Big Boi & André 3000. Two young boys straight out of Atlanta. Meeting each other when they were only 16, they participated in rap battles in school and ended up teaming up as a rap duo, pursued by local production group Organized Noise.
OutKast were their name. In 1992, they signed to LaFace, making their debut on a remix of TLC's "What About Your Friends?". They released their debut single, "Player's Ball" during the holiday season in 1993, and it received positive reception, reaching #1 on the Billboard Top Rap Tracks chart. 4 months later came their anticipated debut album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik.
Released in 1994, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik came at a time where it was mainly the East and West Coast running the hip-hop genre. In a world where Biggie, Nas, Pac and Snoop were some of the dominators of rap, Big Boi & Andre attempted to stand out and create an album that showed that the South had something to say. With seventeen tracks, the two rappers spend over an hour, addressing coming of age topics, self-empowerment themes and also reflections on life in the South.
The album featured live instrumentation and incorporated a lot of musical elements from funk and soul genres, along with some old-school hip-hop elements in a few songs too. After a little radio-like intro from some woman named Peaches, we get into some hard-hitting joints: "Myintrotoletuknow" and "Ain't No Thang". Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik sees OutKast illustrate the Southern life that they live. "Call of da Wild" and the album's title track are songs that take a journey into the duo's mind, touching on their Southern life and also the temptation of dropping out of school. The duo also use a lot of references on the album, to classic cars (I mean "Cadillac" is in the album name), pimps, players and their use of weed.
OutKast hardly had any features on the album, which made it an advantage for them to show how talented they are, succeeding at interesting listeners for over an hour without any mainstream features. The only feature on the album is fellow group Goodie Mob, who jump on two tracks, which are both standouts on the album: "Call of da Wild" and the Southern classic "Git Up Git Out". Excluding the duo, who snapped on their verses, both Cee-Lo & Big Gipp delivered on their verses on "Git Up Git Out". As for "Call of da Wild", I have to say, Khujo went the fawk in!
Can't forget about the production. As said before, the album had a lot of funk and soul elements, with some live instrumentation featured. The production on the album is pretty diverse, and is something that illustrates OutKast's Southern lives very well. Hard-hitting cuts on the album like "D.E.E.P.", "Ain't No Thang" and "Call of da Wild" manage to show off Big Boi & André's lyricism, and they do not fail to impress me as the banging instrumental plays. We get wavey joints like "Crumblin' Erb", "Player's Ball" and the album's title track, which are tunes that you can cruise to in your whip. 22 years later, and they still sound fresh out the oven. HOT SHIT!
But through the production and content, it's the lyricism that impresses me. It's probably one of the reasons why I love OutKast. Andre 3000 proved why he's one of the GOATs with lines like "Come and listen to my story, I gots a lot of shit up on my mind/I wipe the boo-boo from my brain then I finish up my rhyme" and "My kitchen full of heat, if you can't take the temp/Make yourself exempt". Plus, you gotta give Big Boi some love. His bars were fire too: "Fucking around with me will get your cabbage cut, your wig split/Simply means I'm bringing the funk with the hollow tips", "I'm getting deeper than that prostitutes vagina/And pimping way mo' hoes than there's peoples out in China".
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik is overall a great piece of art. It's one that shaped not only the music scene of Atlanta, but the hip-hop culture as we know it today, and without it, who knows where rap would've been today. 22 years later, it still amazes listeners, and it's really outta this world. It's like you're with them when you listen to the album. 17 tracks and they all deliver. The lyricism is amazing, the production is dope, Goodie Mob killed their feature and from start to finish, OutKast had a lot to say as young teenagers from East Point. The South sure did have a lot to say...
Best Tracks: "D.E.E.P.", "Git Up Git Out", "Call of da Wild", "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik", "Player's Ball", "Claimin' True", "Crumblin' Erb", Hootie Hoo"
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