I Think I m in Love Again Outkast
The Cloak-and-dagger History of Outkast'south 'Speakerboxxx/The Dearest Below:' the Last Truly Nifty Double Anthology
Photograph Credit: Arista Records
Nosotros pause downward the creation of Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below double anthology, through stories from many of its coveted collaborators
"All thanks due to the virtually high for this one, all solar day long," declared Large Boi at the Staples Center in 2004. Outkast had merely stepped on the Grammys stage to have the Anthology of the Yr award. "Music is rockin' like never before."
This is the aforementioned rapper who stood alongside his partner, André 3000, at The Source Awards in 1995, when the famous words "The due south got something to say" were uttered to a hostile New York City crowd. With OutKast'southward 2003 double album, Speakerboxxx/The Dearest Below, the south was finally heard past the world.
Nearly a decade deep into their professional careers, Big Boi and André 3000 had a business firm reputation for delivering the unexpected. When fans grew to dearest the duo for playa anthems on 1994's Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, 1996'southward ATLiens followed up with themes of extraterrestrials and philosophy. The grouping dipped their toe into pop music on 1998's Aquemini. And by 2000, the popular music doors were completely ripped off their hinges with the release of Stankonia.
Just when everyone seemed to have OutKast figured out, the ii artists threw fans for a loop one time once again. The plan: For their fifth LP, both members would deliver solo albums, each highlighting the best of their individuality.
To this day, Big Boi's career has e'er felt cast under the shadow of his outlandish partner-in-rhyme. Speakerboxxx saw the rapper coming into his own in a way that the world had never seen before. Large kept the OutKast spirit the two had congenital live through both sonic and lyrical content. Cuts like "Ghetto Musick" and "The Rooster" were extensions of many sounds presented on the unapologetically funky Stankonia.
The anthology was a true Atlanta affair. Though an elder statesman in the southern scene, Big Boi looked into the time to come with open-mindedness and optimism, inviting and so-newcomers like Ludacris, Lil Jon, and his own p rotégé Killer Mike to the party. That move signified an important "passing of the torch" moment.
The Love Below , on the other mitt, completely ignored the notion of genres, instead prioritizing its narrative at the forefront. Three Stacks doubles down on his "Gangster of Dearest" persona, which is emphasized by the pink gun-toting cover. The album tells the story of a notorious lady-killer who finds a adult female so perfect that he stops to question his means.
Influences were vast, with anybody from early '60s Beatles to a late '80s Prince providing a creative spark. Genre classifications may be abandoned, yet The Honey Beneath 'due south tight plot makes for a consistent listen. André's introversion tin can be seen as an asset. The strive for independence is evident; he can be found playing a handful of instruments over the class of the xx tracks.
Speakerboxxx/The Dearest Below was released on September 23, 2003 to massive acclaim. With the success of 50 Cent's debutGet Rich or Die Tryin' earlier that year,hip-hop was in a gangsta rap phase . In a true testament to their name, OutKast ignored the resurgence of street sounds and continued to movement against the grain. Such strives paid off;Speakerboxxx/The Love Beneath is ones of the highest selling hip-hop albums of all-time (11x platinum and counting). The double LP would go on to join The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill as the but ii rap albums to win the coveted Album of the Year Grammy accolade.
On its 15th anniversary, we interruption downwardly the creation of the Speakerboxxx/The Love Below through stories from many of its coveted collaborators.
Photograph Credit: Prince Williams/WireImage
Encounter the Players & Poets
Rosario Dawson: The KIDS and 25th Hour actress dipped her feet into musical waters, providing spoken-discussion vocals on the e'er-sultry "She Lives In My Lap" off of The Love Below.
Khujo Goodie: A Dungeon Family and Goodie Mob member who has also appeared on most of OutKast's albums. Existence a few years older than the pack, Khujo refers to himself as a "big bro" to Big and Dre.
Cee-Lo Greenish: A beginning-generation member of the Dungeon Family unit and Goodie Mob, who worked closely alongside the 'Kast during the formative years of their corresponding careers. Many may too recognize Cee-Lo as the unforgettable vox backside Gnarls Barkley, who Cee-Lo reveals are shut to wrapping up their third album. "[Me and Danger Mouse] are working on a Gnarls Barkley album…I'm talking nigh ten or twelve songs into it."
