"The devil up in your grill, and you still won't even know 'em...": prior to even knowing that rap came out of Atlanta, the closest thing I knew to rap coming out of the south was from Texas. Back then, Scarface, Willie D and Bushwick Bill came out with "Grip It! On that Other Level" which I still gravitate to as a great record out of the south. As a music fiend, I started joining CD clubs, holding memberships at Columbia House & BMG Music clubs while I was only 15 (many a Taco John's paycheck went to fund the habit). But behold, coming home one night from a full day at the part time job to find BMG's music selection of the month, which was OutKast's debut record. I had mulled over getting it while I was at Circuit City (my parents got a home theater system, I got Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) on tape, but the CD came in. My parents literally became frustrated with me to find the graphic on the CD itself, while I thought nothing of it. But what was on that CD, further blew my mind just as N.W.A. did about the West and Nas making me recognize the resurgence and dominance of the East.
OutKast's debut album, "Southernplayalisticadicallcmuzik" played like a jazz standard, long before the many innovations took place, and long before Andre 3000 and Big Boi started handling a lot of their own production, and their debut played very much with the intensity and focus of the east coast, while the flows drew from the west stylistically, their southern gentlemen drawl combined with their snarl on flows made for quite the debut. Take three once again takes place, this time choosing three cuts to unsuspecting listeners who either have not heard of Outkast, have not heard of their debut record, or both. Enjoy the ride.
1. Ain't No Thang
The loading of a clip, a beat that screams something of vintage west coast hip-hop, plus Andre & Big Boi trading verse for verse? It has all the makings of a classic battle track, while Organized Noize provides the eerie and neck-breaking beat. Obviously taking such a saying as "Ain't no thang but a chicken wing," then altering it to almost a sing-song like quality, shows Andre's and Big Boi's greatness on verses. You want a winner? You can decide whether you dig Andre's hungry stance when he says "Remember when we ran deep/remember at the party when we served them n****z dandy/they know not to test us, test me/do me, try me..." or Big Boi when he ends it with perhaps one of the coldest endings "I'ma kick you in ya ass/and your n***a gettin' pistol whipped," its a pretty dead even battle for those even testing the brothers from East Point.
2. Git Up, Git Out, Git Something
Trying to ask someone for patience and undivided attention for seven and a half minutes for a song, unless they are of the Hendrix nature or the song says something deep, are rare to try out. However, Goodie MoB and OutKast utilize the latter, all the while talking about life and its struggles, where Cee-Lo starts the song stating clearly "You need to git up, get out and get something/How will you make it if you never even try?" In the meanwhile you get the life stories of Andre and Big Boi, where Big Boi states "In a sense I was Rosemary's baby/but then I learned the difference between a bitch and a lady," while Andre "So let me take y'all 'way/back to when a n***a lived in southwest Atlanta, hey/y'all could not tell me nothin', thought I hit that bottom rock/at age 13, start working at the loading dock," its pretty much a worthwhile story of OutKast and Goodie Mob and their juvenile tribulations discussed almost with the author-like penmanship of American literature.
3. Crumblin' Erb
The slowly played bongos, the groovy bassline, and a moderate tempo help become the palette to speak on weed. Sure, there have been many odes to Mary Jane, and by the time this song came, rap had its fair share. But OutKast chooses to keep it comfortable, while Sleepy Brown croons the chorus. Both Andre and Big Boi have their fair share of quotables throughout the tune, "But still Andre got action/they sweat like Keith, outta my teeth," while Big Boi states calmly "Ten millimeters, count 'em n****a, fuck a nine/see I added a millimeter for all my n****z doing crimes and drive-bys." Call the song what you will, but your standardized weed anthem this is not.
