‘Ms Jackson’: Who is Outkast’s hit single actually about?
Some songs are successful; some songs, if lucky, hit the charts. A few songs, however, enter the stratosphere of industry legend, becoming so iconic that decades on from it being released the song remains such a force of presence that every child knows the lyrics as if it just came out that very summer. ‘Ms Jackson’, a single by hip-hop duo Outkast, as if anyone needs to be told that, is such a song.
Released in 2000, the track is a blend of 1980s-inspired hip-hop, noughties R&B and some psychedelic rap that topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. It went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group the next year, while the music video also got its fair share of accolades, winning the MTV Video Music Award for ‘Best Hip-Hop Video’ and the BET Award for ‘Video of the Year’.
It’s not just celebrated for its infectious sound, but its lyrics too. Critics then and now celebrate the single’s storytelling, in which the rappers, Andre 3000 and Big Boi, narrate a profession of love to the mother of a romantic partner, all while discussing and examining the challenges of having a child born out of wedlock, claiming to support the child no matter what happens between the couple.
But who is the song actually about, or, perhaps more crucially, addressed to? The one and only Erykah Badu – well, her mum, actually – who shares a child with Andre 3000.
“I don’t think ‘Ms Jackson’ was actually about me,” Badu said in a recent interview with the New York Times. “I don’t think so, but people say it. About your mother, then, more specifically?” the interviewer prompted.
“She thinks it was about her,” Badu confirmed, and then added that “she’s got the bumper sticker and the airbrush tee-shirt”. When prodded, Badu explained the bumper sticker says ‘Ms Jackson’ and the tee-shirt says ‘Sorry Ms Jackson’.
Andre 3000 – whose real name is Andre Benjamin – was in a relationship with the Grammy Award winning ‘Queen of Neo Soul’ from 1996 to 1999. They share one son together, who was born in 1997.
Benjamin, who is also a Grammy Award-winning musician and regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, had no pressure on their son, then enjoyed number one chart success with not just ‘Ms Jackson’, but other Outkast classics, including ‘Roses’ and ‘So Fresh, So Clean’. Beyond music making, the rapper and record producer is also an actor, with roles that include Jimi Hendrix in the 2013 biographical film All Is by My Side.