In roughly the early 1900s, painting dissolved into abstraction and appropriation, and artists working since then have veered away from realism. As modern life splintered and proliferated, popular music rushed to catch up to the visual arts, first with the advances of jazz and then with those of its contemporary offspring, hip hop. While a stickler might argue that sampling, improvising, and making mixtapes (as opposed to more formal LPs) is more in the rhythm of modern life, OutKast doesn’t buy that.
OutKast have never culled “a little bit of this, a little bit of that.” From the lush studio instrumentation (first pioneered in Southern rap by their producers, Organized Noize) to the committed, heretical shamelessness of their beats, Andre 3000 and Big Boi have always explored music-making unapologetically, at the risk of radically revising their sound despite its positive reception. They stand always in direct opposition to the cooler, jazzier achievements of their peers on the East Coast, who rarely themselves sang, played an instrument, or spoke of emotional attachment in a deep, intelligent way.
And so they have come very far with a wild, unpopular model of producing music, so much so that certain OutKast fans only know an album or two well. Your cape-and-cane Aquemini aficionado might want to slow down the frenetic gun battle that is Stankonia. The Top 40-lovers who know exactly what you shake it like during “Hey Ya” often do not recognize the OutKast of “Player’s Ball” (It warranted a Sean Combs video in its day.) Ladies who lilt at Love Below pillow talk may visibly cringe at the interplanetary soundscapes of ATLiens.
A 2003 review characterized Atlanta as the “hip-hop id to New York’s ego.” Accordingly these transformations, rather than simply signaling conceptual turns in music-making, serve as foundations to OutKast’s understanding of what real love can be. Rap, particularly from the South, plays host to masculine bravado more often than not. R&B, on the other hand, celebrates seduction and the interplay between vulnerability and strength. As OutKast grew closer to uniting the two, their depictions of lovers changed from the “hos” mindlessly populating Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik to the emasculating, problematic bedmate of “Where Are My Panties?” on The Love Below. While particular genres might dramatize romance at the behest of an available mood, OutKast has grown and grown and grown beyond that, into a level of hardness that is actually quite sad: one that rejects the possibility of love, yet bows to every move of the opposite sex. Of the songs that aren’t just lyrical or dance floor victories, most grasp at dreams destroyed: not waiting for intimacy, but after it. Apologies, disavowals, partings, epiphanies, infidelities, and deviancies crowd OutKast’s lyrics.
Apparent even on Frank Ocean’s fresh “Pink Matter” remix, on which both Andre and Big Boi rap, they did not fall into the realization together. Though Big Boi has remained the more prolific of the two, it’s still clear that he did not absorb the sensuality — the heart — of Andre’s leaps forward on The Love Below and Idlewild.
For a super-close duo who have not reunited on a track of their own in seven years, the question is clear: “If what they say is, ‘Nothing is forever,’/ then what makes love the exception?” The brazen self-assurance of their music remained until their last real collaboration, 2006′s Idlewild. But in its sad, stuck, recurring harmonies, it had become what it remains in Big Boi’s work now: hard — not just any will, but the determination that gets you out of bed after a breakup, or on the dance floor without a date. That fierce, false insistence that alone, you are enough.
Considering the depth of OutKast’s catalog, cherrypicking 10 songs is something of a masochistic endeavor, mitigated only by the sheer pleasure of immersing oneself in all that amazing music in order to make such decisions with authority and confidence. Even then, we’re sure to disagree. So what follows is one longtime fan’s opinion. Let’s hear yours in the comments.
10. “N2U” (from Idlewild, 2006)
On an album that tastes overdone where the rest of OutKast bleeds rare (or at least medium-rare), “N2U” shines, and simply. There’s very little to say about it, which is in large part why it stands out. Though Idlewild, a quasi-soundtrack to the duo’s film of the same name, champions studio mastery at a level unexplored by the group, it splashes too happily through an ocean of studio sound effects, employing delectable drum samples, marching bands, and a symphony of special guests. It does not avoid borrowing from the sorts of old-timey music you might hear at a wedding, for example.
“N2U” is none of that. It’s got the naked brutality of R&B: palm-muted guitars, a chorus that — true to its sexuality — floats on just drums and bass, and a plethora of sex-hortations toward the bedroom. It flutters down with ’60s baroque pop harmonies reminiscent of the Beatles and then takes a quick dive to sultriness. OutKast is up to some of its funkiest, sexiest moves on “N2U,” all hushed and sassy; it becomes delightfully obvious they mean the preposition “into,” not the idiom.
9. “Decatur Psalm” (from ATLiens, 1996)
OutKast’s sophomore album takes them to another gangsta planet, where they sketch their native Atlanta as another world (ATL + aliens) where drug dealers and rappers cruise from dubbed-out locale to dubbed-out locale. Though much has been made of the racial undertones associated with alienhood, ATLiens sounds more immediately like a rumination on the South. Particularly with the era’s focus on rap from the East and West coasts, OutKast became one of the first groups to stridently attempt a Southern sound.
Andre and Big Boi have scattered fish and grits, Cadillacs, and East Point big-ups through all of their lyrics, and the production even in 1996 favored the crisp high registers, gun-like snare pops, and ubiquitous bass drum bumps that would defy the cool sparseness of New York hip-hop.
On “Decatur Psalm,” OutKast makes the mistake that most rap groups do at some point in their career, usually with supremely cheeseball results — they present a song that focuses on a fairly concrete narrative, rather than experimenting with themes that might stylistically sound good. Occasionally, however, the result can be wonderful and complex: the Beastie Boys’ “Paul Revere,” A Tribe Called Quest’s “I Left My Wallet In El Segundo,” and De La Soul’s “Jenifa Taught Me” all exceed the limitations of a storytelling structure, and “Decatur Psalm” doesn’t falter as it draws from gospel and the Commodores to evoke a Southern dirge.
