Cee Lo

Like Prince and Madonna before him, Cee Lo Green's got a sound too big to be bound by genre definitions, and too infectious to keep his wildly eclectic tunes from total domination of the airwaves, Internet, and, in turn, iPods across the land. The Atlanta dynamo first invaded our ears as part of pioneering hip-hop crew Goodie Mob, dishing up deeply funky, downright quirky Dirty South slammers like "Cell Therapy" in the '90s. Partnering with fellow boundary-breaker Danger Mouse in Gnarls Barkley, Cee Lo broke out to full-blown phenomenon status with the wailing R&B/pop blockbuster "Crazy," a song that probably sold as many ringtones as it did singles. And just in case that duo's artistic alias kept him from literally becoming a household name, he emblazoned his own moniker forever in the hearts, heads, and ears of anyone with a sweet spot for soul and an axe to grind, on his feisty solo smash "F**k You."

Cee Lo reinvents rock hits and revs up rap attacks in Next Steps.

Cee Lo lends his soul-soaked pipes and razor-sharp lyrics to every project he plunges into, but those are just about the only connecting threads that wrap around the entirety of his adventurous output. One minute he and producer pal Danger Mouse might be unleashing an arch garage-soul update of the Violent Femmes' alt-rock classic "Gone Daddy Gone" under the Gnarls Barkley banner. The next, he'll be found bouncing around with fellow Atlanta mavericks OutKast, laying down some rowdy rhymes on their "Git Up, Git Out." Of course, Cee Lo's heart of hearts has got some serious Motown grooves pumping through it, and those Motor City moves come bursting out of him with fierce, hip-swinging force on "It's OK."

Cee Lo plays musical chairs with soul sisters and Southern rap renegades in Deep Cuts.

An artist of Cee Lo's unstoppable talents can quickly find himself in demand everywhere he turns, especially when his every musical move shines so brightly. Back in his Goodie Mob days, he came on hard and heavy with Cypress Hill's all-star side project the Soul Assassins on "Decisions, Decisions." He and OutKast's Big Boi show their love for their Dirty South brother-in-arms Trick Daddy, contributing to the fiery flow of his "In Da Wind." And when R&B queen Fantasia needed a duet partner for the old-school orchestral-soul sound of her love-on-the-rocks tune "The Thrill Is Gone," well, how fast do you think she pulled out her phone and hit the speed-dial button marked "Cee Lo"?

While it's true that nobody can be all things to all people, you've got to admit that Cee Lo Green comes pretty damn close. The artist formerly known as Thomas DeCarlo Callaway doesn't just think outside the box — he twists the box inside out and wears it as a hat while shattering preconceptions in hip-hop, pop, soul, and more. Whether blazing new trails in rap with Dirty South heroes Goodie Mob, catching the reflection of classic Motown sounds in the thoroughly modern musical mirror of his solo work, or laying waste to any and all stylistic borders as half of the hit-making duo Gnarls Barkley, he never stops innovating. We've combed through every corner of Cee Lo's daring discography to build a 45-track monument to the boundary-breaking, hit-making musical powerhouse.