Rolling Stone (p.94)
- 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[The album] finds the Bay-area producer pushing bass mechanics to the fore and drawing from the energy of hyphy, this year's crucial hip-hop movement."Spin (p.100)
- 3 stars out of 5 -- "The album's prog rock, soul jazz, and arty Britpop find Shadow in a fruitful territory." Entertainment Weekly (p.94)
- "[A] batch of party-rap vocal tracks drenched in hyphy -- California's bodacious big-beat answer to Southern crunk." Q (p.106)
- 3 stars out of 5 -- "As ever, THE OUTSIDER's production is immaculate....Having flirted with the mainstream, DJ Shadow seems happy to retreat back to the margins." Uncut (p.104)
- 4 stars out of 5 -- "THE OUTSIDER sees him making something of a departure, emerging from turntablism's dusty basement and taking inspiration from the streets of his Bay Area home." The Wire (p.63)
- "As always, his production, from the burbling synth washes of '3 Freaks' to the multilayered drum patterns on 'Erase You', is unmatched....THE OUTSIDER sounds fresh and risky." | 
CD