The magic is in the conversations. Guests Cool Breeze and Big Gipp radio back and forth with Big Boi about a drug deal violently busted by the feds (Bill Clinton is hilariously “Bill Clampett,” it seems), but each rapper is careful to weave icons of Southernness throughout. They hide from the Red Dog Unit (a now disbanded paramilitary division of the Atlanta Police Department), buy a second Cadillac Fleetwood, and vow never to give in, “till that big girl from Decatur sing.”
OutKast and co. tell the story by overlapping sentences and rephrasing thoughts, which heightens the present-tense immediacy of the song. There’s an excellent move by Cool Breeze, who slyly lets the listener know he suspects wire-tapping as he apologizes for not returning his friend’s car while trying not reveal his location: “You tell his folks that I’m sorry bout that Lexus / I’m ’bout to dip and see my sister up in… naaah!”
8. “So Fresh, So Clean” (from Stankonia, 2000)
“So Fresh, So Clean” is about nothing. Not in the way that Seinfeld is about nothing (where in fact it’s about everything), but actually … nothing. So it falls into a rich tradition of rap music, in which the measure of a great rapper is whether they can rap about their great rapping, or about their great stuff. “So Fresh, So Clean” is decidedly the latter — free, easy, and begging to be blasted from car speakers. Big Boi’s verses juggle objects from “canary yellow ’79 Seville”s and “Monte Carlos” to “YKK” zippers and “gator belts” amidst a panoply of drugs and drinks. Conversely, the only proper nouns in Andre’s verse are “Anne Frank” and “Rick James”: perversity reigns as Andre proposes a freaky attic hideout to a female subject.
“So Fresh, So Clean,” which constitutes merely a synthesizer floating over a fat, staccato drum loop and bass line, proffers the neatest bed possible for creativity in of all OutKast’s work: nothing at all, none of the melodrama of Aquemini or ATLiens, stands between the fresh, clean rhyming on Stankonia and its audience. The raps are permitted to trip into and climb out of the crisp cracks within rhythms, and consequently we hang onto each.
7. “B.O.B.” (from Stankonia, 2000)
I started jogging not long ago.
I’ve hated it my whole life, absolutely hated it. Quit two sports teams (the same one, actually, two different years) because of it, and I still tense up seeing sweaty joggers on the street. But when you’re trying to beat stress, exercise for free, or quiet accumulated self-doubt, a couple million endorphins probably never hurt anyone.
When played too loudly, few songs get me off my ass like “B.O.B.” I remember no less than two weeks ago telling a friend I could hardly listen to it, with its goldfish-like attention to genre and totally absent un-politics (“Bombs Over Baghdad”?). But one day I was flagging on a run, doing my research (which often means listening to the same music in diverse circumstances), and feeling ready to “pull over.”
The skipping drum fills skittered onto the scene, Andre machine-gunning right along with a hand-programmed breakdown, and I looked into the face of a Hasidic man I passed, absolutely terrified. I ran a couple miles more than I thought I would, and after several repetitions of “B.O.B.” began to realize that the feeling that I could do anything was in no small part a sonic repercussion of the song’s spirit.
“B.O.B.” is an expansive, articulate middle finger to the structural and temporal expectations of rap music — way too fast and way too multifarious for any white-bread rapper to begin thinking about accompanying. Its words are rhythms more than signs, and the song nurtures wackiness and esotericism at a level simply unacceptable by modern standards. My submission to its singularity allowed me to enjoy its heart-in-head pounding and enter its totality, one which celebrates how far OutKast had (and has) come, and what it is capable of: “When you come to ATL, boy, you better not hide/ ’cause the Dungeon Family gon’ ride/ ha!”
And then there’s that bizarre outro: shouted over and over and over, and leaving us nowhere nearer decoding “PO-WER MU-SIC, electric revival! / PO-WER MU-SIC, electric revival!” but repeating it over and over all the same.
6. “Aquemini” (from Aquemini, 1998)
“Aquemini” is the eponymous album’s gorgeous deconstruction of personality versus reality. It grapples with rappers’ authenticity through the lens of dualities, constructing a portmanteau of Andre’s and Big Boi’s signs, Aquarius and Gemini.
Now, question: Is every nigga with dreads for the cause?
Is every nigga with golds for the fall? Naw
So don’t get caught up in appearance
It’s OutKast, Aquemini: another black experience
The duo addresses the profound questions here — Does the material culture make the rapper? Or the thinker? Do the trappings indicate otherwise? — in their own way throughout, both grounded in realism and jazz chords that drip with regretful hindsight. Where rappers in New York might have been waxing Five Percenter ideology or talking Back-to-Africa, Big Boi chastises irresponsible young rappers (“Let your paper stack instead of going into overkill/ Pay your fuckin’ beeper bill, bitch”) while Andre despondently warns, “Even the sun goes down/ heroes eventually die.”
Instead of the lyrical braggadocio of most rap in the ’90s, “Aquemini” employs parallelisms that illuminate real truths of rapping, in which both materialism and poetry can work together to make music. Music that confronts the reality of being a rapper, that insists that your actions and words can fill voids left open by a genre built on irreverent caricature.
5. “Roses” (from The Love Below, 2003)
Particularly when Andre writes a song, one can never know whether OutKast will handle a difficult subject indecorously. “Roses” could astound on sheer sneer alone, accompanying a piano-man R&B stomp with a sniveling rejoinder to a woman looking for a fat wallet, but it goes for the throat. Not only is the female subject not “down to Mars” enough for the guys, but she’s so money-obsessed, she can’t realize it.
