The pair also helped elevate Southern sonics and slang, in an era when the region was dismissed by the East and West coasts, and brought many of the creatives of the legendary Dungeon Family collective to the fore: production powerhouse Organized Noize, rapper-singer crew Goodie Mob, and supergroup Purple Ribbon All-Stars, the latter of which paved the way for the solo successes of Killer Mike and Janelle Monaé.
But what now of the icons partly responsible for this? OutKast has not released an album together since 2006’s Idlewild, and even though there was a reunion tour in 2014, it’s long been apparent that Big and Dré are unlikely to bring back ’Kast anytime soon.
10, Big Boi and Sleepy Brown are dropping a new album together titled The Big Sleepover; to mark the occasion, I spoke with Big and Sleep, as they both preferred to be called, over Zoom this week to discuss their latest collab, their creative process, and Big’s long-rumored song with his favorite artist, Kate Bush.
We always call our music “family reunion music,” because it’s the kind of thing you would play at a family reunion and everybody dance to it.
Definitely we’ll both be doing solo records and then probably hitting the road again, because I’m always going to be on the road.
Big Boi: It was maybe a couple of years in the making, just from being on the road and vibing.
We ain’t had to go back, we ain’t had to tweak shit, we ain’t had to do nothing.
The beats are the tests, and we, being writers and singers and funkateers, are the students, and we just have to ace the test.
A lot of beats were especially made for this group, like “Baller.” With this album, we worked with a lot of producers after we heard their stuff and really, truly liked it.
Even the beat for “The Way You Move,” I had that for four or five years before I even put something on it and brought Sleepy in.
I could sit by Big, and Big be like, “OK, this the vibe.” I’m like, “OK,” and I’m sitting up, and then I hit that vibe real quick.
It’s like you’re building a house and you’re working on the bathroom and the kitchen and the garage and all that shit at the same time.
That’s going to unlock the map.” I ain’t give no more shit until y’all go get this motherfucker right here and live with it, rock with it, and then it’s going to unlock the map.
And remember, you want that Kate Bush record? Go ahead and stream the fuck out this motherfucker, do what you got to do.
Everybody get out there and just play that album when you cleaning up the house, play that album when you ride around, you know what I’m saying? Enjoy the whole thing, because it’s going to take you on a nice little journey.