In The Beatles legend, caricatures of the creative co-leads of the group developed over time — John Lennon was the more wild and adventurous musician, pushing the band to new heights, while Paul McCartney was more of a traditionalist, crafting cutesy Pop songs and providing an anchor. Looking deeper into the iconic act’s history, of course, reveals much blurrier lines between the pair’s contributions and, over the course of solo careers, McCartney was revealed to be far more experimental than anyone knew, with Lennon (unintentionally) ending his career with the “silly love songs” of Double Fantasy.
Those preconceived roles also play out in the legacy of legendary Hip Hop duo OutKast — with the bigger-than-life flamboyance of Andre 3000 casting a superficial shadow over Big Boi’s contributions. But again, inspecting the twosome’s hall-of-fame discography reveals how important Big Boi was to OutKast’s success as a ground-shifting act, and it was far from simply “holding things down” while Andre went off. In OutKast, two great artists elegantly complimented each other in once-in-a-generation ways. Big Boi is an equal in terms of his lyrical and delivery skills, and some of his post-OutKast output (including his collaboration with Electronic outfit Phantogram as Big Grams) points to a much more visionary musical spirit than he was ever credited.
Big Boi recently released his third (not counting his Speakerboxxx album, his split-solo-album release with OutKast) solo LP, Boomiverse, which is full of solid collaborations with producers like longtime allies Organized Noize and star Pop knob-turner Scott Storch, as well as guest MCs like Korupt and Snoop Dogg. Boomiverse also features a guest spot from Killer Mike, whose first official appearance in the broader public eye was on OutKast’s classic Stankonia album, which kicked off a long stream of collaborations with the Dungeon Family crew (including more work with OutKast).
Mike’s 2012 solo album, R.A.P. Music, was produced by indie Hip Hop artist El-P, which led to another fruitful partnership — he and El-P’s Run the Jewels has released a trio of highly acclaimed albums and, along with Big Boi, has become one of Hip Hop’s few “big gets” for major music festivals all over the world. Earlier this year, Big Boi and Run the Jewels appeared together on the Danger Mouse-crafted track “Chase Me,” one of the many highlights on the classics-filled Baby Driver soundtrack.
Mike joins Big Boi in a solo capacity at his Covington, Ky. tour-stop, making the show a celebration of one of Atlanta’s most important intersecting musical legacies of all time.