Instead of pining for the possibility of genuine, uncomplicated attraction, OutKast draws attention to the failure of the girl’s priorities, and embarrassingly: “Roses” ends on about 40 seconds of variations on the word “bitch,” which will make just about any two people listening together uncomfortable. Where they could have drafted a more poetic repartee, it’s worth noting that the song’s hook rests on the observation that though she think’s she’s great, Caroline is not. Rendered childishly (“like poo-oo-oo!”), OutKast brilliantly follows form with function to prove that they are “down to Mars”: not fussy, but still out of this world.
4. “Spread” (from The Love Below, 2003)
Yes — you can combine Zombies-like organs, a drum-and-bass beat, and Latin-jazz piano to get something really, really sexy. Really, you can.
“Spread” enters a suite of tracks on the indomitable The Love Below (starting with “God” and arguably ending with “Roses”) that detail a character called the Love Hater’s encounter with a woman he meets while looking for sex. The song addresses their actual encounter from start to finish, not sparing a sound collage featuring a car driving, keys slamming down, and pants unzipping.
One cannot resist the sexual tension created by the beat’s immense disparity with the music, and the melody’s resolution during each chorus (unsurprisingly after the word “spread”) satisfies silkily. Andre possesses that unequivocal falsetto that communicates even to the lamest heterosexual male a uniquely charming, soulful, playful sexiness.
Even the most conscientious listener can’t help being taken in by that voice. When he raps, the level of intensity recalls that of being backed into a corner. As Andre implores his subject to, “Dance on the tip of my tongue/ Shake the clouds until there’s no more wetness in them,” I’m right there, unfortunately, fighting off the shivers.
3. “Unhappy” (from Speakerboxx, 2003)
Riding on a Southern beat that most resembles ’90s West Coast achievements vastly sped up, Big Boi mixes stilted blasts of rhyme with a deeply soulful synthesizer hook that occasionally (and so satisfyingly) reaches too-too high á la Mariah Carey.
The beat, a collaboration with the venerable Mr. DJ, slams unstoppably; the chords do not modulate at all, and they inspiringly propel the head-down/spirit-up insistence that, though “happiness came and went like Mom and Dad’s relationship… you might as well have fun / ’cause your happiness is done / when your goose is cooked.”
From Big Boi’s Speakerboxx, his contribution to their 2003 double album Speakerboxx/The Love Below, “Unhappy” has a propensity to constantly trip over itself but keep running, with Big Boi stumbling to spit out advice well before each verse begins, only allowing himself to relax when the warm chorus harmonies wash over the song. His subject matter, though, is far from unfocused: we see his parents’ debt, exposed by the brilliantly funny epiphany that “Santa Claus was / nothing more than Vanilli,” and an alcoholism driven by an unhappy home (held at a distance, as a movie: “graphic language, mild violence, / and the silence of the fams”).
“Unhappy” itself pushes us to move forward, but is itself fairly bleak; Big Boi only slows down while rhyming to offer the consolation that, despite the troubled upbringing, at least “we got that hot sauce!”
2. “Ain’t No Thang” (from Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, 1994)
You have to love a song about hyperviolence that samples Miles Davis. And not just any Miles, but a pretty rare funk ballad off of Live Evil, featuring one of the weirdest and most perversely experimental ensembles of Miles’s career.
For a writer, few faculties can prepare you to write about rap with neither rap slang nor academia at your fingertips. But I’ll say this: nothing mystifies more people at a party than putting on “Ain’t No Thang.” That bizarre horn squeal that lines each verse, that speaker-rotting sub-bass, that lyrical experimentation in which each verse is a Rubik’s Cube of possible solutions — and that endlessly repeatable chorus (“It’s all about that cess’ in your chest/ It’s the joint!”). Yes, it’s a song about riding around Atlanta with a lot of weapons and then smoking a ton of pot, but it’s also a sonic pleasure drone.
For someone as prone to constant analysis as I am, “Ain’t No Thang” is one of the few songs that resonates deep desires for bodily, exuberant music and makes me shut up. By the end, I’m shamelessly squawking, “… but a chicken waaaang!”
1. “Hey Ya!” (from The Love Below, 2003)
Andre’s contributions to the double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below crush any and all expectations of love songs. But it’s the awful epiphany of loneliness during “Hey Ya!” that thrusts The Love Below onto a pedestal. How masterful must one be to have written a danceable chart-topper (with every mark of triumphant girl-getting) that actually documents a lost faith in love and the acquisition of unashamed coldness?
Where he starts the song knowing “My baby don’t mess around/ because she loves me so,” Andre guides us through the spiraling realization that the couple is, “in denial/ when we know we’re not happy here,” even thanking his still-together parents for at least proving love can exist somewhere. “Hey Ya!” proceeds methodically — without a single drum fill or extraneous synthesizer note — from the recognition that his love has faded to myriad dance breakdowns and shout choruses, squawking away.
Eventually, bewildering notions like “separate’s always better/ when there’s feelings involved” and all the beautiful sensitivity of “Where Are My Panties?” and “Prototype” disappear in the wake of frantic appeals to be “cooler than cool ICE COLD!” and “on y’all baddest behavior.” It’s sad, but so simultaneously joyful. For OutKast, the only way out of emotional emptiness seems to be the “Hey Ya!” way, flattening any remembrance of awkwardness past by going psychotic on the dance floor.
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Aaahaahahahahahaahaha! No.
“I started jogging not long ago.” Oh neat! This must a really good Outkast song.
