The crux of my issue with my peers’ ignorance of OutKast’s early work lies in the year 2003. Ah, what a great year in pop culture. LeBron James just entered the NBA as the most insanely-hyped basketball player ever, the mystical cinema adventure known as The Lord of the Rings trilogy concluded with Return of the King, and Chappelle's Show even debuted. Arguably more popular than all three of these events was the release of “Hey Ya!” by OutKast, the lead single of their new, double-length album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. From the second it was completed in the studio, “Hey Ya!” was the perfect radio hit. Catchy hook? Check. Infectiously upbeat rhythm? Check. Awesome music video featuring eight Andre 3000’s? Check (Technically, that’s 24000 Andre’s). The song even inexplicably rejuvenated the entire Polaroid Corporation as a result of the line “Shake it like a Polaroid picture”. “Hey Ya!” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for nine consecutive weeks, won the Grammy for Best Urban/Alternative Performance, and was nominated for Record of the Year. In other words, “Hey Ya!” owned 2003. Since it was a mix of several genres, the song was frequently played on rap, pop, rock, funk, and alternative radio stations; you couldn’t escape the song even if you tried. My brother and his friends even performed the song at their 4th grade talent show. Die-hard, “Day 1” OutKast fans should have been ecstatic that their favorite group was finally reaching the masses, right?
Wrong. You see, for 9 years prior to “Hey Ya!”, OutKast had been making some pretty incredible Southern rap that blended funk, reggae, and rock elements like no one else at the time. Their debut album, the appropriately-titled Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, was well-received by music critics and hip/hop heads alike, as their unique style pervaded the entire rap industry. OutKast’s lyrics touched on social issues such as the status of African Americans in the South as well as various “coming-of-age” topics, all while commenting on the lavish, immoral lifestyles of the pimps and gangsters they see around Atlanta. The duo’s follow-up effort, ATLiens, once again had that distinct “OutKast” sound: live-instrument-recorded tracks, smooth vocals, and complex rhyme schemes. Always progressing, however, OutKast was praised by critics for being ambitious and unique in creating ATLiens’s more laid-back, sonically-produced sound. Two years later in 1998, OutKast released Aquemini, a 16-song masterpiece that has received universal acclaim for its perceptive lyricism and diverse beats. Songs like “Chonkyfire” and “SpottieOttieDopaliscious” feature some of the most memorable hip/hop beats ever produced. Critics commended OutKast’s ability to stick to their roots and make only the exact kind of music that they want. Steve Huey of AllMusic appreciated that OutKast avoided “hardcore cliches” and called the album "a virtuosic masterpiece, and a landmark hip-hop album of the late ‘90s.” Fernando Jr. of Rolling Stone wrote "OutKast prove that you don't have to sell out to sell records.” The year 2000 saw the group drop Stankonia, a small shift toward the pop-sounding music that was to come. Still, this album was plenty adored by hip/hop fans, as “B.O.B”, essentially the lead single, is often referred to as OutKast’s finest individual achievement. After so many successful and respected albums and songs, how, you may ask, did OutKast resort to the dark depths of the radio hit?
Well, Big Boi and Andre 3000’s decision to make their own solo albums most likely contributed to it. The two records were combined to form the afore-mentioned Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, which is considered a “group release”, but there was simply a noticeable lack of the elements that comprised a classic OutKast album. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy “Hey Ya!” immensely, as well as other songs off the album, such as “The Way You Move”, “Ghetto Musick”, and especially “Roses”. It’s just that these songs were not in the mold of the songs that made OutKast the pioneer of Southern hip/hop in rap circles across the country. Instead, the group became known as “Oh, they sung ‘Hey Ya!’, right?”
If you ask me, there’s something fundamentally wrong with that. Maybe it’s an irreparable part of the music industry: groups will always be known for the songs that garner the most attention, not necessarily the ones that are agreed upon as their best work. One prevailing thought is that those who claim they are OutKast fans just because they like “Hey Ya!”, but have never heard their 90’s catalogue, are mired in ignorance. My worst fear, however, is the decent possibility that when those same people actually decide to take the initiative and indulge themselves in OutKast’s earlier albums, they won’t like what they hear. If this were the case, then I would really only have one thing left to say: “That is a damn shame.”
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