File Under: Rap rating: A tracks 1. Bad Mutha 2. Close Encounter 3. Big Ole Words (Damn) 4. Closet Freak 5. Live (Right Now) 6. El Dorado Sunrise 7. A Thug's Concern 8. One For The Road 9. Let Him Sing If He Wants To 10. Spend The Night In Your Mind 11. Suga Baby (feat. Big Gipp & Backbone) 12. Gettin' Grown 13. Bass Head Jazz 14. MicroHard (feat. Jahalla & Kirkland Underwater) 15. Under Tha Influence (Follow Me) 16. Medieval Times (Great Pretender) 17. Country Love (feat. John Popper) 18. Awful Thing 19. Maintenance Man 20. Young Man (Sierra's Song) 21. Well Damn, Lo related links Cee-Lo Arista Records

Picture this: a large, bald black man in a long, curly wig, top hat and deeply caked black eye makeup proclaiming "I'm a bad muthafucka, I'm bad, I'm bad." This, the opening of Cee-Lo's Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections, is not the former Goodie Mob standout trying to convince himself that he's bad; this is a statement, thank you very much.

It's a tone that permeates this, his first solo album. Cee-Lo takes much liberty to extend, or even recreate, the genres he blends in this release (rap, hip-hop, R&B, funk, soul, dance) with a series of musical and lyrical statements, all of which are unified by what the artist makes into his signature groove.

To use the artist's word's: "I am not like them at all/ and I cannot pretend/ I am not like you at all and I cannot pretend," on "Big Ole Words (Damn)."

So, we have an album that extends Cee-Lo as a singer and a rapper, and the artist showcases all these vocal talents on …Perfect Imperfections. He's joyously singing on "Closet Freak" and laying down the fast flow of the rap-driven "Live (Right now)." Absent here are mindless songs about shaking this and that. Instead, the staple get-your-freak-on song is thoughtful, as is the rest of the album. There's a mindfulness and sincerity on …Perfect Imperfections. Let's let one track's title speak for itself: "Spend the night in your mind," Cee-Lo offers. Here we have an album by an intelligent man in an age where most so-called urban music is drowning with songs almost entirely comprised of lyrics such as "oh boy" and "ya ya ya ya ya." Thank God for Cee-Lo.

In creating his own niche, Cee-Lo laid out the difference between himself and the norm. Take for example, "One for the road" - "you like every other rapper corn rows and a bandana…while I got a $150,000 check every three months off Santana." However, Cee-Lo's self-diagnosis that he's distinguished from his peers isn't really necessary. If such commentary were absent, you could figure out Cee-Lo's unique accomplishments (and his perfect imperfections) with one listen.

Catherine E. Galioto is a Copy Editor / Columnist. Contact her at msmatildarockzone.com.