Today is the birthday of one of the greatest MCs of all time and probably on a lot of people’s Top 10: André 3000
I recently went (back) down a deep rabbit of listening to Outkast and only Outkast for a few weeks, mainly for research for us doing that WE RANKED EVERY OUTKAST ALBUM video. So my appreciation for 3 Stacks is pretty high right now.
The reason I chose his feature from TLC‘s “Sumthin’ Wicked This Way Comes” (Known then as just Dre of Outkast) is because I don’t hear many people talk about it that much. Basically a hidden gem.
I actually remember when TLC’s CrazySexyCool dropped. It dropped on November 15th, 1994 but Outkast’s debut album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik dropped on April 26th, 1994, so the buzz on Atlanta and Georgia as a whole was huge. People in my school were literally playing André’s verse, which was the first 45 seconds off “Sumthin’ Wicked This Way Comes”, and then just rewind it and playing it again.
Here are some more random thoughts:
- André 3000’s way of censoring himself on this song was genius: “What the kcuf is goin’ on”? “shull-bit”? Genius.
- “Shull-bit” should have caught on just as much as “tig ol bitties”.
- TLC? Outkast? Usher? Toni Braxton? Goodie Mob? Pink? LaFace Records had a monster roster at the time.
- Too bad a lot of them went bankrupt or almost did. Shout out to Pebbles.
- Speaking of TLC, CrazySexyCool is probably one of the most successful R&B albums ever. But in 1994 I was Hip-Hop only so I barely listened to this album for about a month after I got it only listening to “Sumthin’ Wicked This Way Comes”.
- Did you know that “Sumthin’ Wicked This Way Comes” is from Shakespeare’s play Macbeth? Seems obvious but I learned that today.
- Never forget that 3000 called the King of Pop a sellout.
Happy birthday to André Benjamin aka Dre from Outkast aka André 3000 aka 3 Stacks aka Benjamin André aka Mr. “The South got something to say”.
