Before T. I., Lil Wayne or Young Thug, there were two young men from South who had something to say. These two men grew to become the greatest urban philosophers and social commentators of our generation. They used the voice and platform that hip hop gave them for good and not evil.
Antwan “Big Boi” Patton was born on February 1, 1975 in Savannah, Georgia. He is the oldest of five children born to mother Rowena Patton. Andre “3000” Benjamin was born on May 27, 1975 in 
Atlanta, Georgia. He is the only child born to mother Sharon Benjamin and father Lawrence Walker. They both lived in the black neighborhoods of their respective cities and got into trouble as boys often do. But, their saving grace was always music.
As a teenager, Big Boi moved to Atlanta to pursue his dream of becoming a rapper. He enrolled in Tri-Cities Performing Arts High School in East Point, Georgia. There he met Andre. They began to rap together with music from a group of producers called Organized Noize. One of the members of Organized Noize knew LaFace record executive L.A. Reid. In 1994, they signed to LaFace Records, and the rest is history.
Until Outkast, hip hop music, which was created in the Bronx, was dominated by New Yorkers, but this dynamic duo put the South up on the map. Outkast is credited with putting the South on the map because the different flavor of their music made everyone listen. They weren’t gangsta rappers or dope dealers. They were poets who were saying things that needed to be said.
Consider Andre’s Verse on Ya’ll Scared (Track 13, Aquemini). He talks about the crack epidemic in a lyrical and poetic way. He takes you on a journey where you see a 15 year old boy start smoking marijuana. Eventually, he literally smokes his life away. At age 21 he is trying to figure out what happened to his life, and he realizes he spent it trapped in the trap which is another word for an area in a neighborhood where drugs are sold. Then Andre makes a bold statement saying crack hit hard in communities of color, but it didn’t get the right kind of attention until it started ruining the lives of well-to-do white people. This verse is truly social commentary at its best.
Outkast was also different because their hip hop was inspirational. Throughout all their music there is a strong “don’t waste your life” message. In Big Boi’s Verse on Humble Mumble (Track 15, Stankonia), he tells us that life might not always be what we want it to be, but if we have a goal we should go for it. We should not quit when the road gets hard, but, if need be, we must struggle to complete our dreams. We only get one life, and the things we go through will only make us stronger. So, fear of failing should not be a deterrent to us achieving our goals.
It is their “do something better” message added to the Organized Noize sound that brought them 13 Billboard Top 100 hits, two number 1 hits, 6 Grammy wins, including album of the year for Speaker Boxxx/Love Below in 2004, 10 additional Grammy nominations, 4 American Music Awards and not to mention a place in history as hip hop royalty. Hip hop artists today should take note from these young men and say more in their music because they have a platform that allows them to reach the world.
References
Billboard. (2015). Outkast – Chart History. Retrieved from http://www.billboard.com/artist/321442/outkast/chart?f=379
The Recording Academy. December 3, 2009. 46th Annual GRAMMY Award – Album of the Year. Retrieved from http://www.grammy.com/videos/46th-annual-grammy-award-album-of-the-year
FROM BOYZ 2 MEN, INC. 