Jonathan Mannion: One of hip-hop'due south most iconic photographers. Mannion has shot the duo on a multitude of occasions and served every bit the lensman for the Speakerboxxx .
Norah Jones: Norah Jones can exist found supplying soothing harmonies with 3 Stacks on The Love Below 's "Take Off Your Cool"
Jazze Pha: Though he got his career start not also long after OutKast, Jazze Pha began picking up significant traction every bit a producer presently before Speakerboxxx/The Honey Below came together. Pha can be heard singing groundwork vocals on Speakerboxxx 'south "Bowtie"
Neal Pogue: An audio engineer who worked on every single OutKast anthology. This time effectually, his duties consisted of mixing 7 tracks for The Love Beneath side, including the smash single, "Hey Ya!"
Together and Apart
Every superhero needs an origin story. Fresh off the heels of Stankonia 's success, the duo took such an unprecedented approach for their 5th trek into the funkiverse.
Neal Pogue: Their managing director at the time was trying to figure out how they could make an OutKast record because they were both going to do solo albums. But their manager had told them that it was bad timing to come out with solo albums at that moment. So he came up with the idea to do one anthology with two solo albums on it, which no 1 had ever washed.
André 3000 [ via Rolling Stone , 2004]: The Beloved Below was originally supposed to be a solo anthology. At the last minute, management and the tape company said it wasn't a practiced fourth dimension to do that, so Big Boi did Speakerboxxx . Simply I was taking then long to finish The Honey Beneath that he wanted to release that as a solo album. A lot of people don't know the anthology almost wasn't made.
The True Story Behind "Hey Ya!"
"Hey Ya!" is one of the most iconic songs of the 2000s. From its mod-style-inspired music video — which took home the 2004 BET Award for Video of the Twelvemonth — to Polaroid issuing a statement to warn about the dangers of shaking "it like a Polaroid flick," the song is a real staple of the period.
The genre-angle atomic number 82 single was released on September ninth, 2003 alongside Large Boi and Sleepy Brown'due south "The Style You Movement ." Due to the fact that it didn't fit whatever molds, "Hey Ya!" was able to qualify under a number of ch arts, appearing everywhere from Billboard'southward Adult Top xl to the US Alternative Songs chart. "Hey Ya!" would eventually acme the Hot 100, where it sabbatum at number one for a whopping nine weeks.
Cee-Lo Light-green: When I first heard "Hey Ya!" nosotros were at Stankonia [studios] and I was like, "Damn, this is so dope." But it wasn't finished. It was called "The Ingredients of a Pimp." That's where that whole "Dearest Hater" concept derived from. So "Hey Ya!" was just a identify marking because he had not all the same constitute the words for a hook.
I knew the references inside of "Hey Ya!:" " But doooooes she actually wanna but can't stand to see me "…That's The Beatles' ["I Wanna Hold Your Hand"]!
You connect that to the video. It was kind of like a throwback to all of that Beatlemania, you feel me? And then when that song was so successful, the mode he was able to pull that in, that's almost similar a paperweight. It was and so much weight of the efforts and the homage; information technology gave [the vocal] such a bully chance at being the success that information technology was.
André 3000 [ via NPR , 2014] : I had to tell Aretha Franklin that "Say A Piffling Prayer" had a lot to do with the vocal "Hey Ya!" They're similar [time signatures]. It's difficult to explain, but listening to that song, the manner the loop comes dorsum effectually, is kinda how I devised "Hey Ya." And I had to tell her that she is a large part of that song.
I remember finishing "Hey Ya!" and letting Big Boi and Killer Mike hear information technology. They were riding in the machine and they were earthworks it…really hard. And I think Killer Mike wanted to rap on it at the time. I knew Killer Mike would kill it, but I knew it would go far a unlike kind of song. At that point, it would brand it a rap song. And I didn't want it to exist a rap song crusade I recall…it would've been put in a different category. I would've liked to hear what a rhyme would sound like on that time signature.
Rap just wasn't feeding me at that time. And I knew that I wanted to go across information technology, like the songs that influenced me. I wanted to endeavour only other things. I know Killer would've killed it! But at that signal, information technology would've been merely another rap vocal.
