Outkast - Da Art of Storytellin’ Part IV
I’ve been blasting this Outkast track on and off for over a year now, and am still just spellbound by 3 stacks’ word play prowess. Give it a few spins and get to know the lyrics, and then realize how sporadically the rhythms runs. Notice as well the deep gasps of air sucked in between lines: Andre 3000 always brings that other level type of passion.
She said “Why you in the club you don’t make it precipitate/You know, make it rain when you could make it thunderstorm?”/I’m like “Why?/The world needs sun/The hood needs funds/There’s a war going on and half the battle is guns/How dare I throw it on floor/When people are poor”/So I write like Edgar Allen to restore/Got a cord - umblilical/Attached to a place that can’t afford no - landscapin/or window-drapin/This old lady told me if I ain’t got something good say ‘nathan’/That’s why I don’t talk much/I swear I don’t cost much/to pay attention to me/I tell it like it is then I tell it how it could be”
Like Jay-Z, the boys from Outkast have grown to men. They’ve kept much of their youthful identities in tact (they’re still rock stars after all), but have graduated to somewhat more mature conflicts. Dre worries about staying in touch with his roots, maintaining the creativity that put him where he finds himself today. Big Boi on the other hand has somewhat more material concerns, stemming as usual from baby mama drama. What I find exciting about a track like “Da Art” is that it pays homage to the storytelling roots of rap, but translates it into the more industrialized medium that we know today.
