When the Atlanta hip-hop superstars OutKast were inducted into the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame, it was more than a celebration of the immense talent of Antwan “Big Boi” Patton and André “3000” Benjamin. Salvation South editor Chuck Reece believes it was a jubilee for the city of Atlanta—and a Southern musical revolution that spread around the entire world.

Andre 3000 (left) and Big Boi (right) of OutKast

Andre 3000 (left) and Big Boi (right) of OutKast

Credit: Collage by Jake Cook

 

TRANSCRIPT:

MUSIC: OutKast - "ATLiens (Instrumental)"

Chuck Reece: If you listen to me here every week, or if you follow the Salvation South podcast, you have probably heard me talk about the magic that happened in Memphis, Tenn., and Muscle Shoals, Ala., as soul music was created in the early 1960s. 

But the biggest revolution in Southern music in the last four decades happened right here in the city where I live: Atlanta G-A. Watching OutKast be inducted into the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame reminded me of that. 

The soul music I grew up listening to was tremendously important in shaping Southern and American culture during the civil rights movement, but the Southern hip-hop that began in the 1990s in a basement in East Point, Ga., has put an undeniable imprint on the culture of the entire world. 

MUSIC: OutKast - "Player's Ball (Instrumental)"

Chuck: OutKast’s first album with its amazing title, Southenplayalisticadillacmusik, came out when I was 33. I had always been a voracious consumer of new music, but despite all the noise in the music press about Antwan “Big Boi” Patton and André “3000” Benjamin, I didn’t pay attention until their third album, Stankonia. I remember walking around my neighborhood with one of those — what did they call it? A DiscMan? — clipped to the pocket of my jeans, listening. And thinking, "What is this stuff?" I had never heard anything like it. 

MUSIC: OutKast - "B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)"

Chuck: I remember being glued to my television on the 15th of November in 2003 when they performed “Hey Ya” and “I Like the Way You Move” on Saturday Night Live. What a spectacle!

MUSIC: OutKast - "The Way You Move" (on Saturday Night Live)

Chuck: When Big Boi and André’s fellow Atlantan Donald Glover welcomed them into the Hall of Fame, he said this: 

Donald Glover: OutKast didn’t just represent the South. They redefined it.

Chuck: Glover’s words were not at all hyperbolic. Nor was his next statement: 

Donald Glover: They turned each album into a new planet, a new home for people who felt like they had none.

Chuck: And here’s the thing. By the time those albums came out, I was not in the target audience at all. I was a white guy in his 30s. But somehow, I felt welcome on the Planet OutKast. When they reunited in 2014 for three shows in Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta — more than 20,000 people each night — I was there, and here is the vibe I remember feeling. 

It was a celebration for all Atlantans — ATLiens, to use the language of Planet OutKast. I had never felt — and doubt I will ever feel again — such massive waves of pride in my home state’s capital city. And pride in the fact that, to borrow André’s immortal words, the South did — and still does — got something to say.

Please come visit us anytime at SalvationSouth.com.

Salvation South editor Chuck Reece comments on Southern culture and values in a weekly segment that airs Wednesdays during Morning Edition and All Things Considered on GPB Radio. Salvation South Deluxe is a series of longer Salvation South episodes which tell deeper stories of the Southern experience through the unique voices that live it. You can also find them here at GPB.org/Salvation-South and wherever you get your podcasts.