It'southward funny, when we put out "Hey Ya!" we didn't even characterization it. Nosotros didn't fifty-fifty tell the radio who it was. Because if we would've put OutKast on it at first it would've been judged differently. And I feel that way most if a rap was on information technology.
Khujo Goodie: "Hey Ya!" was crazy, human being. I could remember Dre calling me. He was similar "Whatchu think, homo? I wanna sing, I wanna do something different, whatchu think?" I was like "Dre, human being, do it! Don't finish. Don't hesitate. Do it, human being!"
Neal Pogue: The only version I ever heard from the demo stage was when André had the first poetry and the claw. That's all he had on the song.
I just remember we were driving. It might have been on cassette because I remember us driving over Laurel Coulee in a little rented Mini Cooper and listening to all the demos for that album. I only retrieve him playing a lot of great stuff. Some were finished, some were just halfway mumbled blazon lyrics and stuff. Only he had a lot of great ideas.
Shooting Speakerboxxx
Speakerboxxx 'south cover turns Large Boi's iconic "cooler than a polar acquit's toenails" line into reality. Dressed in a fur coat and amorphous jeans, Sir Lucious Left Foot epitomizes the word "Pimpin'." After all, many of the album's songs are told through the eyes of a procurer named Rooster.
The consciousness of Speakerboxxx and The Love Below serving as unique bodies of work came all the mode down to their blueprint. Rather than share the same photographer, Big Boi chose to recruit longtime collaborator Jonathan Mannion, while André ventured downwards a new path by style of fashion lensman Torkil Gudnason.
Jonathan Mannion: Large and I have a mode of working together. He calls me up and he'south like "Where y'all at? Fourth dimension to exercise it again. Come listen to the album."
We go to the studio, I get a legal pad and he plays me the entire tape from beginning to finish. I scribbled aimlessly: notes, things that came to my mind, words that I pick out in order to populate the visuals based on what he's maxim, which I observe is the richest way to work with an artist. Information technology's not like, "Mannion, what are your ideas?"And I'thou just pulling stuff out of the heaven. It'south like: "Sit down, here's what I'm talking about." Then I almost illustrate the works, which is phenomenal.
Information technology'south funny, I didn't get as deep [in the] André 3000 side of things. Torkil Gudnason did. He wanted to go way more manner-driven. I didn't accept the benefit of knowing what was happening, what was being created. I just had the do good of Big Boi'southward side and what he wanted to do. A lot of information technology was sort of individual components. We had a rooster on set considering one of his songs was called "The Rooster." We did a fake strip guild, we had Ki Toy [Johnson] and her phenomenal body. Information technology almost became like we were doing theatre. When you lot're on stage, you can put a bench and a light pole that indicates that they're in the park. That's it, small elements that reveal the bigger motion-picture show.
[With] the Speakerboxxx cover, a lot of what was happening at the time was done in mail service-[production]. It was like, nosotros'll practice the moving-picture show and yous lean on a box and we drop in a bunch of speakers. I was similar "Fuck that!" [Laughs] Let's go get all of the speaker boxes. Literally, nosotros scoured Atlanta and found like 15 different speakers. He was literally probably eight-feet high in the air, from head to floor. We had all of that and then we had all the crates of records that were from OutKast'due south DJ [Cutmaster Swift]. He was like, "Yo, y'all could borrow crates, no trouble!" We only sort of presented this story of him floating up high. He's so little [Laughs] We wanted the scale to feel legit.
The thing around the Huey Newton sort of chair that's on the embrace: those are plume dusters! It'due south like, how could nosotros make this await more lavish and important? Plumage dusters are all around the elevation considering they had this sort of crazy plume of feathers or whatever the hell information technology was. In that location were peacock feathers that were like, legit, and and so the other ones that added a sort of texture were some sort of orangey brown bird.
Great Things Take Fourth dimension
Believe information technology or not, "The Way You Move" actually started off as a bigger hit than "Hey Ya!" The Sleepy Brown-assisted song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 a full iii weeks earlier the aforementioned companion release.
