A music podcast where we discuss our favorite albums, song by song. New episodes every other Tuesday.

173: Outkast - Aquemini (1998)

“I think it would've been harder for us to come out from New York because they would've expected us to do a certain thing. The door was wide open [in Atlanta], so we had an open palette. You can do anything from Atlanta."

–Andre 3000

Ready for action, nip it in the bud, we’re never relaxin’, this podcast is everlasting! In this episode, Rich has somethin’ to say about OutKast, the Atlanta duo consisting of Antwon “Big Boi” Patton and André “3000” Benjamin, who conquered hip-hop in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s before quietly parting ways. The most fascinating characteristic of OutKast is the duality between Big Boi’s extroverted, in-your-face gangsta persona and Andre’s introverted, quiet philosopher poet persona, a contrast they thoroughly explore on their 1998 album Aquemini, whose title is a portmanteau of their astrological signs. The duo emerged from Atlanta at a time when Southern hip-hop was struggling to be taken seriously amid the dominant West Coast/East Coast narrative, and on this album OutKast proudly make an argument for themselves as masters of the genre with music that’s both overwhelmingly colorful and layered with history and cultural subtext, all in a way that’s distinctly Southern. So if you’ve been on the fence about getting into hip-hop, Aquemini may be the album that helps you get the hump up out your back now.

Miscellany

Disclaimer: This episode features some coarse language and sexual themes, so we have the explicit tag turned on and the bleeps turned off.
The following sources provided the lion’s share of the background info for this episode:

Roni Sarig’s 2007 book Third Coast: OutKast, Timbaland, & How Hip-Hop Became a Southern Thing and Ben Westhoff’s 2011 book Dirty South: OutKast, Lil’ Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern Rappers Who Reinvented Hip-Hop provided a lot of useful and fascinating cultural context about the broader Southern hip-hop movement, especially Sarig’s book, which devotes a comically outsized share of its word count to OutKast.
The 2014 collection An OutKast Reader: Essays on Race, Gender, and the Postmodern South, edited by Regina N. Bradley, compiles 18 scholarly essays about OutKast, which should give you an idea of how much serious academic thought has been put into their music. The essays “André’s Dread: Communicating Survival of Racial Terror” by Michelle S. Hite and “When ATLiens Boarded tha Mothership: Funk’s Influence on OutKast” by Charlie R. Braxton were especially helpful in assembling the notes for this episode.
The Atlanta magazine Creative Loafing published an oral history of Aquemini in 2010 featuring quotes from both members of OutKast and much of the creative team behind the album, which was especially helpful in gathering some of the finer, “you had to be there” details behind the album’s production.
A couple of sources that Rich was unable to track down include Chris Nickson’s Hey Ya! An Unauthorized Biography of OutKast, which was unavailable in the Connecticut library system and is apparently not very good, and Michael Schmelling and Nick Weidenfeld’s Aquemini entry in the 33⅓ series, which has vanished from the face of the planet.

Regarding his lack of solo output, Andre recently said in an interview that nobody wants to hear him rap about losing his eyesight or getting a colonoscopy, and this comment inspired Swedish pop singer Robyn to write an uptempo banger about her experience with in vitro fertilization.
Mike’s “look into the pinwheel with our third eye” remark is a reference to this hilarious Key & Peele sketch about why Outkast will not be getting back together anytime soon.

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call

Rich Bunnell (host)
Mike DeFabio (moderator)
Amanda Rodgers

Aquemini tracklist

Hold On, Be Strong
Return of the “G”
Rosa Parks
Skew It on the Bar-B
Aquemini
Synthesizer
Slump
West Savannah
Da Art of Storytellin’ (Pt. 1)
Da Art of Storytellin’ (Pt. 2)
Mamacita
SpottieOttieDopaliscious
Y’all Scared
Nathaniel
Liberation
Chonkyfire

Other clips used

Outkast:

Hey Ya!
The Way You Move
Ms. Jackson
ATLiens
Player's Ball
Elevators (Me & You)
Hootie Hoo
B.O.B (Bombs Over Baghdad)
Ova Da Wudz
So Fresh, So Clean
Gasoline Dreams
The Train
She Lives in My Lap
Flip Flop Rock
Wheelz of Steel

Others:

The Moody Blues - The Day Begins
The Moody Blues - Your Wildest Dreams
TLC - What About Your Friends (Extended Mix)
Chance the Rapper - Same Drugs
Earth, Wind & Fire - In the Marketplace
King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part I
Giorgio Moroder - (Theme From) Midnight Express
Henry Mancini - Police Woman
Masta Killa - No Said Date
The Who - Eminence Front
Parliament - Dr. Funkenstein
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The Message
Neil Innes - Intermission (from Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
TLC - Waterfalls
David Gates - Do You Believe He's Comin'
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
Camel - Spirit of the Water
Genesis - Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
Strafe - Set It Off
Tennessee State University Marching Band - SpottieOttieDopaliscious
K. Michelle - Got Em Like
Teedra Moses - No More Tears
Marsha Ambrosius - Greedy
Jill Scott - The Real Thing
Beyoncé feat. Nicki Minaj - Flawless (Remix)
Logic - Man I Is
Chocolate Puma feat. Grace Tither - Rebels on the Run
Jus Now & Dismantle feat. Busy Signal - Fire (Spotie)
DJ Taso feat. DJ Rashad & DJ Spinn - SpottieOttie VIP
Lee Fields and the Expressions - Never Be Another You
Autechre - FACT Mix 122
Goodie Mob - Dirty South
Camel - Air Born
UGK - Intro
Drake - Light Up (Remix)
CeeLo - Fuck You
Goodie Mob - Free
The Last Poets - When the Revolution Comes
Madlib - Distant Land
Big Boi - Shutterbugg
Raye - The WhatsApp Shakespeare
Andre 3000 - All Together Now