I try not to make a stink about it because I think I’m in the minority, but these lists are shit and there are too many of them, and I remember a day when Stereogum had a “Shit List” header for other site lists because these lists are always shit. Also, I say the editorial content has lost quality where it’s gained quantity (7 paragraph header? That’s high school-level burying the lede). Maybe there’s a merger with Pitchfork on the horizon.
But again, I mostly keep it to myself because hey things change.
These lists are not shit, they’re well thought out and insightful. Christ, what do some of you people want, nothing but newsbites? If you don’t like lists….don’t read them. Not very difficult.
Stereogum: Keep doing what you’re doing.
This list: Too much credit given to Andre, not nearly enough to Big Boi.
nice defense but this is really poor. i wonder if this writer is one of those outkast fans that only knows an album or two. where are the deep cuts? this is a group that is extraordinarily rich in material and hey ya is is the number one pick? come on.
I don’t really get the prevailing reaction to these lists. When the #1 song/album isn’t the generally agreed-upon Zeitgeisty pick (e.g. “Soft Bulletin” for the Lips one, “My Girls” and “Grass” for the AC one, etc.), everyone gets all up in arms (i.e. “THIS IS SHIT!”). When it IS the #1 pick (like this), everyone gets all up in arms (i.e. “THIS IS TOTAL SHIT).
I think someone below put it nicely, “Hey Ya!” is one of a very small handful of moments I can remember in my lifetime of twenty-one years when everyone said, “Yes, this song is special.” And the other big names on here (“Roses”, “So Fresh, So Clean”, and “B.O.B.”) are really untouchable singles, so why not include them on this list? Hell, I’d throw “The Way You Move” on here too; that chorus is smooth as butter.
In summation: cool your jets, Stereogummers, and remember that this is one guy’s opinion.
My point is these lists are always shit, because they’re subjective from the start and only meant to stir up page views. They’re indefensible and shit on principle alone, nevermind if the list is “good” or not, and Stereogum is suddenly in the habit of making tons of shit lists.
And for this “if you don’t like it … don’t read it,” fuck off — I’ve been reading Stereogum for years and I have every right to share an opinion that I think the editorial content has dropped off a cliff.
Jesus, relax. You’re going to break your keyboard or pop a blood vessel or something.
how can anybody downvote clint dempsey’s “bitch face”?
that guy’s face is awesome :)
No Spottieottiedopaliscious?!? GTFO the internet.
Damn! Damn! Damn! DAMN!
For real though. Tops my list. Also tops my list of the most awkward metaphors for the physical qualities of women.
agreed probably may favorite top 5 for sure. Go and marinate on that for a minute.
“Deep” – GTFOn the list
Alex is gonna SORELY regret fucking with Hollywood Courts.
The plot thickens!
Seriously. That’s the biggest misfire of any of these lists. Ever.
Damn, I saw this on the front page and immediately thought up a hilarious “What? Nothing from Idlewild??!?!?” joke, only to start reading and discover the list indeed included something from Idlewild. Pretty crushing moment for me, all in all.
I don’t even consider it as ‘proper’ album because it screws such a perfect discography. Other artists should get the same treatment, however there are some very notable (VERY notable) exceptions (SuperFly, Purple Rain), soundtrack should not be mashed up with studio albums, I think.
N2U is dope. Who cares that the album as a whole is a mess? Even so, I still enjoy a few cuts on Idlewild.
Really dropped the ball on this one. I am compelled enough to comment AND make my own list and post it after work. Sheesh.
I totally respect that you make clear it’s one fan’s opinion. And I’ll give you mad credit for including Unhappy, ’cause I’ll bring the hot sauce. But a list that doesn’t include Spottieottiedopaliscious, Elevator, Rosa Parks and Liberation is missing something.
THANK YOU. how the fuck is hey ya their best song when they are rich in deep cuts?!
Let’s be honest it’s their greatest and probably best fucking song. I get that you have a boner for all of their stuff, which is great, so do I, but if you don’t think that Hey Ya! is their best then you should think your life over.
So I have to think my life over just because I think Rosa Parks (among many other songs) is better than Hey Ya? Guess I got some real soul searching to do.
Saying “Hey Ya” is the best Outkast song is like saying “Song 2″ is the best blur song. They’re both so distinct from the rest of the dicography it looks almost like you’re dismissing the band. I’m not saying it does’nt deserve a spot, but I think you gotta go with something a little more quintessential at #1.
Wow. Wow. You almost literally couldn’t have done worse, Stereogum.
Not even a mention for Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik?
euh number 2 dude!
This list is TERRIBLE! 4 of the songs are from Speakerboxxx/Love Below?! I’m sorry, but that album is SO overrated! Hey Ya is overplayed BS! Every song on Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik is better than those songs!
I mean, I’m not about to call Hey Ya overrated BS, because realistically, I can think of few other music-cultural moments from my lifetime that feel as transcendent, boundary hopping, ubiquitous, and universally adored as “Hey Ya” (“Paper Planes” and “One More Time”, maybe?). That being said, the moment Andre 3K starts saying the word “Inslumnational” on “BOB” sets off 5+ minutes of some of the most shit hot fire ever spit.
Also, this was done as a March Madness bracket in 2011 which was pretty stanky: http://500daysasunder.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/stankfest-2011/
Naw man…
There’s way too much /Speakerboxx/The Love Below/ on this list and the lack of “Spottieottiedopaliscious” is baffling. Also, “B.O.B.” at seven?
Speakerboxx/The Love Below is their best album. Next to Kid A, it’s my facvorite album.
I will agree with “Spottieottiedopaliscious” being a glaring omission. It’s just too buttery smooth to leave off ANY list.
Facvorite is a sick word. Don’t knock it.
Surely you skipped Ms. Jackson because there are already three other chart-topping hits there?
