OutKast - Idlewild [2LP Pink Marble]

Pink marble swirls suit Idlewild nicely, since OutKast's final studio album is a dressed-up, Prohibition-era fantasy spread across two LPs.

Released in 2006 alongside the musical film of the same name, a 1930s Georgia tale starring André 3000 and Big Boi, the record swaps the Atlanta futurism of Stankonia and Speakerboxxx/The Love Below for hot jazz, swing, jump blues and Delta grit, all filtered through hip-hop. It plays partly as a soundtrack and partly as a farewell, with the duo's diverging instincts on full display.

"Mighty 'O'" updates Cab Calloway's call-and-response for a new century, and "Morris Brown", named for the Atlanta college, struts on marching-band brass with Scar and Sleepy Brown on the hooks. André strums and croons through "Idlewild Blue (Don'tchu Worry 'Bout Me)" like a ragged Delta bluesman, one of the album's loveliest left turns. Throughout, the production mixes vintage swing with modern low end, so it never feels like a costume.

The guest list adds to the feel of a sprawling variety show, with Janelle Monáe, Macy Gray, Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne and Killer Mike all checking in between the interludes and skits.

As a swan song it is gloriously unwilling to play safe, and the double LP gives its sprawling running order, interludes and all, the room it needs.