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
Outkast,
the Dungeon Family make use of intensely funky production and loopy, good-natured, decidedly non-gangsta humor à 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
Outkast and
P-Funk, but even of
Prince, and a truly collective approach wherein the whole is even greater than the already-impressive sum of its parts,
Even in Darkness is accessible but sophisticated, fun but substantive, and one of the hip-hop highlights of 2001. [
Even in Darkness was re-released on LP in 2016.] ~ Rovi Staff