Happy Valentine’s Day and A Life in the Day of Benjamin André are amazing and often overlooked too.
And don’t forget that Millionaire song Andre did with Kelis for her 2003 album. It’san absolute pop brilliance.
the whole world not in the top ten? though I think I’m in the minority on that one.
Easily one of their best – Killer Mike go hard.
Haha, does Killer Mike ever NOT go hard?
Full Force Galesburg as the worst Mountain Goats album. Ceremony nowhere to be seen on the New Order list. Now this. Get your shit together or never post again.
when i saw the title of this article, i said to myself, “b.o.b. is obviously number one, right?”
bad list
Thanks for the Decatur Psalm love.
I agree, and I was ready to bitch about it not being on the list, oh well. This list is too much The Love Below/Speakerboxx and not enough ATLiens.
I’m glad to see this feature. Oddly enough I was just looking at a list of Kendrick Lamar’s 25 favorite albums and was suprised not to see one Outkast album on there. Good Kid is a modern rap classic but I think it’s as indebted to Outkast as much as the west coast stuff.
I DONT KNOW ENOUGH OF OUTKAST’S DISCOGRAPHY TO MAKE A STRONG STATEMENT ON THE VALIDITY OF THIS LIST BUT IM ALL CAPPING ANYHOW
You crazy, Danny.
ME NEITHER BUT I’LL TELL YOU ONE THING THE WRITERS REALLY FUCKED UP AND NOW I’M MAD
My ten favorite: Elevators, Humble Mumble, Aquemini, Rosa Parks, B.O.B. , So Fresh So Clean, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, Ms. Jackson, Aint No Thang, Return of the G
Aquemini is my #1, and Andre’s final verse might be my favourite ever by him. But ya, this list blows. Out of left field maybe, but I would also throw ‘humble mumble’ on here as well.
I think the lesson here is that you could literally pick any 10 Outkast songs and it would qualify as a “Top 10″. Their discography is that deep. Just none of that Idlewild shit, alright?
i love how GOD DAMN ANGRY so many people get at these lists.
“what? stereogum didn’t include my favorite songs!?? GTFO OF THE INTERNET YOU WORTHLESS SCUM SUCKING PRICK!!!”
….and then they come back tomorrow and read whatever’s newly posted.
If they called it “This contributors ten favorite Outkast songs” there would be much less vitriol spewed all over these lists. But they don’t, the headlines for these columns read “The Ten Best…”, probably on purpose. They want people to read and post as many responses as possible, even if they’re angry.
However, I not sure, but I don’t think anybody has called Alex a “worthless scum sucking prick”. That might be a bit much, ya know?
about 90% of these lists seem to evoke nothing but anger from the commenters. perhaps not quite at the level of “worthless scum sucking prick” anger, but often pretty harsh words. and i highly doubt that everyone’s *actually* sitting there, fuming mad in their desk chairs… but i guess that’s just the internet for you.
and yeah, i think we all know that these are opinion pieces. i reckon that stereogum doesn’t call it “the contributors’ ten favorite albums…” for the same reason that rolling stone doesn’t plaster “the greatest 500 albums in the opinion of 10 people who work at rolling stone” across the front of their magazine: it would look dumb.
Da Art of Storytellin’ Part 1,2, and 4!!! Player’s Ball? I normally take me music cues from this site because, it hasn’t steered me wrong since 2007. I especially like that the trust I have in listening to new music is based in my confidence that the staffs’ taste matches my own. As a southern man who started listening in1994, poor job, Stereogum. Poor job
Wow. I don’t envy having to put this list together–so many songs from which to choose–but no Player’s Ball or Rosa Parks, and Hey Ya at number one?
Ain’t no thing but a chicken wing? Not in this case.
Seriously though, more from Aquemini should have been on here, and a left field track from Stankonia, that album is so (3)stacked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvdf5n-zI14
No Rosa Parks or Ms. Jackson. That’s my comment.
enjoy your page views, you sold enough of your credibility to get em, that’s for sure
Stereogum’s #1 song by OutKast is “Pink Matter (Remix)” (Feat. André 3000 & Big Boi)
3 tracks from Love Below and only one from each for Aquemini, ATLiens and Southernplayalistic is bonkers
Chonkyfire, Da Art of Storytelling part 1, Skew it on the Bar-B?
Wait are we considering non Aquemini tracks?
Sasha Thumper would not approve.
Susie Screw must be livid
To the people arguing against “Hey Ya” being no. 1: You might justifiably have a different *favorite* song, but it’s impossible to posit that “Hey Ya” isn’t their *best* song. It’s in our DNA at this point. It is impossible to imagine a world without “Hey Ya”.
I was still in high school when it came out. The culture of our student body was incredibly diverse, so it didn’t really have an established hierarchy, but it was incredibly cliquish. When “Hey Ya” came out, it was the most unifying piece of pop culture I’ve ever experienced. The punk kids, the gangsta kids, the kinda-geeky kids, the anime kids, the kids who only owned Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin shirts, white kids, black kids, latino kids, east/west/south asian kids,– the way everyone loved that song reminds me of that dancing sequence in The Breakfast Club. I have not personally witnessed a pop song so multilaterally well-received before or since (key phrase: “personally witnessed”). And I know that the response to that song was not limited to my high school. There is really something to be said about a pop song with that kind of universally visceral impact.
So anyway, at least this list knew to not hesitate putting the most popular song in the #1 spot, as some lists are wont to do.
i have an aquemini tattoo and i hate hey ya.
