Outkast’s ‘Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik’: All 17 Tracks Ranked

Atlanta strip club culture is the stuff of legend. But back in 1994 few outside of the A knew about it. This brief skit gave listeners a peek into what it was like to frequent one of Atlanta’s many famous nightclubs.

All the skits on this album ostensibly take place in Atlanta, but this is a scene that happens every ‘hood across America. And that’s the genius of Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik: Two kids telling stories that connect with you regardless of where you call home.

This interlude tries to really drive home the idea that the Atlanta in Outkast’s music is different than that of their parents. To do so, an airplane pilot highlights some points and people of interest to the passengers before they land, running off some names outsiders may not have heard before — like “Robbing Crew” and the notorious R.E.D. D.O.G. (Run Every Drug Dealer Out of Georgia), as well as more household names like LaFace Records and Organized Noize Productions.

Before they took the name Outkast, Dre and Big went by 2 Shades Deep, and then The Misfits. When they learned that Misfits was taken they settled on the name they have today. But what does it mean? According to Dungeon Family member Big Rube, Outkast stands for Operating Under The Krooked American System Too Long. And if you thought Outkast stood for something else, well, Rube had some choice words for you.

You would think the first voice an artist would want the audience to hear on their debut album would be their own, but not in 1994. Both Nas and Biggie had intros on their debuts that didn’t involve them, meant to help set up the conceit of not only the project, but the artist as a whole. Outkast decided to go that route, too, with an intro featuring the voice of Dee Dee Hibbler — the wife of Organized Noize co-founder Ray Murrary — inviting listeners to an album that is “phat like herringbone, tight like gnat booty.”

In-house vocalist Sleepy Brown remixed the group’s lead single to create something even more smooth and playa. It’s admittedly a strange way to end the album — “D.E.E.P.” would have been a more fitting closing — but we’ll never turn down an opportunity to hear Brown over some smoothed out funk.

Essentially an album skit, this track helped introduce Organized Noize member Sleepy Brown to the masses, and showed just how versatile the production collective could be when left to their own devices.

Built around a simple bass line and head nod-inducing drums, the duo use all the open space to deliver one of their best lyrical performances on the album. There’s not much of a “song” here, but on some hip-hop head s–t, this has become a cult classic.

A good look into how the duo would later go on to craft extremely catchy hooks that get stuck in your head, “Ain’t No Thang” differs from a lot of the album due to Big Boi and Andre 3000 spending the whole track detailing all the ways they will rob and kill their enemies.

Over what always sounded like a Dr. Dre-inspired beat, half of Goodie Mob (T-Mo and Khujo) assists Outkast in running down all the ways the streets compel the youth to give up their futures to run the streets and commit crimes. “But the question, ‘Should we take that bulls–t from them people?’/ I’m makin’ 300 on my SAT, yet I am equal/ Ain’t no sequel, no saga, no way out, I’m nervous/ I’ve had it up to forehead of suckers tryna serve us/ To graduate is really becomin’ a very stressful journey,” rhymes Andre 3000.

Outkast could never be described as gangsta rappers, but on this track, the duo come close — with them telling tales about various dope houses and carrying knives in their socks to school. Outkast’s version of reality rap still contains multitudes, though, as they warn listeners about the inherent dangers that come with living the lives described in the song.

The real intro to the album kicks off with Big Boi warning outsides to stay strapped, while Organized Noize lives up their name with a beat that is a beautiful cacophony of sounds. No bass and booty shaking music here. Just smart reality raps. Andre spits one of the most famous bars of his career when he says, “See that rap s–t is really just like sellin’ smoke/ If you got some fly shit, yo’ n—as gonna always toke/ Dope is not what I be slangin’ on this track.” Jaz-O would sample that bit for Jay-Z’s “Rap Game/Crack Game,” from 1997’s In My Lifetime, Vol. 1. The influence of this album ran deep.

Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik’s secret ingredient is Outkast’s honesty. Alongside the bragadocious bars and recycled Five Percenter ideology, they slip in a bunch of truths that make the whole exercise far more relatable and believable. Lines by Andre 3000 like “If a pair of Jordan’s came out, y’all figure that I got ’em/ But no I don’t because I don’t be havin’ funds/ The gold that I am wearin’ is really made out of bronze” show just how deep and raw they were willing to get.

Organized Noize gives Outkast possibly the smoothest beat they’d ever made up until that point. With Sleepy doing his best Curtis Mayfield impression, Outkast takes the opportunity to slow the flow down a slight bit, giving listeners a panoramic view of their world while they blow some herb.

If “Player’s Ball” didn’t get forced as a first single, this would have been it. The title track acts as a mission statement of sorts for the group, explaining and displaying everything they’re about: witty bars and nimble flows, funky production, and street smart tales about two kids who aren’t killers, but don’t push ’em.

A Dungeon Family classic, this track features the other half of Goodie Mobb (CeeLo Green and Big Gipp) and Outkast trading bars about the struggle to make it in life as a teenager with little to no prospects besides illegal narcotics. One of the album’s masterstrokes was ‘Kast’s ability to make it seem like they had this life thing figured out, while admitting that everything around them is completely f–ked up.

First released as a Christmas song for a LaFace Records holiday compilation album, Big Boi and 3 Stacks nix usual yuletide celebrations and instead highlight how playas in ATL celebrate Jesus’s birthday. Sleepy Brown glides over Organized Noize’s funky fried production, helping the track peak at No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100. As the album’s lead single, this is the song that sent Outkast on their way to stardom.