Band/album personnel

Andre “Dre” Benjamin – vocals (2–6, 9–12, 15, 16), production (1, 3, 5–7, 12, 15–16), kalimba (1)
Antwon “Big Boi” Patton – vocals (2–13, 15, 16), production (1, 3, 5–7, 12, 15, 16)
Pat “Sleepy” Brown – programming (2, 4, 11), production (2, 4, 8, 11), vocals (8, 12), backing vocals (9, 13)
Ray Murray – programming (2, 4, 11), production (2, 4, 8, 11)
Rico Wade – programming (2, 4, 11), production (2, 4, 8, 11)
David “Mr. DJ” Sheats – scratches (3, 5), production (9, 10, 13), arranging (9, 10), mixing (9, 10, 13), synthesizer (11)
Earthtone – horn arrangement (5), bass (6), piano (6), synthesizer (6)
Victor Alexander – drums (5, 12, 15)
Erykah Badu – vocals (15)
Ruben Bailey – vocals (15)
Frederick “Cool Breeze” Bell – vocals (7)
Seven Sirius Benjamin – baby vocals (7)
Big Gipp – vocals (13)
Buullllllll! – additional vocals (11)
Cee-Lo – vocals (15)
George Clinton – vocals (6)
Preston Crump – bass (1, 4, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15) electric guitar (3), guitar (5)
Darian Emory – horns (5, 12)
Delvida Flaherty – vocals (12)
4.0 – backing vocals (6)
Jerry Freeman, Jr. – horns (5, 12)
Joi Gilliam – vocals (15)
Ahjahne Green – additional vocals (5)
Theresa Hightower – backing vocals (7)
Pastor Robert Hodo – harmonica (3)
LaMarquis Jefferson – bass (8)
Rajinder “Conga Man” Kala – congas (6, 9)
Khujo – backing vocals (2), vocals (13)
Debra Killings – vocals (3)
Lil’ Wil – backing vocals (2)
Craig Love – guitar (5, 8)
Masada – vocals (11)
Tomi Martin – guitar (13, 16)
Donny Mathis – guitar (1, 4, 6, 7, 10), acoustic guitar (3, 7) production (1)
Sonja Mickey – additional vocals (5)g
Nathaniel – voice (14)
Andrea Nivet – vocals (12)
Marvin "Chanz" Parkman – bass (2, 6, 10), piano (6, 15, 16), synthesizer (6, 16), keyboards (9, 10, 13)
Omar Phillips – percussion (5, 12, 15)
Playa Paul – vocals (3)
Raekwon – vocals (4)
Skinny Miracles – bass (11)
Jermaine Smith – backing vocals (13)
“Slim” Jim Smith – backing vocals (13)
South Central Chamber Orchestra – strings (2), woodwind (2)
Martin Terry – guitar (3, 12)
T-Mo – vocals (13)
Charles Veal – arranging (2), conductor (2)
Whild Peach – vocals (15)
Jamahr “Backbone” Williams – vocals (7)
Witchdoctor – vocals (11)
Kenneth Wright – bass (6), piano (6), synthesizer (6)
Josh Butler – mixing (2)
Ralph Cacciurri – recording (5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13), assistant recording (3, 6, 16)
Jonnie "Most" Davis – mixing (8)
Blake Eiseman – recording (5, 6, 15, 16)
John Frye – recording (3, 5–10, 12, 13, 15, 16)
Shawn Grove – assistant mixing (11, 16)
John Horesco, IV – assistant mixing (3)
Rico Lumpkin – assistant mixing (4, 5)
Vernon J. Mungo – assistant mixing (6, 9)
NealHPogue – mixing (1, 3–7, 9–13, 15, 16), recording (1, 3, 7–9, 15, 16)
Kevin Parker – recording (4)
Alberto Perez – recording (7)
Claudine Pontier – assistant mixing (7, 10, 13)
Jason Rome – assistant recording (6, 7, 10, 13)
Jean B. Smit – recording (2)
Kenny Stallworth – assistant recording (3, 5, 9, 13, 16)
Jason Stokes – assistant mixing (12, 15), assistant recording (6, 7, 10, 15)
Katy Teasdale – assistant mixing (2)
Bernasky Wall – recording (2, 4, 11)
Ryan Williams – recording (3, 6, 15, 16)
Brian “Big Bass” Gardner – mastering

Credits

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:

Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
Outkast - Rosa Parks (this episode only)

You can buy or stream Aquemini and other albums by OutKast at outkast.com, your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing and production are by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio 3000, the Other Leading Brand, for the introduction and theme song. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.