That doesn’t argue my point at all.
it doesn’t. i just have so much love for this group that it drives me crazy that this is the list stereogum designates as the best of outkast. 4 songs from speaker/love? did they even listen to the rest of the albums? is teen spirit the best nirvana song because a bunch of teenagers bonded over it? by that logic we will rock you is queen’s finest achievement.
it all depends on how you qualify “best,” and that qualification is entirely within the purview of the writer. does best mean your own personal favorite? most culturally significant? best example of the artist at their perceived creative peak? he who writes the list decides.
“Best of the Noughties” lists from many different publications will consistently have “Hey Ya” near/at the top of the list, always outranking other OutKast songs, and no one bats an eye. It’s interesting that it’s a more controversial choice at the top of a list of just OutKast songs.
In response to Mr. Cornell, I think the best lists will take all of those factors you listed, and then some, into consideration. However, I think there is something unique in the cultural resonance of “Hey Ya”, and I think that resonance is the most important factor. That’s my subjective viewpoint, but I am going to go ahead and assume that I’m REALLY not alone in thinking that. So I think it’s a little weird that people would be appalled that “Hey Ya” is at the top. While it’s obvious that many people have a different *favorite* song (as I, in fact, do), it’s really difficult to start a beef with a song as far-reaching as “Hey Ya” without coming off as desperately trying to prove your authenticity as an OutKast fan (case in point– Mr. Richards’ immediate reaction to my comment).
While Mr. Richards brought up good points, I would argue that “Hey Ya” is unique among the examples of hit singles that are not the artists’ best work in how it resonated with an even wider audience, at least demographically speaking. It has a unifying effect that cannot be overstated.
So in conclusion, I’m not asserting that “Hey Ya” is objectively the best OutKast song, but I am saying it’s a lot harder to prove otherwise. This is flawed logic, but I’m a flawed guy.
Note on the first paragraph: I realize that many OutKast songs that could be considered “better” than Hey Ya were made in the 90s, and wouldn’t be on a 00s list. I think my point is clear enough though.
Also, reading it over, I realize I come off as wildly pretentious when I address people as Mr. (insert surname). But whatever. I like doing it.
Damn, that is a very diverse high school.
Funny, I remember everybody in my high school reacting the same way when “B.O.B.” and “Mrs. Jackson” came out. Don’t get me wrong, I still remember hearing “Hey Ya” for the first time in my freshman dorm room. But, were’nt we all fucking sick to death of that aong within six months? It took me years to get back to enjoying that song after hearing it played to death from 2003 to 2004. It’s not completely the songs fault that it got overplaid, and I enjoy it now, but I then again, I never got sick of “Mrs. Jackson” or “Rosa Parks” or “Spotieottiedopaliscious” that way.
I find it funny that a group’s most popular song is finally put on the list and everyone gets just as mad as when it’s left off.
I don’t know Outkast well enough to know how solid this list is, but I do now want to go check out the tracks I’m not familiar with.
Yeah, Hey Ya! should be number one, I don’t get how people think otherwise. But I think more people are mad at the exclusion of many of their other popular songs, and the inclusion of a song off Idlewild, which is very much the OutKast equivalent of Michael Jordan playing for the Wizards.
Too much Love Below. OutKast made their best music together, with Andre and Big Boi balancing each other out. Songs like “B.O.B.”, “SpottieOttieDopaliocious”, etc. are so much better than anything on The Love Below. Honestly I’d say that “I Choose You” feels more like an OutKast song than most of the Love Below stuff. Speaking of that, we should have Tom make a UGK list. Holy shit they have some gems in their catalog. “One Day” is maybe my favorite song by anyone ever.
I believe the song you are thinking of is “Int’l Player’s Anthem (I Choose You)”
I only say that because I concur it is one of the best OutKast or UGK songs, depending on how you feel. A Top 10 UGK list would actually do a lot of positive good I think.
Yeah, “Int’l Player’s Anthem”. It’s funny how with the production coming from DJ Paul and Juicy J of Three 6 Mafia, it basically involves Southern Rap royalty from three of the major rap hotbeds of the south.
I can’t get enough of it, ever. I memorized the lyrics 5 years ago and still recite it ever so often.
A perfect song if there ever was one.
yup. Easily one of my favorite songs. Which is why I brought up UGK, since that and “One Day” are both so high up on the list for me.
oh no! my identity has been revealed!
Hahaha, I hate it when Facebook auto-logins you into Stereogum!
I have an anonymity to maintain!!
Sweet! Another reason to not use Facebook.
He produced that!? Three 6 are/have the best producers. Oscar-winning, I believe.
I normally don’t get why people get all worked up over these lists, but this is just ridiculous.
N2U isn’t even the best song on Idlewild…the fuck
hi everyone!
No love for the song “ATLiens,” even in the comments? Wow. It’s the song that got me into Outkast!
Oh, and “B.O.B.” is a better song than “Hey Ya” any day of the week.
The lack of both “Elevators” and “Git Up Git Out” (both absolute hip hop classics) makes this whole list completely irrelevant
skew it on the bar-b never gets any love
Weak list.
I was about to post a list of songs that were left off of this list but soon realized I’d be listing the majority of Aquemeni, ATLiens, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik and Stankonia.
Instead I’m just going to listen to all the songs they left off the list and have a great day.
could go with 2/3 of auquemeni for starters . . . tuff pix when, like thee clash, there’s just too much of quality to choose from
4/5 of the top five are from Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. That’s your problem right there.
B.O.B is #2. Fail.
Sorry, but, you did the list wrong, Alex.
I would also like to concur with all my fellow posters here – and say that you, Alex, are a miserable creature. I suspect you have a lobster claw for a hand.
This List = Joke, right?
I will probably never visit this website again because of this list and how offended I am as an Outkast fan. Did you just write Outkast songs on a wall and throw darts at them? Most of these songs wouldn’t make the top 25.
