Outkast's "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik' turns 25 today

djfilthyrich

All Star
Joined
Jan 11, 2017
Messages
1,477
Reputation
3,780
Daps
4,297
AY7LW81.jpg


This album was a game-changer IMO. The south was getting overlooked (for the most part) by everybody, until this album turned everybody's heads. Organized Noize killed it on the production. Should've been 5 mics....this is a straight classic with no weak tracks. Y'all agree?

br8bXir.jpg



I also created this blend of Player's Ball for the 25th anniversary:

Outkast feat E-40, Too Short, Lil Redd (from A-Town Players) - Player's Ball (From The A to the Bay blend)
I've also included the fully explicit verses of Player's Ball that were only found on the single, not the album.



vT83zr6.jpg

 
Last edited:

mson

Veteran
Supporter
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
Messages
53,539
Reputation
6,796
Daps
101,707
Reppin
NULL
The Lasting Impact of OutKast's 'Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik'
'Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik' is the perfect example of what happens when building community within and alongside the music takes precedence.
Christopher Thiessen
Updated on
Apr 26, 2019
  • OutKast took hip-hop by storm with a southern swagger and funky freshness. Certainly, other Atlantans had spit rhymes before André “3000” Benjamin and Antwan “Big Boi” Patton. But early frontrunners like Kris Kross and Arrested Development were largely disregarded by hip-hop fans. The Source went so far as to deem the latter “afro-pretentious” and said of Southern hip-hop, “It’s all them country pork-chop eatin’ n****s havin’ fun with their big-legged women.”

    In 1994, OutKast would serve as the perfect moniker, not only for the South at large but specifically for the two young MCs who would soon put Atlanta on the map. André’s taste for preppy fashion and self-dyed clothes combined with Big Boi’s entrepreneurial spirit and broad appreciation of music from A Tribe Called Quest to Kate Bush pointed to their individuality and initiative, noteworthy distinctions among their families and peers.

    ‘98 interview. “They might take a whole song from the beginning to the end, just busting all on somebody else’s beat.”

    As for their own work, Big Boi knew in order to make a mark on hip-hop, OutKast would have to be different. To that end, the duo, alongside Organized Noize, employed live musicians to create original instrumentation, capturing a renewed funk/soul spirit not experienced since George Clinton Parliament Funkadelic and Curtis Mayfield.

    Sure, Dr. Dre and producer Colin Wolfe previously used live bass on The Chronic and on several N.W.A records, but Southern features guitars, bass, keyboards, drum programming, and even saxophone to create an immersive musical experience.

    The verses, meanwhile, are backed by gritty, booming RT-808 and SP-1200 drum sequences and wandering bass grooves not dissimilar to what hip-hop fans had grown accustomed to with Dr. Dre. Creative flourishes like the woozy wah-wah guitars on the album’s title track or the organ walk-downs on “Claimin’ True” were also sprinkled throughout the record, which helped to characterize OutKast’s unmistakably southern sound.

    The peak musical moment on the album comes on “Funky Ride,” a psychedelic slow jam sensually sung by Society of Soul—and the only track not to feature both artists. Preston Crump slaps the bass while whirling keyboards, organs, and guitars pan back and forth creating a funky haze so thick nobody would blame you for forgetting you were listening to a rap record.

    As the track comes to its climax, guitarist Edward Stroud launches into a blistering Prince/George Clinton-inspired guitar solo, which ferociously soars over the remaining three and a half minutes of the song. In terms of immersive production, the performance rivaled any song of its era, which is likely why LaFace would eventually tap Organized Noize and their studio musicians to create TLC’s “Waterfalls,” a bonafide R&B classic, later that year.

    Even with their devotion to live instrumentation, OutKast and Organized Noize recognized the importance of sampling, finding unique ways to interpolate their influences throughout the Southern tracklist. The most memorable and recognizable samples are found on “Ain’t No Thang,” where a single otherworldly blast from Miles Davis’ electric trumpet fed through a wah pedal on his 1971 track “Sivad” creates the basis for the record’s entire beat. Other OutKast influences are more subtle, from the Bob Marley reference on “Git Up, Git Out” to the Kid Dynamite melody used on the hook on “Myintrotoletuknow.”

    Whether sampled or an original performance or a combination thereof, the tracks Organized Noize laid down were always “tight like hallways / smoked out always,” a trademark sound which required trademark flows. Immediately, Big Boi and André let us know they were up to the challenge. Big Boi appears first, flipping 1/16th note phrases from the first bar. His delivery is both smooth and street, packing a punch, but still able to slyly weave the end of one bar straight into the beginning of the next. André’s voice is perhaps the more iconic of the pairing, matching Big Boi in rhythmic acuity and truly embodying the sound of an outcast with his quirky and bombastic performances. Though the two MCs perfected their flows further on later releases, Southern offers an impressive picture of two hungry rappers ready to let fly what was on their minds.

    said in a 2014 interview with British music and culture magazine The Quietus.

    For OutKast, the pimp-gangsta-gunplay content served as a Trojan horse. While it may be a stretch to credit the teenaged MCs with such intentional forethought and tact, Big Boi and Dre made clear they wanted to be more than just the next N.W.A.

    "The first album was street. It was all about bein' a young guy, protectin' your own, all about bein' a pimp and a playa, and just bein' a fly guy. A lot of gunplay, a lot of smokin', it was Southern lifestyle at the time.” —André 3000

    Though moments of maturity are sprinkled throughout the album, “Git Up, Git Out” encapsulates the positive message OutKast and the Dungeon Family wanted to spread with their early work. “You need to get up, get out, and get something / Don’t let the days of your life pass by,” sings CeeLo Green, who won The Source's Hip-Hop Quotable of the Month for his commanding hook. It was the kind of message that could very easily have come off as pretentious, if not for the verses that follow, each a vulnerable and introspective look into their lives.

