Two weeks ago (August 10), Big Boi hosted a listening session for his solo sophomore studio album, "Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors," in Atlanta. It was one of the most anticipated events during the MixShow Live weekend as Sir Luscious opened OutKast's personal space to every DJ in town. "Welcome to the house OutKast built," he greeted newcomers as they spilled in, "Me and my brother 'Dre [ Andre 3000] built this studio over ten years ago and it's our home. You're welcome to it."
Big Boi's warm welcome to OutKast's second home came a month after he took to Twitter to say that he was to appear on two Andre 3000-assisted songs -- Frank Ocean's "Pink Matter" and an upcoming song on T.I.'s "Trouble Man" album -- but ultimately didn't because "Dre didnt want an Outkast Record Coming out on anybody else LP."
Fans of the duo worried if the perceived block would end up being the nail in the duo's coffin.
"To give away a full OutKast feature on a project that's not mine or his, is not what we wanted to do right now. Can't have an OutKast reunion on someone else's album," Big Boi told The Juice of his brother in rhyme, yesterday (Aug. 23)."There's never been a beef. Never... We good."
For now -- while both finish their own solo albums -- Big Boi's mind is on his upcoming album and he sounds refreshingly upbeat as the funky "Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors" release date of Nov. 13 draws near.
The Juice: Did you have a plan going into recording "Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors " or did you just dive?
Big Boi: You walk into it like a mad scientist. It's almost like you're making a pot of stew, until it tastes right. You add a little pinch of this [and] a little pinch of that [until] everything comes together and the picture starts to develop. That's when you really start carving it out and when you get a certain block of songs that cohesively tie together and sound like a movement, then you know what the album sounds like. I mean, it's been the same way, from "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik" up until now. The formula has always been [to] just get in, have fun, and make the dopest music you can possibly make.
You have your mainstay production team, Organized Noize, alongside you. You've also brought Sleepy Brown back into the studio as well. How important is loyalty to you when collaborating?
I was just talking to T.I. about this last night as we were recording this jam. He was talking about working with [DJ] Toomp and me working with Organized Noize. When you have certain roots in the ground already, there's a certain chemistry that you have. There are certain songs that we recorded as OutKast and solo where we always went to Organized Noize first for the kick-off. It's just a certain vibe that they bring that for me, in my comfort zone. It's like in football, you know your for sure players that you want to have out there on the field. I know when we collaborate, like on "Gossip" and they produced the song "Lions" with A$AP Rocky on it, that they're coming with the meat and potatoes on the plate.
Big Boi's warm welcome to OutKast's second home came a month after he took to Twitter to say that he was to appear on two Andre 3000-assisted songs -- Frank Ocean's "Pink Matter" and an upcoming song on T.I.'s "Trouble Man" album -- but ultimately didn't because "Dre didnt want an Outkast Record Coming out on anybody else LP."
Fans of the duo worried if the perceived block would end up being the nail in the duo's coffin.
"To give away a full OutKast feature on a project that's not mine or his, is not what we wanted to do right now. Can't have an OutKast reunion on someone else's album," Big Boi told The Juice of his brother in rhyme, yesterday (Aug. 23)."There's never been a beef. Never... We good."
For now -- while both finish their own solo albums -- Big Boi's mind is on his upcoming album and he sounds refreshingly upbeat as the funky "Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors" release date of Nov. 13 draws near.
The Juice: Did you have a plan going into recording "Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors " or did you just dive?
Big Boi: You walk into it like a mad scientist. It's almost like you're making a pot of stew, until it tastes right. You add a little pinch of this [and] a little pinch of that [until] everything comes together and the picture starts to develop. That's when you really start carving it out and when you get a certain block of songs that cohesively tie together and sound like a movement, then you know what the album sounds like. I mean, it's been the same way, from "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik" up until now. The formula has always been [to] just get in, have fun, and make the dopest music you can possibly make.
You have your mainstay production team, Organized Noize, alongside you. You've also brought Sleepy Brown back into the studio as well. How important is loyalty to you when collaborating?
I was just talking to T.I. about this last night as we were recording this jam. He was talking about working with [DJ] Toomp and me working with Organized Noize. When you have certain roots in the ground already, there's a certain chemistry that you have. There are certain songs that we recorded as OutKast and solo where we always went to Organized Noize first for the kick-off. It's just a certain vibe that they bring that for me, in my comfort zone. It's like in football, you know your for sure players that you want to have out there on the field. I know when we collaborate, like on "Gossip" and they produced the song "Lions" with A$AP Rocky on it, that they're coming with the meat and potatoes on the plate.