Although "Hey Ya!" would eventually become the more than successful of the 2, "The Way Y'all Movement" was still earth-shattering in its own right. At the time of its release, it bankrupt the Hot 100 record for nearly weeks at number two (eight weeks), earlier finally hit the top spot on February 14th 2004, merely in time for Valentine'due south Day. The society-set single peaked at number 22 on the Hot 100's 2000s Decade-End Chart.
Big Boi [ via Red Balderdash Radio , 2018] : Carl Mo is a producer from Atlanta, so we had mutual friends. I had a pool party at my business firm one day and he had a skeleton beat out. I notwithstanding have it, I have all the skeleton versions to the original songs. Nosotros were playing it at the puddle party and Sleepy Chocolate-brown started humming a tune to the song. Nosotros were similar, "Aw shit, we gotta record this!" Mind you, I had that vanquish for similar 4, v years and only at a puddle party, his head came upwards and nosotros were like, "We're gonna tape it."
So, nosotros got to the studio and nosotros just started going crazy. Debra Killings played the bass on that record. She'due south actually the female person voice on all of our records. The female on "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik," she'south in my ring to this twenty-four hour period. She came in and I commencement putting ink to pad. Then I had this guitar role player by the name of Zaza. He passed away like a couple of years ago. He was a very special guy.
We just had this hodgepodge of characters that would come up in and sprinkle their flavor on whatever we were working on. Like, I'k called The King of Putting Motherfuckas On! I would give anybody a shot, yous know what I'm sayin'? Even if you lot're uninvited. If you but and then happen to exist in a room and exist like, "Hey, you know I got a violin in the car…let's endeavour that out." You know what I'chiliad sayin'? That's how the music comes out. I like to say the music is always organically created, never genetically modified or contrived, know what I mean?
I sabbatum on the beat out for years and it came together in one night. Put information technology all together. Information technology'southward very much a staple in the OutKast catalog.
Photo Credit: Johnny Nunez/WireImage
"Reset" was a Dungeon Family Classic
Throughout their respective careers, OutKast and Goodie Mob were some of the closest collaborators. The ii groups spent the better half of their teen years recording in "The Dungeon," a artistic hub located in the basement of producer Rico Wade'due south mother'due south house. It was there that the southern spitters would develop their signature sounds and an undeniable camaraderie amongst ane another, with the watchful eyes of mentors Organized Noize — Wade, Brown, and Ray Murray— creating a one-of-a-kind work surround.
Wink frontwards a decade, family was yet a priority. Following Cee-Lo Green's sudden departure from Goodie Mob in 2000 and Khujo Goodie's subsequent car accident, the group seemed to be in a sour state. Still, when the call to collaborate came, both adamantly answered, with Big Boi hand picking his longtime companions for one of Speakerboxxx 'southward almost introspective tracks: "Reset."
Cee-Lo Dark-green: I got the invite to come and be a function of it. Typically, I would become in and I would option something, but this time Big just had me in heed. I think he merely felt really strongly that this was a record that would only suit me, and he was right. When you're presented with an ultimatum like that, you but desire to deliver, y'all know what I hateful?
Of course, any OutKast opportunity is a brand opportunity to give your best and represent our commonage. I merely definitely wanted to step up and evangelize. That's actually what the uncomplicated motivation is, and and so I only began to reverberate on things that were firsthand in my everyday life.
Sometimes, you're motivated by the things y'all get changed because the past is permanent. If you had an opportunity to become back and rectify some of those things, I'm sure that we all would exercise some things differently. That's the moment you gotta be imaginative or if I could settle everything, how would I become about it? Every day is an opportunity to improve. I look objectively and optimistically into each new day and information technology's just something that I practice subconsciously, or at least I try to.
I was in a situation where I was married. We had a son together. I had ii adopted daughters from her previous relationship. I always try and represent that pseudo maturity that essence of what you were kinda able to identify with as that Dungeon Family unit sound. We were just young men trying to do right by our opportunities, our voices, and our talents.
Khujo Goodie: I think I had simply got back on my feet after I had my leg amputated . I was able to write that rhyme. Big Boi, like he e'er practise, he gave me the opportunity to go in there and be a part of history. I was so happy that my little brother yet felt that way about his big blood brother. Yet beingness able to have that confidence in his big blood brother to know that he would pull out a good 16.
