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by
11 March, 2004@12:00 am
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    With the Goodie Mob preparing One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show for a spring release, it’s a little more than obvious that they are sour about Cee-Lo’s departure from the group. And with good reason - Thomas Callaway (better known to most as Cee-Lo Green) was the glue that kept the crew together! While this has always been suspected by fans - and hinted at on his debut (Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections) - Cee-Lo’s latest is further documented proof that he is perhaps the most talented and versatile brother down south, next to one Andre Benjamin. With Soul Machine, Cee-Lo does it all on his sophomore effort, and with much versatility. As he states on “Childz Play”, “Yes I can sing, and I can rap / and I can act, and I can dance / and I can dress, sign of the best!”. When asked at the end of the album “Shit, what don’t you do?’ his response is only a confident, “Fuck around…!”. 

     On this incredibly tightly knit together sophomore effort, Cee-Lo improves on the blueprint laid down on Perfect Imperfections, sharing equal time rhyming and crooning, best exemplified on the Neptunes produced opener “The Art Of Noise”. Drawing much of his influence from another ‘Green’ brother (first name Al, but no relation), Cee-Lo pens brilliant love ballads such as the Neptunes produced “Let’s Stay Together” (not a cover) and the sultry & soulful “All Day Love Affair’. But this is only one aspect of his persona, as Cee-Lo can easily flip the coin, as he does on the dark and lovely, “Evening News”, a “Respiration”-esque nocturnally breathing city story, which packs a new-style DJ Premier track that defies explanation; or again on the bullet-ridden battle rap, “Glockapella”, where Cee-Lo dares rival rappers to beef with him. Lo Green gets even more introspective on both “I Am Selling Soul”, and especially “Die Trying” where laments about the music industry, with both cuts raising new questions about the politics of the biz: “I know you don’t hate me / I’m just not sure anyone appreciates me / see I’ve been having a hard time selling my albums lately / Recent news, The Source couldn’t find any microphones to rate me / using words like ‘extreme’ and ‘alternative’ to equate me / which is true I’m in a box with a view, but you still want to gate me / I could be a pretty good thug, but it wouldn’t compare to a great me.” Well said, Cee-Lo.

    However, while Cee-Lo does get on a soapbox from time to time, he balances out the (justified) bitching with many tracks that show his more laid back and festive side. Obviously the Timbaland laced “I’ll Be Around” and it’s follow-up single “The One” show that he can rock the dancefloor without sacrificing his style. While Ludacris steals the show on “Childz Play” (perhaps Cee-Lo’s only truly questionable moment on the release), there’s plenty of room for his dynamic poetics throughout the rest of the LP, most potently on “Sometimes”. 

     This LP is Cee-Lo’s most defined moment yet, and certainly one of the best major label releases to come out of the machine thus far into 2004. Whether or not Cee-Lo will be granted the same critical acclaim that fellow Dungeon Family member Andre 3000 did on The Love Below remains to be seen, but either way, he definitely deserves it. 

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