Y’all remember "Back In The Days" ? When everything seemed to be better, the world was still a peaceful place, smoking weed was revolutionary and Bill Clinton hadn’t had his job done yet ? Well, that was the time when Andre "André 3000" Benjamin and Antwan "Big Boi" Patton came up, saving our parties with their incomparable "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik". That was the summer of ’94... But times have changed, the biz became harder and faster and not long ago, the first ones of the 90’s icons got dumped by an audience with growing expectations. We knew it wouldn’t happen to the boys from Atlanta. But still, considering how revolutionary their fourth album "Stankonia" is, and how "Ms. Jackson" rocked the charts all over the world, they’re way worth a closer look again. Find out why it is like it is, what politics have to do with it, and what five mics mean to multi-platinum artists. Ladies and gents...OutKast.

Interview : Lukas Hadorn & Christoph Birrer

Sixshot : Welcome to Europe. How was it ? Did you expect such a reaction or were you surprised to see the people go mad like this ?

Big Boi : We didn’t know it was that big over here. We’ve just heard the news about our chart-positions in Europe and I guess it started to catch on with this album.

S : Is there a difference between doing shows in the US and doing them over here ? Does the crowd react differently ?

André : The main difference, I think, is the understanding, the language barrier, which certainly af fects the interaction between the artists and the crowd. A lot of people may not understand the things we’re saying. Even though we’re from America, we’re not just from America, we’re from southern America, so the way you talk is different. It’s a whole other slang. The people probably don’t understand the way we’re saying some words, or why we’re saying them, but it’s cool, because we still get a lot of energy. They can feel the music, and instead of understanding, they can see the music. That works.

S : One thing that came out very clear during your shows was the success of "Ms. Jackson", your first single off "Stankonia" in Europe. How do you feel like when you see people go crazy over "Ms. Jackson", knowing every word of it, and then going to the bar to have a drink during "Player’s Ball" ? Does that annoy you ?

A : No, that’s not really a problem for us. We just want to let people know that this is not our first album, and we let them know in shows and interviews, that this is our fourth album. They really have to backtrack and listen to the old albums to find out how we got to this point. That’s the only way they can really understand OutKast. A lot of people were with us from the beginning, but still don’t understand us, you know ? You gotta do a little bit of research, but we let people know all the time. Times change, music changes, and you just gotta stick with it. We’re not upset about this, I think a lot of people over here were not exposed to our first albums, because Hip Hop wasn’t that big yet, so that's why.

S : One of your "trendmarks" is certainly your very particular rhymestyle. How did you develop your style ?

BB : It just evolves, you know ? It evolves from your personality, because in between every album, our personalities have changed. Especially the rhymes grow with your personality, and we always wanted to come up with new types of flows and just change the way we freak it. We don’t wanna stay in one pattern, we’re always trying to find different ways to say something, so that’s what keeps it fresh at the end. You just can’t always stick to one thing, you gotta do it the way you feel at that time, so it’s dependent from your personality evolving.

S : What differences do you see musically between 1994 and now ?

A : It’s kinda like a kid growing up. You do something for the first time in your life, and then you get better and better as you go along...and then, once you know what you can do, you start to get a little bit more comfortable, and a little bit more free, you know ? We’re still learning, we’re always learning, and we still feel kinda like babys sometimes even though this is our fourth album. So the main difference between our four albums is the times. What we were going trough during high school, at age 17, 18, that was our world during the first two albums. Up to the "ATLiens" album, that was the time that influenced our music, our music was very chill back then. And then, on our third album "Aquemini", we just started to put our feet into cold water. We just started to get a little bit free with it. So it became more of a soulful album, it was what we believed in. An now the fourth album is all about getting butt ass naked with it. On "Stankonia" we’re trying to implement our ideal type of music.

S : The first single off "Stankonia" in the US was "Bombs Over Baghdad (B.O.B.)". There’s a big controversy going on about the interpretation of "B.O.B." So tell us. What does the metaphor stand for ?

A : When the US was bombing Baghdad, they weren’t really bombing it, it was more like they dropped warnings all around the outskirts. They weren’t really hitting nothing, they were just dropping bombs now and then, to demonstrate their power. That’s an attitude we dislike. So we’re transforming this into our music, saying that with this album, we’re coming straight, we’re coming strong. We dont wanna be warning around the bush. We want to let people know that whatever you do, whether you’re a writer, a MC, if you do music...just do it all the way. That’s what it means. "Don't pull the thang out, unless you plan to bang", you know ? "Don't even bang unless you plan to hit something".

S : Speaking of politics. Did you vote ?

BB : Yeah, we voted for our new president.

S : Now who’s that ?

BB : Al Gore. But as you know the dead ass George Bush stole it away from him.

