Multi-talented and flamboyant,
Cee-Lo initially made a name for himself and his trademark crooning as part of pioneering
Dirty South rappers
Goodie Mob before he broke away in the early 2000s for a colorful solo route. Along with fellow Atlanta rappers
OutKast,
Goodie Mob laid out the blueprint for the
Dirty South style during the mid-'90s, making serious waves with their debut album,
Soul Food (1995).
Cee-Lo was an important member of the group, often singing the hooks to many of
Goodie Mob's best songs (e.g., "Cell Therapy," "Soul Food," "Black Ice"). But the group didn't last too long, and after a few releases over a five-year span,
Cee-Lo split with
Goodie Mob for a promising solo deal with Arista.
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Multi-talented and flamboyant,
Cee-Lo initially made a name for himself and his trademark crooning as part of pioneering
Dirty South rappers
Goodie Mob before he broke away in the early 2000s for a colorful solo route. Along with fellow Atlanta rappers
OutKast,
Goodie Mob laid out the blueprint for the
Dirty South style during the mid-'90s, making serious waves with their debut album,
Soul Food (1995).
Cee-Lo was an important member of the group, often singing the hooks to many of
Goodie Mob's best songs (e.g., "Cell Therapy," "Soul Food," "Black Ice").
But the group didn't last too long, and after a few releases over a five-year span,
Cee-Lo split with
Goodie Mob for a promising solo deal with Arista.
The album unsurprisingly never took off commercially, despite some colorful promotion on
Cee-Lo's part (a wild video for "Closet Freak" and a belly-baring live tour), and the tattooed big man went back the drawing board, returning in early 2004 with
Cee-Lo Green Is the Soul Machine. This follow-up was just as free-spirited as
Cee-Lo's debut but was a more focused effort, anchored by some radio-friendly singles produced by big-money hitmakers
Timbaland ("I'll Be Around"),
Jazze Pha ("The One"), and
the Neptunes. It also featured some nice production by
Cee-Lo himself. Interestingly, Arista released the album shortly after parting ways with Reid and also after experiencing enormous, Grammy-winning success with
OutKast's
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, an album (
André 3000's half, at least) that sounded quite a bit like
Cee-Lo's work.
In 2006,
Cee-Lo enjoyed his greatest success to date as half of
Gnarls Barkley, a duo also featuring producer Danger Mouse. "Crazy," the lead single from
St. Elsewhere, the duo's debut album, was an instant hit in the U.K. and steadily rose to the top of the charts in the U.S. by the end of the summer. The critical acclaim and commercial success of
Gnarls Barkley awarded
Cee-Lo the most attention he'd ever enjoyed in his career to date. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
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