That item vocal definitely fit the fashion my life was going at the fourth dimension because I had to reset, man. I had to get back in and rethink some things. I had to reevaluate myself, and I had to become back in there, get back on my job.
Cee-Lo wasn't on the song nonetheless and I recollect that Big Boi was already on the song and the claw was too. Once I heard the hook, I started vibin' with it. I was like, "Human, this shit would go perfect with what I'm going through right now."
Cee-Lo Greenish: I think in some blazon of roundabout manner, it was kind of an opportunity for united states of america to all showcase together. Me and Goodie, nosotros were at industrial odds, not internal odds. We were never uncool, we were always family unit. With family, yous accept that sibling rivalry, that internal riffing and that'due south to be expected. We're all men, all individuals. they take different opinions, priorities, unlike focuses, different flaws.
Khujo Goodie: Yous know how the media does it. The aforementioned way they perpetuated that East Coast/West Coast thing, and that got outta hand! Nosotros lost two of the greatest MCs in the earth.
I just think it was totally unlike with us crusade Dungeon Family unit is family. Family don't ever go along all the time. The adept matter about family unit is that nosotros know that nosotros family. We know that this is something bigger than that. If information technology was some type of beef similar that, Cee-Lo wouldn't accept even got on the vocal! All the time, you gotta put aside the bullshit, man, then that you lot could get greater things achieved.
The Coolest Collaborator
It's hard to imagine a time in which André 3000 wasn't a mythical figure. Before his current reclusive state, three Stacks was known to get down in the studio with a select few, including work with the likes of Gwen Stefani and Q-Tip during this item period.
However, Mr. Benjamin has never treated duets a dime a dozen. It has ever been very important for him to connect with people who can only strengthen a song fifty-fifty further. For The Love Beneath , the power of collaborations came from those who were able to help accentuate the album'southward theatrical aura.
Neal Pogue: I was e'er closer to Dre. Me and Big never worked on a personal level, not unless it was an OutKast album. I never worked with him on his solo albums or anything. Dre to this day nonetheless hasn't put out a solo record. Simply he is putting out a unmarried soon. I didn't piece of work on it, but he's putting out a unmarried. It should be coming out shortly. But I never actually worked with Big on a personal level, it was always Dre. That's the reason why I had worked on The Dearest Below side.
I think that nosotros try different things. I think that we ever try to button the envelope, and that's what nosotros have in mutual. We always try to bring something new to the business concern rather than the same old affair. As far as mixing, I'm always trying to bring something unlike than other mixes. I never want information technology to just be a straight mix. I wanna add certain delays and pan tricks, yous know. If you mind to all of my mixes with OutKast, I'm always trying dissimilar tricks and breaks. Y'all know, breaking down unlike phrases and stuff just to make a point and emphasize certain things that they're saying. To put it in a nutshell, trying to create more dynamics.
Norah Jones [ via Billboard , 2010]: I knew who OutKast were and I really liked their music, but I would never accept guessed that they knew who I was. André 3000 sent me ["Take Off Your Cool"] but there wasn't whatsoever singing on it still and then I didn't know the vocal tune or the words. When nosotros got to the studio he said, "Requite me a minute." and he did all his vocals, a lot of layers, a lot of harmonies. He did it very chop-chop. I don't know how much he had prepared or if it was mostly improvised, merely he definitely had a clear picture of what he wanted.
Rosario Dawson [ via MTV News , 2004]: [André 3000] called me to come up in and do the ["She Lives in My Lap"] music video, and so I ended up in the studio singing on it a fiddling fleck. And then it was like, "Well, now it'south not gonna exist like a music video anymore, information technology's gonna be like a Michael Jackson "Thriller" mini-movie." Now it's turning into [Idlewild]…I think André 3000 is admittedly remarkable and really, really incredible, just beautiful"
(Editor'south Note: In the picture show's final product iii years later, Paula Patton ended up in Dawson's Idlewild role.)
Photograph Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
The Legend Lives on
OutKast created ane of the most defining albums of the 2000s past staying true to themselves. The thought for ii solo albums allowed Big Boi and André 3000 to explore their inner depths like never earlier.