S : What do you think of George W. Bush ?

BB : He's a crook. He stole the election. Shit, that’s the biggest crook in the motherfucking world. Take my brothers down in Florida; there were road blocks set up, so the minorities coudn’t get to the poll to vote. Then votes turn out to be missing, suddenly appear again...shit, they showed the whole world really how dirty politics is. I don’t know, it might have discouraged people from going out to vote next time. On the other hand, people today are more angry and upset, so the next time, you maybe get even more people going to the polls. We’ll see...

S : Something else connected to politics in the US are the clean versions you always need to do of your singles and your albums. What does this mean to you ? What sense do you see behind doing censored versions of all your songs ? ‘Cause either you cut out the words, or you re-write the lyrics, and in the end, both possibilities affect the substance of the song.

BB : We’re living in the land of the free, freedom of speech and everything. They’re trying to blame violence on music. Take the movies for instance. Some movies are the most violent shit out. You can’t even show people getting pistol-whipped in videos or anything, but in movies you can show everything.
A : We usually just cut the words out. The only time we change the whole lyrics is when the song is gonna be dropped as a single, because cut-out words just completely mess up the whole flow. So we’re just trying to get it as close to the content, to the substance part of each song, as we can. Another possibility, another rule we have, is to eliminate the unnecessary, you know ? But we still curse though. It’s not like we’re trying to curse, but it’s just part of the language.

S : Let’s quickly stick with the industry. Back in 1998, the "Source Magazine" awarded you with five mics for "Aquemini", which made it one of the rare five-mic-albums. What did this mean to you ?

BB : Hell, fuck that. What it really means, is that it means something to the people who read the "Source", which is supposed to be Hip Hop’s bible. At first, you’re probably like, well...I mean you see the ratings they give to different albums, and you probably be like ‘damn’ how did they get this, and how did he get that ? So what it is, it’s...

S : ...politics ?

BB : Exactly. Politics. So that whole rating system of the "Source" don’t mean shit to us.

S : What are your future plans ? You got your own studio and you recently launched your new label, right ?

A : Yeah, "Stankonia" is the name of the studio. It’s cool, because we can always go to the studio, so we don’t have to book in somewhere for two weeks to record new stuff. So we have more time to develop new ideas. And since the second album we’re producing ourselves as "Earthtone III", which is a result of having our own studio.
BB : The record label is called "Aquemini Records". Slimm Calhoun just released his debut on Aquemini Records. Generally we’re just trying to create a new platform for groups so they have the chance to come up the way we did. Someone has to come after us and take over our heritage. Killa Mike is gonna come out with some new stuff...and we got a couple of new groups. There’s a lot of stuff still to come, so y’all keep getting that whole vibe from us, you still gonna get that sound.

S : How many people are actually behind "Aquemini Records" ?

BB : Me and Dre. Of course we have people who run the day-by-day biz, but for the most, we oversee things. We can’t be there all day long, of course, but at least we’re trying to stick our heads into the office once a day.

S : There’s rumours about solo-projects...

BB : No, that’s not true. It’s gonna be OutKast as usual. I mean, we don’t need to fuck it up now. It’s the chemistry that makes the whole group work, so we don’t have any reasons to go solo right now. You might hear a couple of extra songs, where one of us wants to put his favourites on, but that’s normal. In these cases we do it all together and work it as one piece.

S : Finally we got some catchprases we’d like you to comment...Switzerland ?

BB : Switzerland ? Cold...(thinking)...Cold. Women...there’s nice women in Switzerland.
A : Army knifes, cheese, bank accounts...

S : Fashion ?

A : Fresh and clean (smiles). Be yourself...

S : Do you design your own clothes ?

BB : Yeah. We got a clothing line coming out.
A : ...(articulated) clothing line coming out real soon.

BB : OutKast Clothing Company.
A : ...(very ariculated) OutKast Clothing Company. You’ll be able to get everything...the furs, the leathers...hats...everything.

S : Weed ?

BB : Purple.
A : Brownies. (laughter)

S : Skiing.

A : No, thanks. I’m not the one to get out there on them slopes... I’m more like chillin’ in the cabin by the fireplace. But I ain’t on the slopes.

S : We thought you’ve got some relation to skiing since you’re sporting ski-boots in your videos...

A : Nope...they just look fresh (broad smile)

S : Swiss Hip Hop ?

A : I haven’t heard that much...but the couple things I’ve heard, they sounded really americanized...so I think I’m waiting for another year or two, until it gets kinda like a personal side, you know ? But it’s normal, even most rappers in the US, when they start out, they sound like somebody...but give ‘em a little minute until they get into their own things.

S : Dre, Big Boi, thanks a lot for this interview.
A/BB : Thank you. Keep it going like that.