Review
Closet Freak: The Best of Cee-Lo Green
Release Date: 10/31/2006 12:00
Reviewed by Roque Strew
Most know Cee-Lo Green as the interesting half of Gnarls Barkley, but before his stint as a costume-sporting dandy, he belted nasal, velvety hooks for Atlanta’s Goodie Mob. This collection highlights his role in Dixie’s rise to hip-hop hegemony: Blending folksy fingerpicking, gospel and funk, 1995’s Soul Food basically invented the Dirty South sound, and Green’s bucolic drawl shot an astute, spiritual rebuke at the coasts’ icy gangsta nihilisms. In 2002, Cee-Lo went so-lo, experimenting with spoken word and bebop scatting. In 2004, he curbed these tics and flirted with pop perfection: The woodblock-rocking “I’ll Be Around” and a down-home burst of joie de vivre called “The Art of Noise” prove that if any Southerner deserves a “3000” after his name, it’s this guy.
Download: “The Art of Noise,” “I’ll Be Around”
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