Losing your partner in rhyme to acting cannot be an easy thing. However, when the mic is still calling, the show must go on. Big Boi, half of the platinum plus group Outkast is doing just that, pressing on with his new label, Purple Ribbon.
“I just want to add something to the game and make good, quality music,” he says of the new label. “Our sound is top notch and bad-to-the-bone, but most importantly, it’s funk-based.
When asked about the meaning of the label’s name, Big Boi lets it be known that he’s in it to win it and that he’s behind all of his artists.
”When dogs are purple ribbon bred, it means that they have a history behind them; a champion pedigree. A Purple Ribbon is the highest-ranking you can get and all the artists on my label are winners.”
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While he’s new to the CEO game, he has plenty of successful models to follow.
“I grew up studying the LA Reid’s, the Clive Davis’, the Russell Simmons’ and things like that, as well as being an artist, so I’ve been real business savvy for a while. The team that I got now and the talent that I got, I just want to make the presence in Atlanta that much stronger. I want to try and pull together and fill that void that La Face left when they were in Atlanta.”
With experienced artists like Killer Mike and former Timbaland protégé Bubba Sparx at his side, Big Boi is ready to make a big splash in the rap game. He says that originality is the key to the music, but wants his artists to keep it funky.
“Purple Ribbon is a way of life and I want my artists to have their own identity but funk music is without a doubt, the cornerstone of everything we do,” he says of the sound for the label. ”I want the music to sound prolific and everyone around me to be serious about their craft. Everything we put out is gonna be fire. We like to be about it, we don’t talk about it.”
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”We’re serious. We’re the best. We’re Purple Ribbon.”
