In the circles of those who know cool shit versus those who then pick it up and adopt it as gospel (i.e People who thought M.I.A was cool before they heard ‘Paper Planes‘ in Pineapple Express), Outkast are pretty much known as the pioneers of Atlanta rap. In fact, I’m going to put it out there, I think Outkast are pretty much the only duo out there doing anything original in hip hop anymore. Ok, so you’ve got Kanye and Lupe and Common and Jay-Z…but really, they’re all cut from the same cloth. Pharrell has been manufacturing the same beats for five years, Timbaland’s been doing it for ten, and Li’l Wayne might be the ‘best rapper alive’ but he’s too busy sleeping with T-Pain to really bank on that fact. Outkast have been in the game FOREVER. Like seriously, a long-ass time; their first album came out when I was approximately five years old. Since then, Outkast have updated their G-funk sound (which used to primarily feature odes to ‘hos’ and ‘bitches’) to fully fledged jazz/pop operas like ‘Idlewild’.
Outkast starting getting freaky with ‘Ms Jackson’, a warped, backward loop track with soulful piano that was a dedication by Andre 3000 (i.e the one who is always on Esquire’s ‘Best Dressed List’ and acts in Will Ferrell movies) to his ex-girl’s mother. Except she happened to be Erykah Badu, which means things weren’t exactly that simple. In any case, Outkast turned from pimp underlords to overground stars, with a Billboard #1 and a Grammy or two as payment for their hard work. Taking this as positive encouragement, Big Boi (i.e the one who can really rap) took things to the next level with ‘Speakerboxx/The Love Below’, as they came to terms with their growing fame, trying not to kill each other and working alone. Why does this title sound familiar? Well in the US, it’s one of only a small handful of rap records (let alone double discs!) that was certified Diamond, which means it sold over ten million copies. If you’re an American, chances are you own this. Possibly because of the strength of Hey Ya! and Roses, both monster hits and both from Andre’s side of the album, which if listened to in full is guaranteed to cause head explosions. It’s kind of like when your best friend starts acting really, really gay, listening to eclectic music, dressing like a 1950s gangster and completely losing any cares for ‘the hood’. Big Boi, meanwhile, was very much into keeping it real. His ‘Speakerboxx’ is far more cohesive and entertaining.
Enter ‘Idlewild’. Part concept album, part jazz narrative and paired with the release of a movie about 1930s Harlem, this was definitely ambitious, featured over twenty tracks and was utterly, utterly random. For all intense and purposes, Outkast are one again; you can hear both dudes rapping, with Big Boi taking the lion’s share and Andre sitting behind the desk, or grabbing a guitar, or whatever it is he does nowadays. The film never made it to Australia, and I’m guessing it bombed in the US, too. But this is such an awesome album that I don’t really care. There’s hot swing numbers, shuffles and Prince sex-struts, all with made-up characters and dialogue. Creativity shouldn’t be stymied in rap, it should be embraced, and Outkast are the number one purveyor of all things wacky. N2U is the sleaziest make-out song since Prince’s ‘Darling Nikki’. The rapping is utterly gross, but you know these guys aren’t taking themselves too seriously. And when they pull out the cracker chorus, you can’t help but laugh:
“I wanna get N2U/I don’t want no girlfriend/Just wanna get N2U”
There’s a mantra for teenage boys if ever I heard one.
Outkast – ‘N2U’ (ft. Khujo Goodie)
Outkast – ‘Hey Ya!’ [VIDEO]
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