Antwan André Patton, better known as Big Boi, and best known as half of Outkast, is back.  The gravel-voiced guy behind “The Way You Move” may have made the party record of the summer.

Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty is a pastiche of 40 years of black music, including: the funkiness and irreverence of Parliament; the bedroom antics of Prince; the vocoder vocals of Zapp and Roger; the gangster goofiness of Wu Tang Clan; and even the pop sensibility of Soul II Soul, whose 1989 hit  “Back to Life,” gets a reprisal on the album’s first single.

Big Boi, Shutterbug (Feat. Cutty)

As on Big Boi’s work with Outkast,  the lyrics and music drip with sex and silliness.  Sir Lucious opens with a plaintive cowboy whistle, followed by a piano and wah-wah guitar groove ripped straight from a blaxploitation soundtrack.  A minute later the music fades to the declaration: “Damn, that wasn’t nothing but the intro.”  From there, the album explodes, with nearly an hour of songs that bounce, slither, and slink as they get up and get down.

Big Boi, “Turns Me On” (ft. Sleepy Brown and Joi)

Outkast fans, i.e. anyone alive in 2003, will find plenty of continuity on Sir Lucious.  Sleepy Brown, who appeared on “The Way You Move,” appears on “Turns Me On.” Another track, “You Ain’t no DJ” was produced by André 3000, the other half of Outkast and the force behind The Love Below, released as a double album with Big Boi’s Speakerboxxx. And on “Tangerine,” the chorus “shake it like a tambourine” is too close to “shake it like a Polaroid picture” to be a coincidence.  Hey Ya indeed.

Big Boi, “Tangerine” (ft. T.I. and Khujo Goodie)

While Sir Lucious pays homage to music history, a roster of more than two dozen guest rappers and producers add freshness. As one declares “Who gives a damn about the past?/I live for the day/Plan for the future/Pack a lunch/And haul ass.” While Big Boi’s rapid-fire, sing-song style lends cohesion, Sir Lucious is an ensemble piece. “Be Still” features Janelle Monae, whose debut album Arch Android instantly made our short list of R&B classics and last week was our #1 album of the year to date. “You Ain’t No DJ” features Yelawolf, Alabama’s answer to Eminem. And on “Night Night,” B.o.B takes a break from his Vampire Weekend phase to rap over synth arpeggios borrowed from Yeasayer’s lunchbox.

Social commentary plays a part on Sir Lucious, with references to New Orleans after Hurriance Katrina, the 2000 presidential election, and fears of an assassination attempt on Barack Obama. The skits between tracks concern drug deals and the pragmatism of a woman who trades sex for gas money.

Still, the heart of the record is the joys of being a player in the Dirty South. In their celebration of women, cars, and speaker systems, Big Boi and his crew drop tons of cultural ephemera, with shout-outs to Darth Vader, Greg Lougainis, David Blaine, and Gomer Pyle. And like most MCs with alter egos, Big Boi gets mileage from his birth name: “General Patton” aligns his musical skills with the World War II commander’s military prowess.

The record’s final track, “Back Up Plan,” is Big Boi at his essence: catchiness that verges on hokeyness (“And one/And two/And you know what to do”), a call to booty (“No teasing/No whining/Just bumping and grinding”), and a hook that requires a moment to decode, then demands to be repeated (“I got a back up plan to the back up plan to back up my back up plan.”) Sounds like a plan.

Big Boi, “Back Up Plan”