{"id":2435,"date":"2016-09-12T12:07:26","date_gmt":"2016-09-12T16:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bandsiusetalike.com\/biul\/?p=2435"},"modified":"2017-03-28T10:14:43","modified_gmt":"2017-03-28T14:14:43","slug":"i-left-out-kast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bandsiusetalike.com\/biul\/i-left-out-kast\/","title":{"rendered":"I Left Out ‘Kast"},"content":{"rendered":"

I would call Outkast the greatest rap group of all time. The thing is, we’re from the same city (ATL), and I’m afraid I’ll sound like a local promoter.<\/p>\n

\"outkast2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That’s why I always forget to bring ’em up. This is a problem, because the media tends to focus on the wrong aspects of rap; the guns, the gangster fetishism, the bitches and hoes. These things don’t really exist in Outkast’s oeuvre. Integrity? Quality? Talent? Those do, in excess.<\/p>\n

I saw a copy of\u00a0ATLiens<\/em> in Media Play in 1996, as my first exposure to Outkast. Because it was rap, it was assumed to be laden with vulgarity, and so we weren’t allowed to play it over the PA. The liner notes looked like a homemade comic book, heavily influenced by the Chromium Era of Liefelds and Lees, painstakingly scribbled out and Photoshopped.<\/p>\n

\"PROTIP:<\/a>

PROTIP: If you put a phony price on your CD, smartass customers will argue about it.<\/p><\/div>\n

Big Boi<\/strong> and\u00a0Andre 3000<\/strong> were 20 when\u00a0ATLiens<\/em> dropped; they were 18 when they cut Outkast’s debut,\u00a0Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik,\u00a0<\/i>in 1994. Obviously, the title of the former is a portmanteau of “aliens” and the short form of Atlanta, emphasizing the duo’s unintentional status as industry outsiders.<\/p>\n

Why are they usually taken as outsiders? Because that’s the way the world treats true success. Your competitors suddenly notice their weaknesses, in comparison to your natural strengths. The pretenders really freak out, and do things like interrupt live awards shows with their bullshit.<\/p>\n

The real ones make music.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a>

In 1995, Outkast was booed<\/em> at the Source Awards. Because the Source Awards are bullshit.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Antwan “Big Boi” Patton was born and raised in Savannah, Georgia, where I lived from 1990 to 2002. At Media Play, I worked with a guy in the music department who claimed to be Patton’s cousin. He was tall enough to be constantly questioned about whether he plays basketball, by white folks.<\/p>\n

Anyway, Savannah is a rather tough place to break out of. There is a very weird aura over that gorgeous, sleepy port town, one I could never place. Spanish moss droops from tree branches like green cobwebs, crawling with spider ticks. A nuclear site upriver ensures the water will always be polluted. The humidity is so oppressive that it licks your palms like a bad dog when you leave your house. The historic district is a planned grid from hundreds of years ago, having escaped Sherman’s wrath, unlike Atlanta. The women are sirens, with all that entails, who will smash unsuspecting men against the cobblestones of River Street. Their voices and wiles are fully weaponized. I barely escaped.<\/p>\n

\"savannah\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Andre “3000” Benjamin hails from Atlanta, completing Outkast’s cross-Georgia link. Despite my connections to the area, I consider Georgia one of America’s most important states, culturally. Ray Charles and Johnny Mercer came from Georgia. California gets all the press because California has all the retired millionaires. Georgians put their money where their mouth is. Plus, housing isn’t prohibitively expensive here yet.<\/p>\n

You could place either Big Boi or Andre 3000 amongst the greatest rappers in history. Both of them have instinctual gifts as performers. Shortly after I moved to Atlanta, Outkast dropped\u00a0Speakerboxxx\/The Love Below<\/em>, a double album where each member filled out their own disc. Want solid proof of what I’ve been talking about? Tell me what tops this:<\/p>\n