Big Boi

18th anniversary of “SOUTHERNPLAYALISTICADILLACMUZIK”

26 Apr

André 3000 (real name André Benjamin) and Big Boi (real name Antwan Patton) met in 1992 at the Lenox Square shopping mall when they were both sixteen years old.^[2] The two lived in the East Point section of Atlanta and attended Tri-Cities High School.^[2] During school, the two participated in rap battles in the cafeteria, and spent time at friend Rico Wade’s recording studio with future members of rap group Goodie Mob.^[2] Wade went on to form the Organized Noize production team, and helped Outkast find a record deal.^[3]

André 3000 dropped out of high school at age seventeen, and worked a series of jobs before he and Big Boi formed a group called 2 Shades Deep.^[4] Shortly after high school, Outkast signed to LaFace Records.^[3] The duo then recorded the single “Player’s Ball“, which rose to number one on the rap charts and was certified gold.^[3] ”Player’s Ball” helped create buzz for Outkast’s debut album.^[3]

Production team Organized Noize utilized live instrumentation on the album, employing musical instruments rather than DJing and sampling.^[5] The group created the music for Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik by recording “Southern fried guitar licks [and] booty-thick bass runs” and adding soulful melodies.^[6] This style of instrumentation was unique and largely unprecedented in Southern hip hop, as the use of live instruments was considered a quality exclusive to West Coast hip hop.^[5] Dennis Hunt of the Los Angeles Times called the record “hip-hop Southern style, with laid-back grooves flavored with ’70s funk“.^[7]

Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik received positive reviews from critics. Stanton Swihart of Allmusic gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, praising Outkast’s “inventive sense of rhyme flow” and commented “Although a little bit too dependent on overly simplistic and programmed snare beats, the music is unconditionally excellent…Few rap artists in general have ears as attuned to creating such catchy melodic and vocal hooks. Almost every song has some sort of tuneful chant or repetitive hook that marks it as instantly memorable.”^[6] James Bernard of Entertainment Weekly praised the album for its accurate depictions of Southern life, as well as the message of the song “Git Up, Git Out“, opining “It’s about time someone told today’s weed-obsessed youth to ‘get up, get out and get something/Don’t spend all your time trying to get high.’”^[9] Dennis Hunt of the Los Angeles Times also commended “Git Up, Git Out”, calling it the album’s best song.^[7] Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone called the record “surprisingly deep” for a then-teenage duo’s debut album.^[5] Hoard added that Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik ”marked a coming out” forSouthern hip hop that “helped define a new stream of hip hop that would rejuvenate the music in the late ’90s and early 2000s.”^[5]

Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik peaked at number 20 on the Billboard 200, remaining on the chart for 26 weeks.^[10] It also reached number three on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and stayed on the chart for 50 weeks.^[10] The album was certified platinum in sales on April 5, 1995 by the Recording Industry Association of America.^[11]

-SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA