further down the rabbit hole

I need to give a little credit to Big Boi, because lately I've been feeling like he just doesn't get the respect he deserves. I peeped a list over at cocaineblunts talking about how Big Boi is one of the "coldest" MCs in the game, coldest meaning generally ignored, not given enough cred, etc... Sadly, it makes sense for him to be there. It's all been weighing on my shoulders for some reason, so I'm gonna try and clear the air around this monkey on my back. Word bond.

Outkast worked because its two MCs formed a complicated, honest, and unique relationship around the music they were making. Rephrase: The complexities of those early Outkast albums are owed to neither Big Boi nor Andre 3000, but to the fact that the two were able to collaborate. ATLiens, Aquemini, and Stankonia succeeded because the combination of two artists produced a hydra far more dangerous than any individual-headed beast. Every time Andre went off on an alien tangent (Synthesizer), Big Boi was there to bring it back down to Earth (Slump). Every time Big Boi got lost rapping about drugs and rims, Andre was there nudging him to flip it. The concoction thus formed, augmented with the murderous flows of both MCs, was a radically unique and honest way of getting at Truth.

Okay, so Outkast was a joint effort, then why did Andre end up with all the shine? Basically, 3000 appeals more to a "liberal" or "white" or "underground" bloc, an audience largely responsible for rap success (meaning grammies and critical acclaim and whatnot). Andre was hailed as rap's Prince, characterized by quirky attire and an ambiguous yet flamboyant sexuality. He became that intellectual, rapping weirdo AKA the future AKA the best name to mention to your boy you just ran into at the vintage clothing store. And he put out great music. Many thanks to Andre for that beautiful music. Basically, Andre 3000 got popular because he represented a movement in rap towards something "different," something far more "intellectual" than that dirty South stuff (hope you can read the sarcasm in that). But in Andre's popularization, Outkast's history was starkly rewritten, and in the public's eye Big Boi had been playing second fiddle all along. That is, he never represented anything "new" for rap.

And that whole story is fucked, because Big Boi is a killer MC. Have you ever tried to rap along to a vintage Big Boi verse? It's nigh impossible, yet he makes it sound so smooth and easy. Better yet, listen to Speakerboxxx. His solo album (though still under the name Outkast) is track for track as moving as Andre's The Love Below. I might go so far as to say that it has the best opening suite of songs off any album I know: Ghetto Musick/ Unhappy/ Bowtie/The Way You Move/ Rooster. I mean that's just sickening. Each one of those songs is a stand-alone jam.

But this isn't about solo projects. Really, this is my attempt to refigure the Outkast paradigm so that I don't have to suffer anyone else ignoring Big Boi, or staking their claim to Andre 3000 merely because it's hip to do so. I'll say it like this: If you don't get Big Boi, you don't get Outkast, and if you don't get Outkast, you're missing arguably the greatest OAT. Rephrase: If you don't get Outkast, fuck you get off my website.