OutKast Hits Different

I grew up a fan of hip-hop. I remember hanging out with neighborhood friends and hearing Run-DMC, The Fat Boys, LL Cool J, and many others come from their radios. It was the soundtrack to our lives, whether we were playing football or basketball in the street or just hanging out on someone's front porch.

Our local Black music station in the area was WBLX 92.9 FM (aka 93BLX) out of Mobile, Alabama. The thing about hip-hop early on was the huge majority of the voices were coming from New York City. Eventually, Los Angeles broke through as a force as well. But it took a while for us kids down south to have voices on the radio we could fully identify with. Ones who spoke like we did and moved how we moved.

There was Miami bass music, led by 2 Live Crew, but also included everything from Poison Clan and Gucci Crew II to DJ Magic Mike. Lyrically, it was shallow and scandalous for the most part, focusing on sex and partying, never really digging into the everyday aspects of life. It was meant more as a distraction from the everyday than an introspection of it. Sonically, it was bass-heavy, and that was the major point of the genre. This was music for people with huge sound systems in their cars. Florida bass culture was a thing unto itself.

Later, Houston started bubbling through with groups like the 5th Ward Boyz, Geto Boys, and UGK. These groups more closely represented our everyday life. But I've always felt Texas was Texas, a culture unto itself. It may look Southern in many ways, but you knew a Texas individual when you met one. Houston rap held us over until something closer came along.

OutKast wasn't the first group we heard from Atlanta. Most of what we heard before were artists like Kilo Ali, who were more Miami Bass adjacent. But when OutKast hit, there was a feeling of "finally" that hit kids like me in the Deep South. The gospel-esque organs layered underneath the funk-heavy bass chords. The beats hit at a rhythm which felt natural with our slow way of life. And I actually knew what these cats were talking about, even if Atlanta was a six-hour drive away. Northern Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and surrounding areas moved at a fairly consistent pace.

With OutKast came a whole host of affiliated artists, like Goodie Mob, Cool Breeze, Witchdoctor, and Killer Mike, who along with their production crew Organized Noise, were known as the Dungeon Family. They had as much to do with the Southern sound as anyone. Combined with acts out of Memphis like Three Six Mafia and Eightball & MJG, we saw a whole new crop of artists pop up from the No Limit and Cash Money artists from New Orleans to groups like Nappy Roots from Kentucky. I could hold my head high being from the South with this kind of representation.

But OutKast stood above everyone for me. In part, this was because their maturation as human beings was on full display along with their maturation sonically. Andre in particular was willing to explore different trains of thought, never afraid to be weird, often embracing it. They pushed themselves to go in a direction unconventional for hip-hop. Their influences were everything from Parliament Funkadelic to A Tribe Called Quest to Portishead, and it showed.

Seeing OutKast get inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame feels like a vindication for a kid like me from the South. Not only do I feel heard, I feel respected. OutKast was the South for me. A South that loved its old ways but wasn't afraid to try something new and evolve. You never forget your roots, but always look to do something better than the day before. So, congratulations to OutKast and thank you... or should I say "stank you smelly much", for everything. The South still got something to say.