Tag: Outkast

Hot 97.5—now called Hot 107.9—celebrated its legendary First Birthday Bash 30 years ago, with The Notorious B.I.G. and Outkast in attendance. It changed the music scene in Atlanta and helped put the city on the map as a hip-hop proving ground—and in its early days, it was powered largely by young people.

For years, I’ve covered how radio and record-label execs flock to Atlanta’s Black strip clubs in search of the next superstar, like Future. I also remember when local radio caught on to “Old Town Road” after Atlanta’s Lil Nas X got people talking with TikTok memes. These are the stories that come to mind when I consider how R&B and rap became the most listened-to music genre in the United States—and how Atlanta made that possible.

OutKast’s official induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this past weekend is a milestone Antwan "Big Boi" Patton and André "André 3000" Benjamin both acknowledged as bigger than themselves during their acceptance speeches.

When Portrait Coffee was offered the chance to collaborate with OutKast for Stankonia’s 25th anniversary, the team leapt at the opportunity. The result is Stankonia Coffee, set to release on October 28. The roast Portrait concocted is a funky-fruity blend inspired by the spirit of the album.

Given Big Boi’s status as one of the most eclectic and subversive musicians in modern history, it would be disappointing if his taste in animals wasn’t a little idiosyncratic—and his relationship with two Eurasian eagle-owls thoroughly ticks that box. Hootie and HOO-Dini, the brother-and-sister pair named after the 1994 Outkast song and legendary escapologist, respectively, have been part of Big Boi’s life for seven years.

Electrifying live performances are a signature for EarthGang, the dynamic Atlanta duo comprised of Olu AKA Johnny Venus and WowGr8 AKA DocturDot. For the...

With hundreds of credits, including OutKast and Goodie Mob’s debut albums Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik and Soul Food, TLC’s “Waterfalls,” and En Vogue’s “Don’t Let Go (Love),” Rico Wade helped to expand Atlanta’s imprint in music, reaching global heights. With OutKast and Goodie Mob, Wade was part of mainstreaming Southern hip-hop, expanding its boundaries and perimeters.

Hulu’s new original documentary Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told tells the story of how a 1983 picnic for Atlanta HBCU students in the meadow at Piedmont Park became, by the mid-1990s, a national Spring Break destination for hundreds of thousands of young people each April. Here’s five things highlighted in the new Hulu doc that even long-time Atlantans might not know about Freaknik’s enduring legacy.

The 90-minute feature film, directed by Ryon and Tyson Horne and written by AJC journalists Ernie Suggs and DeAsia Paige, had its world premiere Thursday night at Center Stage theater in Midtown and began streaming on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s website on Friday. The doc features exclusive interviews with T.I.; Jermaine Dupri; Arrested Development; Goodie Mob; DMC of Run DMC; Lil Yachty; Atlanta mayors Andrew Young, Kasim Reed, Keisha Lance Bottoms and Andre Dickens; Sleepy Brown; DJ Toomp; and many others.

Atlanta hip-hop would not be what it is today without the Atlanta University Center. It’s a bold statement, but one that rings true—the roster of artists, DJs, and music executives who’ve graced the AUC campuses is a veritable who’s who of the music industry, and the AUC has been instrumental in molding the fabric of Atlanta’s hip-hop culture.