Classic Material: Outkast – Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik [1994]

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You didn’t think we would do Classic Week without Outkast did you? This album came out in 1994, which was one of the greatest years in Hip-Hop and held its weight against some heavyweights that year, Biggie, Nas, Redman, and Method Man. Some say this album is played out, but I can’t understand why! This was an introduction to the Southern scene in Hip-Hop to the world outside of the Booty Shake. I remember listening to this album loving the fact that these guys felt the way I felt at that time in my life! I had never related to music the way I related to this album. The album was FIRE from the intro to the reprise of “Player’s Ball”. What was special about Outkast is their content was different than the other music that was coming out below the Mason-Dixon. The album gave you the street elements as well as the everyday struggles of someone from the South. To be honest, you can say this album was the foundation of the whole Southern movement. The two different styles of Andre and Big Boi mesh together on every track. What one didn’t cover in his verse, the other covered in their verse. Think of it as an alley-oop on the court. One guy gives you the alley, while the other guy gives you the oop! While every song was produced by Organized Noize, they didn’t miss a beat, because the production was stellar. There wasn’t a weak track on the album, and that’s making a statement for a debut! To sit here and pick which songs make this album classic would be absurd! It’s a CLASSIC! There aren’t any slipups on this one! You have “Player’s Ball”, “Ain’t No Thang”, “Hootie Hoo”, “Git Up, Git Out”, and “Call of da Wild” just to name a few. This isn’t an important album to the South, but the whole world. So if you don’t have this one, get out from up under that rock and go cop this! Not now, but RIGHT NOW!

Example: Outkast – “Flim Flam” (Interlude)