Bleep

Erykah Badu collaborator Zach Witness steps into the spotlight with his debut solo EP. Conceived as a homage to his friend Andre 3000, Electric Revival: Rise Of An Outkast Nation is a record that slots neatly into the lineage of 3000, Badu et al. Like Outkast’s best, the sounds here are kaleidoscopic and diasporic, using hip-hop as a mere jumping off point from which to explore a cornucopia of styles. The bombastic opening and closing tracks nod to Janelle Monae’s similarly genre-bending The Archandroid; ‘Jazzy Bells’ is some hazy Brainfeeder-indebted goodness; and the title cut has the gall to sample Outkast’s ‘B.O.B.’ and turn it into a post-juke freakout. It’s a credit to Witness that this and the other songs of …Outkast Nation hold their own alongside their influences.