The Daily Spin, August 26
Outkast | Southernplaylisticadillacmuzik
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
Album: Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (1994)
Artist: Outkast
Link:
Iconic in basically every sense, Outkast’s debut album not only set the tone for what the group would later become, but it also served as the first splash debut of Southern hip-hop and rap on the greater American scene, disrupting a classically east vs. west divide that had been raging for years prior.
I think, looking on nearly 30 years later, the biggest legacy that I can extend to this album is its lasting impact - without it, it’s truly challenging to establish the position of Atlanta and Southern rap at large in the domestic and global scene, and it’s deeply evident the multitude of songs and artists that have drawn inspiration from Outkast in the years since their peak - not to mention their hits and their lasting legacy of sustained radio and wedding play.
Yet, as I find myself listening, I’m left a little bit underwhelmed. I felt a similar sentiment when faced with Ms. Lauryn Hill’s work some time back, feeling as though the legacy outshines the actual work itself, a larger-than-life caricature that’s impossible to live up to for anything. It’s good music, and I’m astonished at the influences I feel can directly trace themselves back to this album, or near it, but in the heat of the moment, all I can really feel is that this is an album best enjoyed from the other side of the museum rope.
Rating: 7.7/10
Best Tracks: Player’s Ball; Git Up, Git Out; Ain’t No Thang
Worst Tracks: Flim Flam; Club Donkey Ass; Peaches