    André and Big Boi’s politics and social commentary even show up on the record; referring to the popular “Rock the Vote” political campaign which sought to promote higher voter turnout among young adults, André retorts:

    “Y'all telling me that I need to get out and vote, huh, why? Ain't nobody black running but crac-kers, so, why. I got to register?”

    In the same verse, he comments on the difficulty of African-Americans to find their place in the workforce:

    “They laying my mama off of work, General Motors tripping / But I come home banked like Hank, from licking and dipping”

    Earlier on the album, on “Claimin’ True,” Dre empathizes with strippers in the same situation:

    “I ain't forgot about y'all women who be working Nikki's butt naked / At Magic City, shaking titties just to pay the rent”

    Though a pimp-strut bravado is pervasive across Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, it’s clear in these moments OutKast saw a need to not only lift up their family but also their community and the city around them. In the weeks, months, and years that followed, the message would be heard loud and clear: “The South got something to say.”

    Death Row Records and Puff Daddy’s Bad Boy Records, OutKastwas awarded Best New Group, leading to a chorus of boos inside New York City’s Madison Square Garden. But despite the touchy crowd, André and Big Boi braved the stage and announced that now-famous phrase.

    It was a prophecy for a more prosperous Atlanta. In fact, the week after the album was released, the Atlanta Constitution wrote, “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik will do as much credibility-building for metro Atlanta as Dr. Dre and Domino have done for Long Beach, Calif.”

    In the years following Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, the Dungeon Family would rise to prominence alongside Organized Noize, who also infiltrated the R&B scene to work with heavyweights like TLC and En Vogue. OutKast continued to evolve through the ‘90s and early ‘00s—furthering their individuality and misfit status by breaking down hip-hop stereotypes in sound, fashion, and messaging. André and Big Boi became to hip-hop what David Bowie is to rock and roll: an icon who can never be imitated but yet inspires the masses.

    Though stylistic preferences have certainly evolved since OutKast’s debut, the entirety of Atlanta’s hip-hop scene is indebted to André and Big Boi, to Organized Noize, and to the Dungeon Family for putting their city on the map. From Ludacris to Lil Jon, T.I. to GucciMane, Future to Migos and Young Thug and beyond, the ripple effect that OutKast caused in Atlanta with Southern is absolutely staggering. In fact, it’s difficult to imagine the entirety of the music industry being uninfluenced by Atlanta in 2019.

    Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik is the perfect example of what happens when building community within and alongside the music takes precedence. At its core, it’s what the hip-hop community has always been about: lifting each other up and breaking down barriers.


    TAGS
    ALBUMSOPINION
    OUTKAST

    https://djbooth.net/features/2019-03-05-outkast-southernplayalisticadillacmuzik-lasting-impact
 

zayk35

Superstar
Joined
Jul 21, 2012
Messages
12,397
Reputation
2,292
Daps
44,762
Reppin
Escondido California
Yessir....I've purchased that album twice on cassettes and twice on CD....from summer 94 throughout 94-95 my junior yr in H.S I played that album religiously...they are only slightly ahead of UGK as far as MY GOAT hip hop duo....only because UGK is missing an album they should have dropped in 98 but went from 96 to 01 without releasing an album...meanwhile Kast dropped 3 classics in that time period
ATLiens
Aqumeni
Stankonia
which is how they passed UGK for me
 

Xtraz2

Superstar
Joined
Jun 7, 2012
Messages
15,154
Reputation
-777
Daps
21,526
Reppin
Los Angeles, CA
i only played southernplayalisticaddilacmusic and players ball, i didn't bother with the rest of the album
those were both classic tracks tho, i didn't get the hype about the album, but then again i never listened to it, i think the south needed to champion somebody so they chose outkast as their savior
 

djfilthyrich

All Star
Joined
Jan 11, 2017
Messages
1,477
Reputation
3,780
Daps
4,297
i only played southernplayalisticaddilacmusic and players ball, i didn't bother with the rest of the album
those were both classic tracks tho, i didn't get the hype about the album, but then again i never listened to it, i think the south needed to champion somebody so they chose outkast as their savior

The whole album is dope.....I suggest going back and takin a listen...you won't be disappointed
 

djfilthyrich

All Star
Joined
Jan 11, 2017
Messages
1,477
Reputation
3,780
Daps
4,297
Had to run that this morning. CLASSIC

And the Players Ball Reprise (Extended Version) > OG and Album Version



“and if yo hoe is actin crazy put her on the wall...”

giphy.gif



I was originally going to use the reprise beat for my blend, but the guest verses I added sounded better over the OG instrumental. Sleepy Brown sounds so smooth on the remix
 

newworldafro

DeeperThanRapBiggerThanHH
Joined
May 3, 2012
Messages
49,973
Reputation
4,779
Daps
112,543
Reppin
In the Silver Lining
Cotdamn. '92 and '93 were epic years.

One of the albums I got hip to 7 years after it came out. I bought Atliens and Aquemini before I listened to Southernplayalisticcadalakmusik. I remember seeing it in the record stores for years, but I was to East Coast-centric with my early rap discovery.

Definitely a mastepiece for the South, but hip hop in general, and as the article stated is what opened up the Southern Rap to be taken seriously as a force. Damn all the Atlanta rappers owe them and Jermaine Dupri residuals of respect.
 
Last edited:
Top