The Full Story of OUTKAST. Where Are They Now?

what if I told you that the majority of your favorite modernday rappers mimic the group Outcast to make your cry I apologize [Applause] time for example Tyler the Creator took inspiration from images of Andre for his album eigor I wouldn't be here or up on the stage or have this silly hat or any anything without the Q-tips the Andre 3000 in part Eminem utilized Andre's rhythms for the creation of his own tracks and until I collaps he referred to him as one of the best rappers ever Andre from J oh yes and in general many people react like this when they hear Andre's name like you like when you say Andre 3000 you got to pause now and let's not forget about Big Boy Who inspires many with his lyrical Mastery he can rhyme words that don't rhyme according to Andre big boy can rap better than him in 2004 Outcast had already received six gramys and it would seem as if everything is going according to plan the guys had achieve everything they set their minds on however their most popular and legendary album speak speaker box the love below unexpectedly became the last release in the Duos history and all of that simply because they decided to go their separate ways due to different artistic and life priorities even though at the beginning this never hindered them but being famous really sucks man Outcast met as high school students in Atlanta both enrolled at Tri Cities High School in East Point Georgia a school geared toward students hoping for a career in the Performing Arts oh my goodness C up you take they stood out from the other students they recall initially because of their unusually preppy clothing choices it was music however that cemented their early friendship both were fans of the more daring vein of hip-hop artists such as deas Soul the brand new beans and A Tribe Called Quest they also L 1970s Funk from the likes of George Clinton and Sly in the Family Stone big boy and Andre began writing their own wraps which they turned into mixtapes they initially named their outfit two shades deep but learned it had already been taken by another group they renamed themselves The Misfits which they also discovered was being used looking up Misfit in the dictionary they found the synonym Outcast and decided to use that but keep the dictionary's phonetic K spelling well we was trying to think of a word you know I'm saying to describe us as the people you know I'm saying and that's that's L every day out since you born out Dre and big boy admitted later to having a bit of a Wild Streak his teen and Andre dropped out of Tri Cities high after his junior year their Ambitions were strong however and they looked for a way into the music business at that time the Atlanta scene was quickly growing back then TLC crisscross were already at the Forefront of the entire hip-hop industry the real spirit and sound of the city was yet to be heard in a basement in Southeast Atlanta sleepy brown Ray Murray and Rico Wade had joined forces to create and produce music they called themselves organized noise eventually La face records found out about them and the guys began writing beats for the label however they needed to find rappers as Rico Wade recalls when he worked in the Cosmetic Department one girl said that she knows two guys from school who can rap in the end they met up with Andre and big boy who were around 15 16 at the time after the teenagers finished rapping Rick understood that this is exactly what they need 1993 but no it's 1994 Y in go to all you a ho y'all know I used to go towd they made their way to that very same legendary basement and began riding some music it seemed that everything began greatly but in just one moment the guys lost faith themselves it was when the labels producer LA Reid who worked in the pop and R&B sectors said that he doubts that they can become Stars sure they had Cool lyrics but he didn't see any personality or Unique Style in them the guy started thinking that perhaps they started all this in vain however Dre and big boy kept going regardless and they became even better organized noise urged them to become unique and it worked out for them the next time Reed heard them he understood that this is what was needed and he said that Outcast finally sounded unique and not anything like west or east coast the label finally offered them a contract then Reed called them up and said that they have a Christmas album lined up big boy was like WTF we're rappers why on Earth will we rap about Christmas and so they made a song about how Christmas doesn't come in the Hood the track that helped put them on the map is Players Ball the song began playing on the radio you know I do I a what after the success of Players Ball the guys began diligently working on their debut album which was called Southern playalistic Cadillac music time and time again thinking about back in the day when we were slaves bet some at that time east and west coast sounded more or less the same which is precisely why music from the likes of outcast stood out very much the album was very well received by by music critics and fans alike this marked the birth of South hip [Music] hop outcasts were the first Southern Group to break the coastal stronghold on hip-hop like the Beatles sparking the British Invasion Outcast put Atlanta on the map and cracked the door for every Southern rapper that would follow that debut is one of many reasons why Outcast is probably the most important hip-hop group since NWA don't understand and then the Sinister and tragic Source Awards of 1995 habit from which we have a separate video about at that time no one took South rap seriously radio hosts from New York said that they were country and that they would not play their music