How one of Big Boi’s favourite albums got him “an ass whooping”
Big Boi, also known as Antwan André Patton (am I the only one who didn’t know that both members of Outkast were named Andre?), has always been known as someone who goes against the grain. His affiliation with Outkast – who massively challenged the hip-hop scene in the early 2000s – aside, he has been known to be a bit of a risk taker.
As a registered pit bull and French bulldog breeder, he owns a ranch called “The Ritz Carlton for dogs”. He was arrested for possession of a controlled substance (Viagra), and at the spritely age of 38, whilst performing at the Summer Camp Music Festival, attempted an air kick which resulted in him tearing his patella. Forcing him to postpone a number of his shows for 6 weeks. It’s safe to say that the Atlanta rapper sees the world a little bit differently. But where did he develop this penchant for mischief?
In an interview with Complex he explains how listening to 2 Live Crew’s 1999 album As Nasty As They Wanna Be, may have spawned this lifelong urge to break some rules.
“That is one of the first albums that I ever got an ass-whooping for listening to. Me and my brother were listening to it. We had that, and we had Eazy-E’s Eazy-Duz-It_album. And my mom came home from work, and she heard us listening to that through the door, and we got our ass whooped. We still kept listening to it though, but not in the house.
“You know, it’s like when a little kid is not supposed to do something and they still do it. Like, we used to have a little cousin who was like five or six, and we used to make him repeat shit like, ‘Your ass, bitch,’ and record him saying curse words. Shit was raunchy. Plus the beats, the bass music. That’s where a lot of the influence came from, the 808s and stuff like that. So, gotta give a shout out to Uncle Luke for puttin’ it down.”
With the first track of the album ‘Me So Horny’ featuring moans of the women that the protagonist of the story is having sex with, I think we can send some sympathy to Big Boi’s mother in this scenario. Wanting to protect her sons from the ‘raunchy’ content. The album continues in this fashion with tracks such as ‘D-ck Almighty’, ‘Dirty Nursery Rhymes’ and the ‘The F–k Shop’.
The sexual messaging may have been a major draw for Big Boi at the time, but the musical prowess of the album is what had a lasting impression. Uncle Luke and co.’s use of the electric guitar, samples including Young-Holt Unlimited’s upbeat, brass backed tune, ‘Soulful Strut’, and unconventional bass patterns which may have taken inspiration from house music still in its fledgling stages, makes this an album which could inspire musicians across genres. If you were to ask Big Boi today, if that ‘ass-whooping’ was worth it, the answer would be an unequivocal, yes.