"The Outkasts" Project Review

DJ K-Sly & The Drop Squad come together as “The Outkasts” to produce a remix album featuring all Outkast hits. At what first seems like another Mash-Up album by just another DJ, this album is truly a REMIX project from the ground up. DJ K-Sly & the Drop Squad do not just take an Acapella track and put it on top of sampled instrumentals; no, this project is much more involved than that. First, DJ K-Sly tells me that ALL the beats were created for this project. Some of the instruments were sampled, but many were actually played by the producers. This gave the songs a warmer, thicker sound than just using the original instrumentals. And of course the scratches were laid out by K-sly. It’s a great concept and a good first production effort by DJ K-Sly. However there are a few minor quirks that I picked up while listening to the album a few times. The album feels a little rushed in production. Some of the tracks seem like they weren’t mastered precisely. For example, I normally listen to music through my computer at the office and have it set at a pretty reasonable volume to not disturb the rest of the guys. Most albums can be set at that volume and not have to be adjusted. However “The Outkasts” has a few tracks that are WAY louder than others and a few that are a little too soft. Another quirk is the vocals. Some of the tracks seem like the vocals weren’t on point with the beats. K-Sly tells me that all the Acapellas were taken from her vinyl collection, except for “Hey Ya” which was a DIY Acapella. She didn’t tell me how she did the DIY Acapella, but from my experience it involves taking the LP version and the Instrumental, phase shifting the Instrumental by 180 degrees, then overlaying that modified instrumental over the LP track. The phase-shifted instrumental sound waves then cancel out the LP version’s sound wave of the instruments leaving only the vocal track left. If K-Sly did it an easier way, I’d like to know. In any case, putting acapellas from vinyl over any instrumental is pretty difficult since the acapellas don’t really have a beat reference…especially how Outkast spits lyrics at 300mph. It is possible to be on point through the entire song, but can probably take a few takes and/or some tweaking in the production process. Despite these quirks, the overall experience was really good. It's still a fun listen and I enjoyed listening to my favorite Outkast joints refreshed this way. Nirvana, The Eagles, and DILLA?! yeah, those are just some of the samples used. it's fresh, AND it's free!!! check it out!

DJ K-Sly & The Drop Squad are “The Outkasts”
DL from this link: http://www.zshare.net/download/63648469f94fbdde/