walking upstream…
OutKast
Andre 3000 and Big Boi met as Atlanta teenagers and spent the 1990s dragging Southern hip-hop from regional afterthought to the genre's creative center, fusing funk grooves, psychedelia, and thick Atlanta slang into records that never once sounded coastal. From Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik's languid funk through Stankonia's rave-influenced chaos, they refused to soften their identity for national approval — and won anyway. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below became the best-selling rap album in history, proof the South had never needed anyone else's permission.
the sound in question
2000
B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)OutKast
walk the tributaries ↓
George Clinton1970s · Funk / Psychedelic soul / R&B
OutKast has described themselves as 'children of the P-Funk era,' and during the Stankonia sessions they drew directly on George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic cosmology — a debt Clinton returned by guesting in person on Aquemini's 'Synthesizer.'
listen: upstream & here
1977
Flash LightGeorge Clinton
1998
SynthesizerOutKast
listen forPlay Parliament's 'Flash Light' and then OutKast's 'Synthesizer' — the mentor's own voice and synth-bass squelch show up literally inside the descendant's track.
Prince1980s · Funk / Pop / R&B / Rock
Prince was among the musicians OutKast cited drawing from while recording Stankonia, and critics have described 'Ms. Jackson' as marrying 'early Prince with late P-Funk' — Andre 3000's falsetto melodrama and genre-hopping owe him a clear debt.
listen: upstream & here
1986
KissPrince
2000
Ms. JacksonOutKast
listen forPlay Prince's 'Kiss' and then OutKast's 'Ms. Jackson' — both ride a spare, funk-stripped groove built to showcase a falsetto vocal performance over almost nothing else.
Jimi Hendrix1960s · Rock / Blues rock / Psychedelic rock
Hendrix was named among the artists OutKast drew from while making Stankonia, part of the explosive, guitar-and-drum-and-bass intensity that powers a track like 'B.O.B.'
listen: upstream & here
1967
Purple HazeJimi Hendrix
2000
B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)OutKast
listen forPlay Jimi Hendrix's 'Purple Haze' and then OutKast's 'B.O.B.' — both overwhelm at speed, distortion and tempo pushed until the song nearly comes apart.