obviously this seriously upset the protagonists of our video in short when they scored a victory in the best new rap group nomination big boy was composed and tried to be cool about it Goody Mob in the house you know what I'm saying want to say what's up to New York you know what I'm saying cuz we from down south you know what I'm saying there New York up in this you know what I'm saying are y'all in here you know what I'm saying this y' city then there was Andre who was a little too emotional and spoke out saying I'm tired of folks you know what I'm saying cloes minded folks you know what I'm saying it's like we got a demo tape don't nobody want to hear but it's like this the South got something to say that's all I got to say yeah [Applause] big and Dre remembered that KN they ain't really give a [ __ ] about what we was doing big said in '96 if you wasn't from New York they was like [ __ ] it but we put all our goddamn time in effort in doing our albums and it really don't make no sense for them acting like that [Music] there the second album was given in the name at alens which became the group's breakthrough album at alens is a port Mano of ATL Shore for Atlanta and alien it depicts Outcast feelings of disconnection with the common world but also their desire to celebrate their past in [Music] Atlanta this project really highlights some of the core elements of rap that we see today along with an homage to the origins of rap there's the use of hard trap beads though not as highly mixed as today along with the ReUse of samples and flipping them their head they learned a lot about production from organized noise which is why starting with this album they began working on some tracks by themselves The Duo produced five of the 15 Cuts including at alens and elevators me and you me and you by the way Outcast music videos were always ideological and unique for example this is what Dre had to say about elevators it was all about symbolism the scenes where we're going through the jungle that represents that we're on a journey the scenes where we're meditating that's like we're trying to get our inner Spirit right given the song's title big added that the video also symbolized their growth into a higher level and it became clear that they were on another level when Andre turned his life around and one day Dre told those close to him that he no longer wants to do the things that he had been doing for the last few years he stopped drinking smoking weed and even stopped eating meat on top of all of that he grew out his hair started wearing turbin and started getting into spiritualism for those who don't know what spiritualism is it's the belief in the afterlife and the possibility of communicating with the spirits of the Dead through a medium [Music] later Andre met a woman called Erica Badu who was also interested in following a vegetarian diet they met at a club in New York at that time Erica had just stepped into the music industry she was an unusual and brave woman and Andre started developing some of these traits they fell for one another and sometime later Erica became pregnant after the birth of their son Andre thought even harder about how to change his life at that time Big Boy and Andre rarely saw each other each one of them had different interests for example big boy went to parties while Andre no longer did they had different tour buses smoking W was allowed in one of them and prohibited in the other you can already understand who rode in which bus Big Boy couldn't believe that Dre no longer smoked and became a totally different person Dre stopped wearing tabin and chose brighter outfits for example he could wear ski boots with a platinum wig he's always said that he wanted to dress like music saying that music is beautiful and colorful because of such changes it was believed that Andre had gone crazy and many even began questioning his orientation and so their next album aquam meni was a turning point for them here they embraced their individuality and expressed who they really are aquam mini means Aquarius and Gemini they both took their own zodiac signs and joined them together demonstrating each of their individualities and how they come together as a whole aquam Mani is a declaration of total freedom without taking your toes out of the soil nearly every member of The Dungeon Family contributes memorably but outcasts assumed more creative control than ever before Big Boy started rapping even better and cooler than before and Dre became a wonderful producer one interesting fact is that the ho down harmonica Sizzle on Rosa Parks belongs to Andre stepdad to [Music] the however before the well-known Rosa Parks the album features the song Return to the G up with [Music] Andre break up after wrapping from the perspective of Southern gangsters on their debut album Southern playalistic Cadillac music Outcast Andre in particular flipped the script and replaced their Glocks with powerful lyrics on their follow-up album at alien this drew the criticism from the real hip-hop folks that considered the decision to stop rapping about guns and violence to be soft Andre 3000 was a heavy subject in this track and he provided some insight into his verse I quote I was young and Wilder and some of my fashion choices people didn't accept at the time says Andre in an interview I started getting flag from some people so they were like either he's gay or un drugs and it's funny because I was high as hell all the way through southern play listic Cadillac music but by at aliens and aquam mini I wasn't smoking or drinking with big boys standing by me I knew I had to address some of this cuz I can't have my homeboy looking back I knew a lot of people felt Southern playalistic was some of our hardest work