males in America. The somber piano accompaniment adds a dramatic element to this piece, though ‘Lo adopts a distracting “nasal” quality for his vocals. He sings these poignant lyrics in the final verse,

“hey there young man, why degrade your only sister, and call them bitches and whores?// what if one day// someone feels the same way// about that daughter of yours?// oh if you had one inkling of an idea of what they had to go through// of course she's strong but she's still depending on you.”
But regrettably, the majority of the songs on this album are pathetic attempts to exploit Cee-Lo's obviously limited singing ability. “Spend a Night In Your Mind” is the artist's attempt at recording some classic “baby-making” music. Borrowing the main theme from dead prez's “Mind Sex,” ‘Lo makes an attempt at sing seductively to entice an unnamed woman into bed. The music is extremely discordant here, as the background music the keyboards and synths provide truly don't mesh well with the melody the artist sings. It's almost like the vocal and musical segments were created and recorded independently of each other, then witlessly combined in post-production. Then with “Live (Right Now),” the artist tried for his Metal merit badge by layering grinding guitar riffs and glam keyboards over a standard syncopated Dirty South beat. He even makes his voice a little more rough as he sing/raps throughout the piece.

“Closet Freak” is the first single for Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections, and sounds gimmicky enough to be straight out of the most secure vaults of Missy Elliot or Timbaland. Bells and obnoxious saxophone hits ride tightly compressed percussion loops while the singer extols the virtues of his “freaky” tendencies for over three and a half minutes. For the most part, the vocals are really nothing to take interest in; they just fill the space between the choruses.

Even Blues star John Popper can't add dimension to Cee-Lo's music. He lends his lamenting harmonica to the down-home ballad “Country Love,” and it does nothing for the track. The fact that Popper's harmonica is the only non-synthesized instrument (excluding perhaps an occasionally twanging bass guitar) indisputably works to the detriment of the song. And never has anything lived up to its title as much as “Awful Thing.” The music blatantly copies the sound and major changes from “I Heard it On the Grapevine,” helping to complete the classic soul feel the producers were obviously striving for. The Earth, Wind & Fire style trumpets are a nice addition to the song, but not enough to repair the ill-conceived composition.

One gets the idea that Cee-Lo was trying to take a cue from L-Boogie's multi-platinum success The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and create something “bigger” than Hip-Hop by hearkening back to earlier music and alluding to other genres with this album. Unfortunately, the endeavor fails completely. ‘Lo captured the basics of the Rock, Soul, R&B, and Gospel music, but failed to master any of them. At best, the majority of the tracks incite faint feelings of déjà vu for those who have heard these tunes in their earlier and better incarnations.

Fans of Cee-Lo were awaiting Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections to prove to the rest of the world that rappers from the Dirty South really can rhyme. All this album proves is that they really shouldn't be singing either.


© Copyright CultureDose.com 06/28/2002

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