ARTIST: Big Boi
TITLE: “Ringtone”
WEB DEBUT: Feb. 5, 2009

ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: This track—presumably from the oft-pushed-back Sir Lucious Left Foot—begins with a dobro lick, which got me a bit excited. But then the song shifts gears, and for those of you out there who hate on Autotune, well, uh, you better just stop reading now. “Ringtone” is led by a constant descending keyboard pattern that doesn’t seem interesting enough to shoulder an entire song, and the dobro’s reappearance is jarring, even annoying. Big Boi is nimble on the verses, and the chorus is decent enough–-BB sings “You get your very own theme song/Your very own ringtone” to a girl–-but over the repetitive wisp of a beat, it’s certainly not a banger of any kind. Darn my expectations, but a banger is what I was hoping for when Maura IMed me “new Big Boi track!”

UPDATE: On second listen, I liked it better, but still not tons.

WHERE TO FIND IT: Rock the Dub.