Relax. It’s just one fellow’s opinion, as he said in the pre-list article. Blame the higher-ups at Stereogum for giving these top songs lists an objective name when the lists are utterly subjective in nature.
As I’ve said before, it’s much more possible to achieve a degree of objectivity when ranking albums, but not so much when ranking songs.
I think not visiting this site, save for responding to these comments about mine, is an example of blaming the higher-ups, or whoever, for naming this The 10 Best Outkast Songs. It should be called “this one persons really sad attempt at listing their own favorite outkast songs (this person is probably really young and is focused on newer material than the classics).”
YOU AND ME BROTHER WE’LL START OUR OWN WEBSITE. FUCK THIS PLACE AND ITS SLIGHTLY INCORRECT LISTS
SMUSH PARKER!
I love OutKast and didn’t want to comment on this, but I just did so oops.
Anyway, I’m not even kidding when I say my favorite OutKast song may be “She Live In My Lap” from The Love Below. And “Hey Ya” is one of the best pop songs ever written in the history of pop music (seriously no arguing that one). Then “Snappin’ n Trappin’” from Stankonia is a close second.
The only flaw I see in this list is leaving off “Rosa Parks”.
The singles I would include in my Outkast list would be:
Rosa Parks
Ms. Jackson
Hey Ya
B.o.B
Whole World
Maybe Fresh and Clean
and then I’d probably fill the rest in with ATLiens, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, Aquemini. It’d be hard to cut it down lower than 15 though, probably would have to get rid of 1 or 2 of the singles
Hey Ya on top. A bunch of other classics below. I can’t complain, although if I were the author I’d apologize a trillion times for leaving “Ms. Jackson” off.
I always have to make these lists in the context of what I’d want to listen to as a sequenced album, or mixtape. This is as close to ten songs as I could get…
Humble Mumble
B.O.B.
SpottieOttieDopalicious
Elevators (Me and You)
She Lives In My Lap
Slum Beautiful
ATLiens
Rosa Parks
Unhappy
Git Up, Git Out
Liberation
If I was FORCED to take one off I guess it would be Git Up, Git Out. And although the singles have honestly never been my favorite Outkast tracks, if I could add a couple more tracks I’d probably include Ms. Jackson and Hey Ya!
No “Ghetto Musick” and no “Hootie Hoo” ?
Not including Spottieottiedopaliscious is just criminal. I typically don’t bother to complain about this sort of thing but, to be honest, this whole list is way off. This list is about the equivalent of what would happen if The Source was asked to pick the top ten Elvis Costello songs. What y’all really know about the dirty south?
When we do these countdown lists, can we get the same list done by other staff members at the bottom? Kinda like how everyone gets their own honorable mentions section in the Best of the Year lists.
where is Da Art of Storytellin’ (Part 1)? its like you have only heard speakerboxxx/the love below
“Step into my office, Alex Tatusian.”
“Why?”
“COZ YOU’RE FUCKIN’ FIRED!”
If you reached into a hat that had every other OutKast song listed out on individual pieces of paper, you would pull out a better song than these, at minimum, 7 out of 10 times.
why why why why why why why
hey ya? fucking REALLY?!
Southernplayalistic and Spottieottiedopalicious are top 2, thats an indisputable FACT.
I feel like I just read the textual equivalent to Andre 3000 receiving a blowjob.
This list feels like it was made by someone who doesn’t think OutKast is that great.
You forgot “Ms. Jackson”, thus your list is completely irrelevant.
I normally don’t get too upset about these lists because I understand that taste is subjective, but come on man, this is pretty bad.
No Ms. Jackson?
No Spottieottiedopaliscious?
No Rosa Parks?
No Da Art Of Storytellin Pt.1?
And, most grievously, although it is technically UGK, NO International Players Anthem?!?!! SPACESHIPS, DON’T COME EQUIPPED WITH REAR VIEW MIRRORS, THEY DIP, WHEN THEY SEE HOW BAD THIS LIST IS
Man, this is rough.
I won’t argue “Hey Ya!” at number one. The logic checks out. Idlewild tracks have no place on this list. I personally loved Speakerboxxx/The Love Below and it’s a contender for my favorite Outkast album, but it’s waaaaay too heavy on this list and I most of the tracks picked from it are a bit confusing. I would’ve included “Rooster” or “A Day In The Life of Benjamin Andre.”
“Rosa Parks” is crucial to making this list relevant.
10. Hootie Hoo
9. Day In the Life of Andre Benjamin
8. Elevators (Me & You)
7. ATLiens
6.Ms. Jackson
5. So Fresh, So Clean
4.Spottieottiedopaliscious
3. B.O.B.
2. Rosa Parks
1. Hey Ya
Rosa Parks is crucial …. on so many levels ;-)
So this list would have us believe “Ms. Jackson” isn’t a top 10 OutKast track. Anybody really believe that?
Off the top:
10. Funkin’ Around
9. Hootie Hoo
8. West Savannah
7. Rosa Parks
6. Crumblin’ Herb
5. ATLiens
4. B.O.B.
3. Player’s Ball
2. Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
1. SpottieOttieDopalicious
Honestly, #1 and #2 may as well be tied for best. They’re both perfect.
This is more like it…
I agree with your last line…
I like my funk uncut!!
BTW, a little surprised the writer of this list didn’t try to slip in a couple tracks off Andre 3000′s Alter Ego Mixtape LOL!!
The lack of “Skew it on the Barby” negates the existance of this list almost entirely.
I have to say, it’s a testament to the near Beatles-esque quality and consistency of Outkast’s catalogue that there is SO MUCH disagreement among the commenting horde here. They just have so many songs that appeal to so many people for so many different reasons, it’s incredible. Like, how many other artists could put out a song like “SpottieOttieDopalicious”, and then a song like “Hey Ya”, and have people argue with equal passion for both?
