Tag Archives: Outkast

by

Song of the Day #1,296: ‘The Rooster’ – Outkast

If there’s one genre I’ve given short shrift over nearly 1,300 Songs of the Day, it’s rap. OK, heavy metal as well, but that’s never gonna happen.

But if I can dedicate a week to opera, surely I can dedicate a week to rap. So to paraphrase my mother, that’s what I’ll do.

Starting things off is a track from the Speakerboxxx half of Outkast’s smash 2003 release Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. That record, which won the Album of the Year Grammy and sold more than 5.5 million copies (of a double album), marked the peak of the band’s career. Their only subsequent release was the mostly ignored soundtrack album to a film they conceived, 2006’s Idlewild.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #952: ‘Hey Ya!’ – Outkast

A few weeks ago I went to a going-away party for a former student of my wife’s who is joining the Coast Guard. The music, served up from an iPod as I suppose most music is these days, was a mix of hip-hop and pop songs from the past decade.

At one point, Outkast’s ‘Hey Ya!’ came on and a surge of excited recognition washed over the room (ok, over the five or six people left in the room who were paying attention to the music). My 4-year-old daughter launched into one of her trademark dance moves.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #182: ‘The Way You Move’ – Outkast

outkastI’ve been thinking a lot about sampling lately. I’ve always been very much against the idea of sampling, as epitomized by what Puff Daddy did with ‘Every Breath You Take’ or even what Vanilla Ice did with ‘Under Pressure’ way back when. When the most memorable part of your song belongs to somebody else entirely, how is that ok? I don’t mean financially, because I know the writers of the source material are paid, but artistically.

Continue reading →