Big Boi On Missing A Chance To Work With 2 Pac, Plus More Life Lessons
Outkast’s more vocal half reflects on his long career, personal triumphs, mistakes and lessons learned
LOWS
I met Dre in the Tri-Cities High School lunchroom. There were a lot of gangs, but we were the preppy pretty boys. Our friendship wasn’t about rapping at first. Then two of our friends got busted for robbing a liquor store. We went on to rap, and they got 20 years.
My father passed away four or five years ago, my grandmother passed a year ago, and another one a year before that. These were the people who raised me, so I’m just now healing. I used music as a way of self-medicating.
We first met Tupac in Ohio at a show. He was leaving for the hotel and told the limo driver to stop, and he wouldn’t, so this muh’fucka jumped through the limo’s partition, threw the car in park while the driver was driving and almost threw the transmission out. When ’Pac was working on the Makaveli album, he wanted to do a song with us, but we never got to.
Until y’all see us sitting together, don’t ask me about no OutKast. My kids stay over at Uncle Dre's or go to his mom's house. He and his dad come by to watch football and shoot pool. Only so many times you can say, “Ain’t nothing wrong.”
HIGHS
My dad was in the Marines, so he was in and out a lot. My greatest moment with him was when he came back from Beirut with a brand-new [Chevy] IROC, when Run-D.M.C.’s “Rock Box” came out. We had the top down. I was sitting on his lap riding up and down the street just listening. That’s when I fell in love with rap.
We never tried to match, but Dre and I were always color-coordinated. When we did , Dre had on the diaper and was like, “What you think?” I was like, “Do that shit.” I had a fur coat, hoping that some muh’fucka from PETA would throw some shit on me.
I’m glad I had kids young because we have a strong bond and listen to the same music. My daughter turned me onto Wiz Khalifa and the Weeknd. High school girls love his love songs.
We were finishing “Ms. Jackson” and needed a bass line. It just so happened that Aaron Mills from the group Cameo came in and played their bass line from “Candy.” The whole room started glowing. No bullshit, it was like Chappelle’s Show when you could see Prince's purple aura in the room. It was a magical moment. —AS TOLD TO HILLARY CROSLEY
Next Page: Big Boi On Finding Love, ATL Rebirth & Getting Booed At Source Awards
On rapping for L.A. Reid’s before getting signed
L.A. Reid was a guru, almost like Yoda from Star Wars. A real music man. He knew about all aspects of music. We met him at the LaFace offices. Organized Noize was producing for TLC and they had a board meeting in the conference room. Rico Wade took us up there and L.A. was like, “Shit, ya’ll said ya’ll could rap, so rap.” So we just started bussing in the conference room with no music, back and forth. He dug it and set up a showcase after that. We was nervous, but hungry.
On recording Outkast’s first album
It was all about experimenting with the music. We never thought we were going off the deep end. As long as it felt good to us, we were willing to put it out. The first song we recorded was “Player’s Ball.” That was the song that got us our record deal.
On meeting his wife Sherlita Patton
I met my wife when I was 19 before everything really took off. I met her through Rico Wade. She came to our “Southernplayalistic” video and I begged her to be in a scene with me in the video and she said no. Then finally her friend talked her into it, and when I tried to talk to her, she was like, “You better get out my face.” I got her number from her friend, called and tried to get a date with her for a couple months. I finally got her to come out with me, we went to the movies to see The Inkwell and I laid my charm down on her. She wouldn’t give me none for a long time, and that’s how she won.
On the new generation of rappers
I like Trinidad [James]. I like Future because of his hustle, his movement. I’ve seen him since starting with the DTP days. hustling and selling his mixtapes at gas stations. For him to be where he is now, I applaud it.
On raising a daughter
I’m really proud that I’ve been there the whole time and she’s 17. She’s cool as hell and has all the game in the world from her daddy. The father’s gonna be the first man that your daughter falls in love with, so when you set that bar high, you don’t have to worry about a knucklehead disrespecting her or doing dumb shit. I treat her like a princess so she has high expectations. I’m glad that’s one of the things I chose to do as a man -- to be a father to my child.
On getting booed at the Source Awards
That was awkward because Dre really got mad. That’s why he said, “The South got something to say.” I like to call that the Civil Rights time of rap. The South wasn’t accepted or looked at as MCs. For us to break those boundaries and get respect and kick the door down was a great look in hindsight. So it was good that we kept doing what we did.
On getting kudos from Cicely Tyson for his acting
We did the scene with Cicely Tyson [in Idlewild], and she told me, “You need to pursue this. You’re good.” And my mom came down when I was shooting with Ving Rhames because he was my mentor in the movie and he said, “Boy, you got chops.” He said my timing was impeccable. But I was into music [at the time]. Now I think I’ma carve out some time to get back into films because I’ve been turning down roles for years.
L.A. Reid was a guru, almost like Yoda from Star Wars. A real music man. He knew about all aspects of music. We met him at the LaFace offices. Organized Noize was producing for TLC and they had a board meeting in the conference room. Rico Wade took us up there and L.A. was like, “Shit, ya’ll said ya’ll could rap, so rap.” So we just started bussing in the conference room with no music, back and forth. He dug it and set up a showcase after that. We was nervous, but hungry.
On recording Outkast’s first album
It was all about experimenting with the music. We never thought we were going off the deep end. As long as it felt good to us, we were willing to put it out. The first song we recorded was “Player’s Ball.” That was the song that got us our record deal.
On meeting his wife Sherlita Patton
I met my wife when I was 19 before everything really took off. I met her through Rico Wade. She came to our “Southernplayalistic” video and I begged her to be in a scene with me in the video and she said no. Then finally her friend talked her into it, and when I tried to talk to her, she was like, “You better get out my face.” I got her number from her friend, called and tried to get a date with her for a couple months. I finally got her to come out with me, we went to the movies to see The Inkwell and I laid my charm down on her. She wouldn’t give me none for a long time, and that’s how she won.
On the new generation of rappers
I like Trinidad [James]. I like Future because of his hustle, his movement. I’ve seen him since starting with the DTP days. hustling and selling his mixtapes at gas stations. For him to be where he is now, I applaud it.
On raising a daughter
I’m really proud that I’ve been there the whole time and she’s 17. She’s cool as hell and has all the game in the world from her daddy. The father’s gonna be the first man that your daughter falls in love with, so when you set that bar high, you don’t have to worry about a knucklehead disrespecting her or doing dumb shit. I treat her like a princess so she has high expectations. I’m glad that’s one of the things I chose to do as a man -- to be a father to my child.
On getting booed at the Source Awards
That was awkward because Dre really got mad. That’s why he said, “The South got something to say.” I like to call that the Civil Rights time of rap. The South wasn’t accepted or looked at as MCs. For us to break those boundaries and get respect and kick the door down was a great look in hindsight. So it was good that we kept doing what we did.
On getting kudos from Cicely Tyson for his acting
We did the scene with Cicely Tyson [in Idlewild], and she told me, “You need to pursue this. You’re good.” And my mom came down when I was shooting with Ving Rhames because he was my mentor in the movie and he said, “Boy, you got chops.” He said my timing was impeccable. But I was into music [at the time]. Now I think I’ma carve out some time to get back into films because I’ve been turning down roles for years.
