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On this very day in the year 2000, Outkast‘s fourth studio album Stankonia was released. The album was certified gold by the RIAA within a week of it’s release and with huge singles like, “Ms. Jackson” and “So Fresh, So Clean,” the project was both critically acclaimed and well-received by consumers.
Andre 3000 and Big Boi have mastered dominating hip-hop conversations, even without having released a joint project in over a decade. It’s not easy to have an album with such ground-breaking bars and oddball production still resonate nearly 20 years later, but the ATLiens have proven with pretty much every album they made that their creations transcend time.
On this 17 year anniversary of the release of Stankonia, let’s look back on some of the bars that sound like they could have been written yesterday.
“Snappin’ and Trappin’”
“N***a you stuck like a truck in red dirt, you’s in church
And I’m the deacon speakin’ while ya tweakin’
The preacher preachin’, reachin’, teachin’
Speakin’, being, breathin’
You’re not, your clock stop, and now you’re laying in a pretty box
And now pastor is only talking ’bout the pretty parts of your life
Your brother f***in’ your damn wife
You look for the pearly white gates, but you realize your fate
It’s too late, cause you hate, you hate”
“So Fresh, So Clean”
“Those huge baby eyes, get to runnin’ off at they mouth
And tellin’ me everything that’s on your nasty mind
They say you’re malnutritioned, in need of vitamin D
And invitin’ me to that tingle in your spine”
“Spaghetti Junction”
“Black man, white man, Jew man, ain’t no joke
Remember me and my cousin used to sit up on the porch
And talk about when we get older; now we up against the ropes
Yeah, they kickin’ n****s door down, ’cause it ain’t no dope on the streets
And a quarter pound of feet weed, that’s all a n***a like me need“
“I’ll Call Before I Come”
“It’s like a brand new pair of Reeboks or a junkie freshly detoxed
You feel the tingling all over like convulsions or the rooster pox
I used to not give a damn
But now I make it a point just to please you
So you can go back and tell all your buddies, I Pretty D’d you”
“Red Velvet”
“How can you measure a n***a by multiple figures he may got, got, got
Had he not purchased the newest Mercedes
That lose it’s value soon as you drive that b***h off the lot, lot, lot
Would he still be the latest, most wanted, doggonit you want it
He got it-type n***a ’round the town, town, town
Had he not played it so flashy
Ashy when half of these n****s hurtin and workin
Would be he be found, found, found”
“Humble Mumble”
“I met a critic, I made her s**t her draws
She said she thought Hip Hop was only guns and alcohol
I said “Oh hell naw!”, but yet it’s that too
You can’t discrima-hate cause you done read a book or two”
“B.O.B”
“Should have hit it, quit it, rag top
Before you re-up, get a laptop
Make a business for yourself, boy, set some goals
Make a fat diamond out of dusty coals
Record number four, but we on a roll
Hold up, slow up, stop, “Control”
Like Janet, plan it, Stankonia’s on ya”
“Gangsta S**t”
“If it’s for the wealth I’ll stop well put I like this
It’s like me selling some dope because my girlfriend wants to shop
Wrong reason, whatever the season, hey winter, spring, summer or fall”
“We Luv Deez Hoez”
“From the weave to the fake eyes
To the fake nails down to the toes
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, we love these hoes
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, we love these hoes”
“Ms. Jackson”
“King meets queen, then the puppy love thing
Together dream ’bout that crib with the Goodyear swing
On the oak tree, I hope we feel like this forever
Forever, forever ever, forever ever?
Forever never seems that long until you’re grown
And notice that the day-by-day ruler can’t be too wrong”
10 Lyrics From ‘Stankonia’ That Still Resonate 17 Years Later was originally published on globalgrind.com
