I have an East Coast bias. I admit it. When you ask me about my favorite groups and songs, chances are it’s gonna have originated in New York. However, when I sit down and think about it for a while, I can get past those ‘first thing that comes to mind’ answers and get into some stuff for which I can actually make a cogent answer. Outkast is one of those groups that I rarely mention right away, but I can never really deny once I get started. Kast is definitely in my top 5 groups, probably right behind De La Soul. Like De La, I think their first four albums put them above just about any other hip-hop group’s four-album stretch. In fact, I’d almost say Outkast’s 1st 4 > De La’s first four, but not by much.
Given that, it’s not hard to get 15, but it is hard to limit it to 15 and it’s even harder to rank em. So I’m not. Except for Number 1. Cuz that joint is SO superior, it can only be at the top (or bottom, in this case) of the list.
Rosa Parks – The song that lauched a $10 Billion lawsuit. For the life of me, I can’t understand what the protest would have been about, because her name was only mentioned in the title, and the chorus, “Ah ha/ hush that fuss/ everybody move to the back of the bus/ do you wanna bump and slump wit us/ wt the kinda people make the club get buck” is hardly disrespectful. All that notwithstanding, the song is dope.
Elevators (Me and You) One of the bad parts of having a collection that goes beyond a certain level is the quality of songs that don’t get too much run. Elevators is cold-blooded. It’s like, I ain’t mad at what I’ve been listening to, but I am kinda mad I haven’t been listening to this joint. Elevators is just a good a time as any to mention that Andre 3000 is a name that deserves to be in that upper echelon of emcees. I’m not doing a ranking any time soon, but he’s up there.
Crumblin’ Erb – A word here about production. While Dre gets noted for his band’s reworking of songs for a live interpolation of a lick, as opposed to a sample, Organized Noize represented on that tip, as well. This is just one of the many examples.
So Fresh, So Clean – You talmbout a cold-blooded record, this is one. Concept and execution are killer.
Wheelz of Steel – At some point, dee-jaying actually fell off of the map in most hip-hop. Early on, the DJ always had a break. Wheelz of Steel at least gave us a taste of scratching, even if it wasn’t necessarily very prominent.
Reset – One of my all-time favorite Outkast songs, on Big Boi’s Speakerbox disc, has one of the verses that typify why I think Big Boi is criminally underrated.
Ain’t it funny how you’re born and then your life begins
Just like a baby all alone, that’s if you wasn’t a twin
You must begin to fend for self when the umbilical’s cut
The doctor put you under the heating lamp, your spirit is touched
You know what, I take that back, why? You was alive
Date of conception, interception cause the sperm did collide
From T ‘n A to DNA, feelings turn to children
The morning after pill didn’t put a halt to our very existance
We livin, breathin, soon we’ll be teethin
Our granny got a gold and now we want one for that reason
An adolescent mind is so impressionable in those stages
But parents got to parent their kids to keep them out of cages
Cell therapists beware of this lugie that I spit
Incarceration without rehabilitation really don’t mean shit
Little Ricky’s home, he gotta serve probation for six months
But Uncle Darnell and Ol’ Dirty Bastard still in the joint
From t ‘n a to DNA?! Come on, man.
Ms. Jackson – Speaking of songs that kick the truth, Ms. Jackson tells it like it is in a whole lotta ways. I frequently think of Kast and De La as similar groups, and Ms. Jackson is kinda like an expansion of one of Pos’ verses:
I recall kissin on my lady/ talkin bout makin babies
now we made the babies but cannot connect as legal spouses/
now me and my daughter reside in different houses…
Typically, Dre has the verses that stand out immediately, but Big Boi’s verses are understated quality.
Prototype – This was the jam. If Blackink hadn’t called it for his slow-jams list, I would definitely have pulled this one. It’s a great coolin out record, as well as a nice love song.
Red Velvet – The song is dope, but the thing that always stands out in my mind is that I had a homeboy who I nicknamed “Velvet.” Every time I heard this, it made me think of him, even though he didn’t like the nickname and there’s really no other connection between him and the song. But this is the type of record that I don’t think people who actually do hip-hop don’t even know exists. What? An anti-materialist rap song? Yeah.
Toilet Tisha – Again, the fellas address a serious topic while still managing to make a good record. Actually, I’m telling it backwards. It’s a dope record that addresses a serious topic.
Funky Ride – This could almost have been a 70’s level slow jam, had it not come out in the 90’s and been quite as explicit. The chorus without the verse would have done it. The instrumentation is near-perfect. In fact, an instrumental of this song could have made my 36:12 one song on repeat.
Git Up, Git Out – Could easily be the number one song on this list. Cee-Lo’s verse is absurdly good. F’real-f’real, they could’ve stopped the song right there, cuz there was really nothing else to add.
Spottieottiedopaliscious – Damn, damn, damn James! As East Coast as I am, and as much as I prefer the boom-bap, there’s really not much foolin with this song. It’s like, exactly why have I been sleeping on this record so much?
B.O.B. Hard core music electric revival. That’s what they’re saying at the end of the song. And that’s what this was. Came outta the blue. Totally different from what we were used to hearing. And cold-blooded. I know some people that never liked it, but this was always a good workout song for me.
Claimin’ True – I like the song and all, but the skit at the beginning is what really sold me. When the old head is like, “Penitentiary full’a niggas thought they wasn’t punks.”
1. Liberation – Yeah, I know they ain’t rappin. But this is it. This song sons some groups’ whole discographies. Ridiculously good. With a ridiculously low play count. But that’s gon be rectified.
April 25th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Dude, now why you wan’ go and do dis? I wasn’t even planning on fooling around with the computer today.
Now I gotta break out the catalogue. “Git up, Git out” was perfect, except it was a little too long. If a couple of verses had been dropped, it could have been a top 3 ‘Kast joint.
And no arguments about Liberation. That – and the rest of Aquemini – pretty much elevated Outkast to HOF status in my book.
April 26th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
I still think they are overrated because most of today’s rap/hip hop is just trash. But the lyrics for “Reset” are deep.
April 26th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Yeah, D*, I know you don’t fool w/ Kast too tough, but Liberation is that fire. For that matter, whole Aquemini. That’s a really, really good album.
April 29th, 2009 at 4:55 am
What about “Da Art of Storytelling pt 2″…I feel like that shouldve made the list…hmph…
April 30th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Elevators and Ms. Jackson. Sayweet!
I need to tighten my knowledge on the Outkast skills. But the short samples that I have been exposed to is all good.
May 13th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Those fools were years ahead of everything else. But you left off “Unhappy” on Speakerboxx. Good track for a lap dance at a bachelor party.