Specifically "Cosmic Slop" and "Mothership Connection"...listen to these albums and then listen to "The Love Below". Fuck Prince! Andre 3000 is on some ol' retro Funkadelic vibe and that's so part of what I love listening to. Cosmic Slop is a bit rock/country and r&b, funk and jazz. The singing was not the greatest, either, but these guys played some crazy shit and it seemed as if each song blended, for 30-35 minutes. Plus, they sometimes talk over the music (MCing/rap?).

One of my earliest memories is of my Pops playing back-to-back Parliament/Funkadelic records (and smoking weed). I would just climb up on the couch (I was a toddler) and feel the music. I'm playing the CDs right now.

The Love Below took me back right away and I love this CD. But this is 2003 and I can see why so many younger cats can't feel it. Nowadays, producers take the original music, sampling bits and pieces and boosting the bass...until the melody, the orchestration becomes a disjointed mess. I liked the mess because I could hear the original music behind the samples but Andre 3000 said "Fuck That" and he went back to the source, giving The Love Below a contemporary spin.

My point is that, unless you understand George Clinton's vision you're gonna miss what even Prince was trying to capture at times (along with James Brown) and what The Love Below is really about: music music.

It took a while for me to put The Love Below down to listen to Speakerboxxx but I am feeling this CD, too. The only problem is that sometimes you get caught up in the rap aspect rather than music. It's all music but I get tired of the rap sometimes. Nowadays, I expect folks to show talent on the music side more than the rap. I want artists to switch up, take risks and make good music.