As fans celebrated the 23rd anniversary of Outkast’s grand debutSouthernplayalisticadillacmuzik last week, the cheers bely an undercurrent of despair as fans hope and wait for that announcement that the seminal duo will announce a new album. While the enigmatic Andre 3000 has been offering snippets of his greatness via features on a slew of recent albums, including Kid Cudi (Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’), Travis $cott (Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight ), and A Tribe Called Quest (We Got It From here…Thank You 4 Your service), Big Boi has been dropping some serious heat of his own.
With the announcement of his latest project Boomiverse, Daddy Fat Sax is aiming to bring his sound full circle with his original producers Organized Noize as well as features from Adam Levine, Killer Mike, Jeezy and more, and a funky sound that will bridge the gap between the past, present and future of Hip Hop.
In an exclusive interview with HipHopDX, Sir Lucious Left Foot, of course, speaks on what fans can expect from the new album. Yet, he also drops some serious gems including the night he and Pimp C brought 30 girls back to his place from the club, seeing Future around the Stankonia Studios before he blew up and an exciting revelation about a possible Outkast biopic.
HipHopDX: In a recent interview you said you plan to change the game with Boomiverse. What specifically is your desired response from fans and from other MCs?
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Big Boi: [Boomiverse] really speaks for itself. You gotta hear it. It sounds like nothing else that’s out there. We always chart new territories using new methods of production and lyrical prowess for one and it’s out there. It’s sonically and cohesively flowing like one body of work but every song sounds different. We always do that. Muthafuckas that ain’t been paying attention we do that every time. I never like to sound the same, never want the same flow pattern, never want the same sound or the same phrases.
We keepin’ that shit fresh.
DX: You’re considered across the board to be a legend in this game but people still sleep on your solo work. With all you accolades, do you still feel underrated?
Big Boi: Niggas can’t rate me cause they’re not on my level, you understand what I’m saying? Like I said before, if you don’t have Andre 3000 and Big Boi in your top 3, ball your list up and swallow it. It’s like the Boogie Man, you don’t want to acknowledge it cause you know it’s true. It’s undeniable. Muthafuckas know I’ll tear your head off.
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DX: You’re working heavy with Organized Noize on this one. Talk about the evolution of your relationship from the time you started out until now.
Big Boi: Well, you know Organized Noize gave us our start and I’ve been really in close quarters, like actually Ray [Murray] from Organized Noize, he moved into Stankonia Studios, which could’ve been the worst thing to happen to these rap niggas cause we doin’ music everyday man, six, seven days a week we’re just recording songs, having fun so now you have the Organized Noize EP that’s coming out on Friday that’s got the jams on that shit — the shit that people love you know what I’m saying, I got a record on there with CeeLo called “We The Ones Who Fight” and it’s for the time, it’s for right now and the people gonna love it cause it is a struggle out there and anybody that knows Dungeon Family knows we’ve always been a voice for the unheard.
DX: Speaking of the struggle, do you feel Hip Hop as a whole is doing enough with regards to the current political climate?
Big Boi: I think it’s doing some — you got like T.I., Big K.R.I.T., Run The Jewels, Myself — people that do speak up on what’s going on in the world you know what I mean, that educate as well as entertain and there’s some of us that do that but not in a preachy way. Me and Killer Mike got a song with Tom Morello that’s crazy that we did a while back. We did it after the Sandra Bland incident and we’re just waiting on Tom Morello to drop that bitch. That shit’s jammin’ as hell. It’s called “Rabbit’s Revenge.”
Started From The Dungeon: Watch along as Rico Wade explains how Future’s rap origin is more “real Hip Hop” than a lot of people give him credit for.
DX: On the topic of the younger generation, I know Future has a common connection with you guys in Rico Wade. What was it like to see him and chop it up with him before he became the juggernaut that he is today?
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Big Boi: He was in a group in the generation that came in the Dungeon after us and me and Dre were heavy on the road so I just remember seeing him at the Dungeon and they was recording. They had a group called Da Connect, like a whole bunch of them in there, the whole Dungeon Family second generation squad with Slimm Calhoun and Lil Will, so they were in there working on music while we were on the road so we would see each other periodically in the Dungeon and then he went off and went out of town and he found his sound and he started cracking. That had to be like ’99.
DX: You have a contribution from Pimp C on Boomiverse. Pimp was known as a legendary partier. Do you have a favorite memory of hanging out with the late legend?
Big Boi: Oh absolutely. Back when we did either Aquemini or Stankonia, we were at the gentlemen’s club in Atlanta and after that — I had put a stripper pole in my house — and everybody came back to my house. It was Pimp C, Sleepy Brown, some members of Goodie Mob. We were deep man, and we all partied until the next afternoon. And we woke up to like girls cooking breakfast. It was amazing. Truly amazing. He spent the night at my house that night. In the “Boom Boom Room.” That shit was like Boogie Nights. After the club closed we would take at least 30 girls back to my house and if you don’t know about the ‘Boom Boom Room’ Google it. I got the pole in there, smoke machine, laser lights, high powered stereo, aquarium, very plush leather seats. It was just the place to be you know what I’m saying so that’s my favorite memory, me, him and Sleepy Brown partied all night long.
DX: With the success of Straight Outta Compton and the buzz behind All Eyez On Me, has there been any talk among you guys of an Outkast biopic?
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Big Boi: Me and [Andre 3000] just spoke about it last week when I was in New York. I think he might have been taking a couple meetings talking to people and then I got a couple of people in mind that I’ma talk to, one of them being Lee Daniels who I just did the TV show Star with so yeah all that’s coming and we just know it’s time to do it. It’s coming!
DX: If you have a choice of anyone who would you want to play you?
Dirty South: An Outkast biopic would cover serious Hip Hop history such as the backstories of the Aquemini twins, Goodie Mob, Organized Noize L.A. Reid and Shanti Das.
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Big Boi: Shit, I don’t know, maybe one of my sons could do it cause they look exactly like me and they know all the words to all the raps so they probably could pull it off, and they know me so I may have to do the Cube move and pick one of my sons to play me.