and they felt like we strayed from there so Return of the Gangsta was trying to give them a sense of hey I'm still a regular person Big Boy added saying back then there was a whole bunch of talking people just couldn't understand how we were making the type of music we were making there were a lot of attacks coming at my partner so we wanted Outcast to be like you [ __ ] my homeboy we're going to you up we wanted to let people know this man doesn't stand by himself I mean that's my dog it's a team effort Andre 3000 was a philosopher who forced each one of us to think with his lyrics also he could rhyme a 32 Bar rhyme and you'll still be on the edge of your seat from bar one to Bar 32 in the Aquaman I track in verse four Andre switches up his flow and does a hot damn good job of quadrupling his time keeping the same rhyme scheme for the entire verse often considered to be one of his best verses and one of the best verses in any hip-hop song In general the verse closely follows anapestic tetrameter which means it has four anapestic feet per line an anapest is two short syllables followed by one long one Andre uses his flow for the majority of the verse but it's most notable in the original skin alien and its happening lines The Way I Am by Eminem is another famous example of versus in anapestic tetrameter in hip-hop back with Zs baged me and what's most interesting is that ice cube said in an interview that the beat between West Coast and East Coast ended when people switch to the South scene all the hip-hop fans was so fed up with the East Coast West Coast beef that they said you know we're just going to pay attention to what the south is doing you guys got to heal your wounds and come back so it's not surprising why they ended this album in the following way like South got something to say that's all I got to say if everything was going well in the guys careers then dark times were affecting the artist's personal lives Andre was going through a breakup with his baby mama which seriously hurt the rapper the same time big boy was going through a rough time with his wife he already had a kid by that time but he soon had a second child however this time it was already from a different woman thus the guys had to return to the studio to escape from their own personal problems and that is exactly how the legendary song Miss Jackson came to be to make your cry I the song is mostly directed at Miss Wright AKA Colleen Wright the mother of Andre's baby mama Erica Badu but Andre chooses to replace her name with the generic Miss Jackson so that this song would remain relevant to all the baby mama mamas in the world Andre revealed in an interview that he was too nervous to address Erica's Mom face to face so he decided to apologize indirectly through this song I liked it but how did my mama feel our baby she bought her a Miss Jackson license plate she had she had the mug merch merch popup shop she had the ink pan she had the headband everything you know Miss Jackson catapulted the southern rap Duo Outcast into the mainstream reaching the top five in several countries and becoming their first of three number one songs on the Billboard Hot 100 but also won the Grammy for best rap performance by a duo or group in 2002 this hit is from the album Stankonia which also received Grammys in the nomination for best album of the year and the best rap album we also can't forget about these [Music] hits [ __ ] burnic dreams everye stonia had opened up a kaleidoscopic world that was more of a journey than a statement one that reveals itself in the detours as much as in the singles it's an album not just of the moment but one to let marinate and Savor over a lifetime following the release of outcasts fourth studio album Andre 3000 felt urged to do something different from his previous projects I moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career he was relatively unsuccessful Landing a minor role in Hollywood Homicide and a one episode appearance in the drama series The Shield he returned to music and recorded a solo album and came up with the name the love below for it that was different from the material he had recorded as part of outcast the output was a blend of Pop Jazz and Funk with live instruments and more singing than rapping when recording songs he used a micro cassette recorder in order to record melodic ideas and lyrics then built the melody around the lyrics after creating five songs he informed Big Boy of the solo project he had been working on big boy had already recorded some songs when Andre 3000 had contacted him but after their conversation he decided his next project would be speaker box John Fry the studio manager and an engineer would later recognize that much of the media attention surrounding the album's recording was concerned with Andre 3000 and Big Boy's working relationship and why they had chosen to record separately he concedes that both enjoyed working solo we're doing so more frequently but they continued to share and critique each other's music John Fry also describes how the format of the projects changed rapidly initially intended as two separate solo releases they decided to merge their work and create a soundtrack album as Dre 3000 had initially intended they eventually settled on releasing a double album fry noted the end of the recording sessions as particularly stressful for Andre 3000 who he described as drained from working at for Studios simultaneously [Applause] however it was well worth it this diligent work was highly valued by the hip-hop industry after having had three number two albums on the billboard 200 outcasts were finally able to debut at number one in the Billboard charts selling more than 510,000 copies in his first week the single heya