I think, among all of the “this list is irrelevant because you didn’t include ________” comments, this is one of the only truly spot-on comments.
I have this whole ten minute argument that the Big Boi/Dre 3000 creative partnership is the closest thing we’ve seen to the Lennon/McCartney partnership that probably only makes sense to me.
you guys have been spot on with these lists….. until now. Why even try to rank 10 Outkast songs…… you were asking for a rebellion
1. B.O.B.
2. Elevators (Me & You)
3. Ain’t No Thang
4. Ms Jackson
5. Da Art of Storytelling (Parts 1 and 2)… yes I know I’m cheating
6. Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
7. ATLiens
8. Synthesizer
9. So Fresh So Clean
10. She Lives in My Lap
*honorary mention to the Kim & Cookie interlude from Stankonia… best rap interlude ever
Not sure if anyone else feels this way, but it’s something no one’s brought up yet that’s probably worth mentioning.
To me, “Hey Ya” barely qualifies as an Outkast song.
By the time Speakerboxxx/The Love Below came out, Dre and Big were already heading in separate directions. It’s Outkast, sure, but in name only…and even then, not really. They couldn’t even decide on one title.
Shouldn’t the “10 best…” list feature songs that prominently feature (all) members of the group in question? There are certainly enough..
This list produced man tears. I hope you’re happy!
Also no love for flip flop rock?
I don’t usually bother commenting on these list posts because no matter what kind of list you make, there will be a hundred comments like “how could you not include blah blah song?”
But damn. DAMN. This list is godawful. I can make two top ten lists of songs better than this list. I mean, Hey Ya as number one? Are you a fourteen year old girl?
Only one song from ATLiens? How about Wheels of Steel? Two Dope Boyz? Elevators? Jazzy Belle?
Or from other albums: Art of Storytelling, Red Velvet, SpottieOttieDopaliscious, Gangsta Shit, We Luv Deez Hoez, Call of Da Wild, Rosa Parks…?
stand and deliver. Wheelz of Steel is my favorite Outcast track.
Complete shit. Here’s the concept, get English Majors out of the music and for that matter any kind of creative business. Punctuation and sentence structure, whatever.
To reiterate everything thats been said above to much speakerboxx/lovebelow. I did find it both a little funny as well as a little refreshing that pitchforks number 1 song of the last decade is apparently only the the seventh best Outkast song. Suck it pitchfork, you got it wrong!
This was a very bad list and article, have to say. The choices seem to be trolling (Aquemini may as well not exist) or just represent some really whack taste in the Outkast catalog. The intro took writing about a vibrant, exciting band and made it dull, while taking a needless shot at Big Boi, the one who’s proven by far the cooler and more vital one for some time despite being in your boy Andre’s shadow for ages. These lists are obviously all subjective and nobody’s ever going to agree with everything, but I’d say this one was outright lousy. But hey, to each their own. At least it got me thinking about my own, which would look something like this (not in order).
Skew It On the Bar B
Rosa Parks
Spottieottiedopalicious
Da Art of Storytelling Pt. 1
Roses
Hey Ya!
B.O.B.
Wheels of Steel
So Fresh, So Clean
Elevators
I usually don’t get too worked up about these lists but this one is terrible. He concentrated way too much on speakerboxx/the love below. The 2 most glaring omissions are “the art of storytellin” and “elevators.” Come on man.
No elevators? Or stew it on the Bar B and Hey Ya is number one ? Please and worst of all no southerplayastic songs, damn damn damn James ! Trapped just trapped ” horns ! “
No fresh and so clean, yes ? No git up gut down? hey Ya so high, no true hip hop fan would put a commercial track like this so high .ugh And no elevators! Freaking elevators a fraking epic song and video the most popular song that year for me in college, sqew it in the bar b , the art of storytellin with legend slick Rick , and ain’t no thang should be replaced with southernplayalistic Cadillac funky music…BOB belongs at number one
bahahahahaha this list is HILarious.
I literally feel like you made this list to piss off real Outkast fans.
No Hollywood Divorce?
Piece well done. That “Da Art Of Storytelling” pt2 is left off this list compromises this for me.
who’s Outkast? those dudes who shot Nappy Roots? (rimshot)
10. Bowtie
9. Humble Mumble
8. Players Ball
7. Ms. Jackson
6. Rosa Parks
5. Elevators
4. Ghetto Music
3. Spottieottiedopaliscious
2. Hey Ya
1. B.O.B
Nice mix of Dre and Boi, old and new.
Maxwell’s Silver Hammers & Vogues: http://www.sae-usa.com/7/parallels/
OK The writer of this list is critical of people not knowing Outkast’s catalog but then shows he is one of the people he is categorizing. Maybe he was trying to excuse himself for his own limited knowledge passing the buck onto Outkast? I can’t reread that because it’s quite obvious he was not qualified to make this list. His admitting to not getting B.O.B. until he gained appreciation when he started running (thanks for the update of your exercise routine) & including Idlewild soundtrack (I may be wrong but wasn’t that Andre 300 not Outkast!? either way it doesn’t belong). He knew the radio hits and listened the last couple of releases. So If your going to go with radio hits ie Fresh/Clean & He Ya! then where is Ms. Jackson? Here is a tip for your jogging mix – if you had a change of heart on B.O.B. try Gasoline Dreams;-)
Must Haves for the List (in no particular order):
SpottieOttieDopaliscious
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
Crumblin’ Erb
The Whole World
Skew It on the Bar-B (feat. Raekwon)
Rosa Parks
West Savannah
If you need some Andre love songs how about Protoype?