Brentin hears Toni Morrisson, Mad Max, Prince, and Parliament in The ArchAndroid, but for me, part of the album's beauty is that I heard an entirely different set of triggers in it. "Sir Greendown," a dreamy track from the album's first half could stand in for the arrangement of "Sigh No More, Ladies" in Kenneth Branagh's 1993 adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing. "Come Alive" has both "Thriller's" catchy hooks and the goofiness of "Monster Mash." And "57821" is a tender love song, as lovely and fragile as anything by Simon & Garfunkle, but shot through with the promises of terrible violence and miraculous transformation.
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Rap and other popular music forms have always been in conversation. Run-DMC helped introduce hip-hop to rock-oriented audiences through a collaborative remake of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way." Earlier this year, before he reported to prison, Lil Wayne released a critically panned rock album in an attempt to conquer a second genre. It's become standard for pop songs to include a hip-hop guest verse, and singers like Keri Hilson have even staged conversations between pop, hip-hop and R&B, as she did in "Knock You Down," where she pitted Kanye West and Ne-Yo romantically and stylistically against each other in the quest for her affections.
I really can't say enough about how good the album is. I'm a Singles Lady. This is the first contemporary album in quite some time that I think is going to mean a lot to me as a whole.