NBC’s new show The Voice premiering this Tuesday, 26 April, features celebrity judge Cee-Lo Green. I must confess: while I thoroughly enjoy Cee-Lo’s present, I thoroughly miss his Goodie Mob and Dungeon Family past. What few people realize or, dare I say, remember, is the lethal lyricist that currently lies dormant beneath that peacock feathered vest as Cee-Lo Goodie.
The Goodie Mob, an acronym for “The Good Die Mostly Over Bullshit”, burst onto the scene with their highly spiritual and socially conscious freshman album Soul Food in 1995. Following on the heels of a then fairly unknown OutKast’s debut Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (1994), Goodie Mob helped bolster Atlanta’s rap scene, shed light on the contemporary southern African American experience, AND establish Southerners as lyricists on the hip-hop map. Mob member Cee-Lo’s fluid flow and off-the-dome brilliance seeped through numerous tracks but for this DSGG (Down South Georgia Girl) two verses stick out: “Goodie Bag” off Soul Food and “The Experience”, the introduction from 1998’s Still Standing.
Take a listen and see how Cee-Lo originally said “Fuck You”.