On Speakerboxxx, Large Boi does a remarkable job at staying grounded in his southern roots while opening the doors for the next generation. The album ready the stride for his solo career, which although has never quite gotten the shine it deserves, has allowed the rapper to serve as 1 of few of his era who displays significant creative development with each new album.
The Love Below shows the payoffs experimentality may have to offering. Its venture into three Stacks' sensitive side continues to inspire artists left and right, with emotional crossover albums similar Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak and Kittenish Gambino's Awaken, My Honey serving as some of the clearest examples.
In many ways, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below felt like the beginning of the terminate of this dear duo. Having the ii detached allows fans to further elaborate on what they appreciate most their individuality, along with further identifying what makes OutKast so special as a duo.
André 3000 [ via Rolling Stone , 2004]: Norah Jones chosen me the night before [the Grammy Awards] and said, "Are you lot prepare?" I said, "I guess I'thou as set up as I'll ever be." Information technology was stressful, because a lot of attention was on united states. I don't similar that. The best moment was when nosotros won "Anthology of the Twelvemonth" and Large Boi gave me a hug. The embrace lasted v — eight, 9 no, maybe fifteen seconds.
Neal Pogue: It was a pivotal time in music. It was after 2001, subsequently the Twin Towers and all that. A lot of people were in a certain mindframe, so I think OutKast was trying to bring something new.
I retrieve it was a genius move to bring a double album to 2 solo albums. That was something that no one's ever done and I think that right there was a pivotal time in music. And to hear both of their personalities, I remember it really showed the world who they were, being that Big Boi was thinking 1 way and Dre some other way. I think that was really expert to show themselves.
Jonathan Mannion: I call up every single time out, OutKast ever sets the bar in kind of a different style than you could say Jay[-Z] set the bar. I retrieve the bar that was set up with OutKast everytime was based on creativity. It was constantly existence more than creative, constantly pushing the borders of the box that'due south called hip-hop.
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was uniquely in their own lane. They delivered magic, homo. I mean, "Hey Ya!" was on that album and the video where he'southward playing all of the different roles, it just feels good, man! [Laughs] Every time around, it feels good. I'm honored to be part of the creation of this [album]. Even though I didn't touch the Dre side of information technology, this is still them as a collective and I'm making contributions that are meaningful ones because the visuals practice put a stamp on. You tin can't accept abroad the visuals from the music.
Jazze Pha: The records they released, from "Hey Ya!" to "The Way You Movement" were such bang-up records. Everyone was so interested in André doing that singing and all that stuff, too. It was merely something different. Information technology was so pop, and so crossover and then worldly.
I just recall riding effectually, hearing people playing "Hey Ya!" or "The Way You lot Motility" Well, mostly "The Way You Move" considering information technology was such a radio record. "I similar the wayyyyy you movement" We talk about and people that really ride around and play their records, music loud.
Cee-Lo Green: They don't make concrete copies of physical CDs anymore. So basically, streaming is simply like, "We like this a lot" Information technology'south like analytics. I don't know what else actually did Diamond or better. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below will probably be one of the last albums in history that volition have moved physically over 10 million copies. That ain't never gonna happen again.
Khujo Goodie: That was the biggest thing information technology Atlanta, homo, because along with Goodie Mob, those guys are the pioneers of Atlanta, Georgia music! They're the pillars. Just to have some guys representing where you stay, information technology wasn't nothing but honey when Speakerboxxx/The Honey Beneath dropped, man. And yous got a double album, that was just icing on the block right there!
Big Boi [ via MTV News , 2017]: When yous're within of [the artistic process], you don't know [the impact], y'all know what I hateful? You just go in and effort to create something new. One thing that we do is never revisit what nosotros've done, although we stand on information technology and we know it's there.
I would never go back and endeavor to create a song like "The Rooster", or "Unhappy", or "The Fashion You Motion" — That's likewise easy, y'all know what I'm proverb? That'south what I could dig about the younger generation. I like to see who's gonna play it safe and who's gonna evolve into that other thing.
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Mr. Wavvy is a music journalist born and raised in Montreal, Canada. During wintertime, his urban center can quite literally get "cooler than a polar deport's toenails" You lot tin can follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
Source: https://www.okayplayer.com/music/making-of-outkast-speakerboxxx-the-love-below.html
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