Last night night Big Boi posted the picture above on his Instagram page. While it's something that has been rumored, talked about, and even confirmed since November; Daddy Fat Sax actually mentioning it made it real for all OutKast Stans to sigh in relief and rejoice simultaneously.
Since I found out that OutKast would be playing Coachella I've been trying to figure out who I could steal money from to make my way to the desert for the Friday night show...That is until I saw how much it costs. Jesus be a live stream!
I'm a HUGE OutKast fan. I was relatively late on the bandwagon; but with good reason. I'm from New York. When Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik and ATLiens dropped Notorious B.I.G., Nas, Method Man, and Puff Daddy had radio up here on smash. They were a regional act that I only remembered being on that episode of Martin where Jerome won the Player's Ball. By the time Aquemini came out and received five mics in The Source I was hooked. The Playa and the Poet would tackle the same subject the same way in a manner that complimented each other so well (For the record: ATLiens is the best OutKast album. Why? The only album you skip no songs.).
Southernplayalistic was putting the South on the map, ATLiens showed they were here to stay, and Aquemeni was the classic for the hip hop heads. Stankonia blew like a typhoon and brought along the crossover success. But it also was the beginning of OutKast being individuals and not a group. To put the rest of the world up on what they'd been doing for almost ten years, LaFace dropped a greatest hits album Big Boi and Andre Present OutKast. Then the double solo album was the end. I have a love/hate relationship with Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. It won all the awards and I was happy to not only see the South get recognition for this; but hip hop in general. However, they were no longer OutKast. They were Andre and Big Boi. Individuals. Idlewild gave me hope when the first single was 'Mighty O,' but the album was a single disc sequel to Speakerboxxx/The Love Below that got outsold by Danity Kane in its first week.
Two incredibly dope Big Boi solo albums and an album's worth of incredible Andre 3000 cameos are all that super fans like myself have been left with. As much as we like these and a solo album from the rapper formally known as Dre; we want that old thing back more than anything.
So here we are: a reunion in the California desert in April. Nearly twenty years after their first album released (If Coachella is in April WHY didn't they ask Nas to perform? Illmatic-the best hip hop album of all time-was released April 19, 1994 but I'm sleep doe) Luscious Left Foot and Possum Aloyisius Jenkins-you're not really a fan if you don't know those aliases-will hit the stage. Everyone hopes this leads to a tour and a solo album. I don't. OutKast is currently signed to Epic Records and has one album left under their original contract. If they fulfill their obligation then there's nothing left to wish for. That last album is the leverage that they'll come back together and do something.
With 10 The Hard Way or whatever they could possibly title it could possibly mean that's it. They'll always be Big Boi and Andre 3000 who were once OutKast. We'll see pictures of them together on Instagram hanging out with each other's kids because they'll still be friends and wish for just one more go-round. But they won't have to anymore.
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