went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States topping the charts there for n [Music] weeks speaker box features Southern hipop with more social awareness than the love below exploring themes of family philosophy religion politics and a wider emotional terrain from Melancholy to outrage to [Music] expression by contrast the love below is identified as showcasing Jazzy pop Funk comparable to the music of Prince the disc's abounding theme is love examining the emotions one experiences when falling in love and loving on the breakup Andre had with Erica Badu had influenced much of the lyrical content on the album which he sees as concerned the search for true [Music] love Dre ignored rap completely in favor of light cuning in the times interview Andre explained I was on my path before I even met Erica but one thing I can say I'm singing around the house and Erica's like that sounds great why are you not doing it in 2004 Outcast were the first and still only artist to win album of the year for rap we love y'all thank you very much southern playist catac music but they also won in two other nominations and specifically in the best rap album of the Year and best Urban alternative performance there Andre was not so emotional for instance when he received the award for best rap album he wasn't so talkative thank [Music] [Applause] [Music] you by the way in 2023 speaker boox the love below officially became the best selling rap album of all time which sold 13 million copies the sales of the release surpassed the sales of the iconic the M&M show in a 2006 interview with MTV Andre 3000 hinted at the possibility of a Hiatus saying I don't have the pulse anymore it's not as exciting to me it was clear that Andre 3000 and big boy were ready to take a break from Outcast Andre continued to occasionally entertain us with some tracks for example listen for yourself at how cool his verse is on Rick Ross's track a dolphin going shake his fin regardless if he gets in or out of water most important thing for him is to swim further he continued to keep ties with rappers for instance he was at the studio with Kendrick [Music] Lamar oh and he didn't quit his acting career either Mo were broke you know but we're cool yeah we have a right L might as well hang out with us and be broke and cool in turn Big Boy continued making music releasing two [Music] albums however all of these did not reassure fans and they were waiting for a reunion for many years and in 2014 outcast reunited for Coachella and an insuring tour Andre can still recall that first night how strange it was being back on stage in front of thousands of people not to mention Paul McCartney and prince who called the next day to repr man Andre for checking out of the show halfway through and first thing he says is you know what your problem is you don't realize how big y'all are you got to remind people who you are after The Reunion Andre went back to doing what he was comfortable doing which was being on his own he was often seen on the streets where he played the flute hi Andre hello like I have two holes you know so it's like pause currently he's satisfied with the fact that he has a peaceful life and that he can go and do his laundry without anyone bothering him yeah of course people come up to him however this is not comparable with other celebrities it's not just Kanye West for instance I know Kanye you're a celebrity Andre admitted that throughout his life he struggled with social anxiety according to his own words the cause of it all was his huge Fame because it's really unnatural to have that much attention as a human you know Andre said that big boy never pressured him to revive the group and he perfectly understands why it's because Andrea is already a drastically different person in the previous year he released a new album new blue sun and the first track is called I swear I really wanted to make a rap album but this is literally the way the wind blew me this time the thing is that in an interview for GQ Andre said that he cannot imagine himself rapping at this age I remind you that he is currently 48 years old things that happened in my life like what do you talk like I got to go get a a colony like what do you however he does not think about it but he wants to understand how to present it to the community in an interesting way he also admitted that he's not against recording One More album for Outcast I want another Outcast album you know what I mean like yeah like I wanted Outcast a long time ago in the meantime we got 87 minutes of experimental Jazz and instrumental flute music where there is no bass absolutely no vocals from Andre just an arsenal of win instruments both analog and digital which are available at the disposal of the musician in total there are eight tracks but many of them are longer than 10 [Music] minutes big boy recently posted online a totally emotional video with Andre 3000 which you could only watch with a smile on your face Outcast was a remarkable Group which proved that there are no boundaries in hip-hop you can dress in whichever way you want and make whichever kind of music you want and these principles are used by many modern day artists the next video I recommend you watch is about the tragic story of The Source Awards thanks everybody for watching subscribe to the channel and see you soon

Channel: Music Vibe

Views: 4,059

Keywords: outkast, outkast ms jackson, ms jackson, outkast hey ya, hey ya!, outkast roses, sorry miss jackson outkast, outkast album, andre 3000, outkast documentary, outkast live, outkast interview, outkast biography, rap 2000s, rap 90s, old school, rap, hip hop

Id: 4PjmW0dNePA

Length: 27min 6sec (1626 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 14 2024