When Andre 3000 appeared on Questlove’s podcast, the host noted that he was on a tour bus when he heard the album Aquemini for the first time. As soon as he heard “SpottieOttieDopaliscious,” he knew that Outkast had conquered another musical genre, and that marching bands across the country would soon be playing the tune. He was right.
Outkast are a great hip-hop band, and they helped define a whole genre of Southern hip-hop, which survives and thrives today. But they also provided some of the great crossover pop songs of the past 30 years. One way of looking at success is how many musicians want to pay tribute to your canon. Covers, of course, and there are many of these for Atlanta’s finest, and the site has covered some of the greatest ones from Outkast here and here.
There are tribute albums to many artists made by big names, often to musicians who would, for whatever reason, be grateful for the royalty money accruing from big-name artists covering their work. Outkast did not need that support.
There is, nevertheless, another form of tribute: The genre tribute album. Musicians who are moved by your music and want to commemorate it in a specific musical way. Some do not venture too far from the originals, but others use ingenuity and love to create something inspired by the band or artist, but not bound by it.
These genre albums have a distinguished history. There are labels devoted to the classification. Staffed by real musicians, some who you might know if you knew their names (pseudonyms are common), but many who you have not heard of. You will probably have heard them on dozens of songs by others, even if you didn’t know who they were. These musicians are exceptionally talented and have, and continue to, devote themselves to their craft. Going to record stores and finding one of these at random could often be a very pleasurable experience. My Bluegrass Green Day CD gets played more than the originals that inspired it.
Making a great genre tribute album is not, necessarily, a trivial task. James Curtiss, Director of A&R, CMH Label Group/Scufflin’ Records, has been in the field for more than 20 years, working with artists such as Vitamin String Quartet and helping to helm the Rockabye Baby series, amongst others. He notes that a great genre tribute album has to generate “Curiosity. You have to be willing to experiment with sounds and genres to try to make something worthwhile. The best covers are obviously not sound-alikes, and you have to treat tributes in much the same manner. You have to grab people’s attention with a strong juxtaposition in the pitch, but you also have to make something you’d wanna listen to.”
And how do Outkast fall into that tradition? Curtiss notes that they can come from a place of deep appreciation: “I love Outkast. At CMH I’ve been party to or produced the creation of at least 4 tribute projects to the duo, all of them very different, all of them love letters. Outkast were never comfortable resting on their laurels or echoing the conventions of the genre, and they did that while writing songs that will borrow into your head and never get out. I’d put them in a top 10 most influential hip hop artist list any day of the week. Stankonia is the place to be.”
We have looked at a series of Outkast tribute albums and selected a good one, a better one, and the best that we could find.
Good: A Tribute To Outkast – The Urban Underground Society
An archetypal genre tribute album in many ways, generally staying pretty close to the source material, right down to the cover. As is often the case the details of the artists involved are murky, but it says that it was recorded in Atlanta. If that is the case, Outkast should be proud of the artists that they have inspired. These guys can spit bars with the best, albeit we don’t quite know who they are.
However, the thing that elevates the album even further is the undertone of Europop. The (now defunct) label, Da Hype Records, are apparently from Belgium. The album opens with “Ghetto Musick,” which is halfway to Europe anyway. You can sense that the musicians other than the rappers would like to be covering Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” as much as Aquemini. They keep this tendency largely under wraps (under raps?) but let loose on a final version of “Hey Ya,” which is a classic.
Better: The Lounge Below – A Tribute to Outkast
A quarter of a century ago Mark Jonathan Davis had a moment of genius and inspiration. If you broke down the scabrous lyrics of songs from a range of genres, and presented them with a straight, lounge, face, you could bring comedy and music together. Through personal and professional ups and downs he has maintained that persona and career through to today under the name Richard Cheese. Cheese himself never did much with Outkast; there is nothing morally dubious there, so there is not much humour to mine. His version of “Hey Ya” is not that memorable.
Similar to Cheese, one suspects that the singer of this similar project The Lounge Below, Herbert “Ruffles” Lovecraft 3000, may not be using his given name, and whether the Wilford Brimley Orchestra really is hiding out in Madagascar, NJ, is not clear. (Also, Wikipedia says this album was produced by former Guns ‘n’ Roses guitarist Bumblefoot!)
Nevertheless, they have produced a work with verve, excitement and eclecticism. There is no parody or satire, just reinterpretations with a love for the originals. And although you could find them all being played by a wedding band, there is not a single pace or tone. There is crooning, but there is also mambo. There is also a reading of “B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)” as presented by the Village People, apparently.
Best: Tonight: Bebop Plays the Music of Outkast
There was a time when jazz was a dominant musical force in the zeitgeist. The most talented, inventive and ambitious artists from a particular period gravitated to bebop, whereas now they would be more likely to be hip-hop artists. Outkast would clearly be aware of the giants from a different generation and time. So it is fantastic that the bebop musicians of today returned the favour with a tribute album.
We got some insight into the process of producing an album like this, from the arranger and producer, Jim McMillen: “I had charted out the entire album bar by bar before recording. It is thoroughly arranged jazz ensemble music like something Gil Evans or Gerry Mulligan might have done with the same source material. I was aiming for the Art Blakey sound with Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, and Curtiss Fuller as the front line. I don’t know if we exactly hit that mark, but you have to aim at something or there is no focus to a project.”
This album is a work of art in its own right, but speaks across the ages, as McMillen points out: “The rhythms of the bebop melodies are identical to the rhythms of the rap, and recorded at the same tempo, so that if you wanted to, you could rap right along with the band!” There are clearly improvised solos, but the beauty of the cover and reverence for the source material is marvellous to behold.
Follow our complete Rock and Roll Hall of Fame series here! All week long we’ll be sharing covers by/of every artist inducted: Cyndi Lauper, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, The White Stripes, Salt n Pepa, Bad Company, Soundgarden, and Warren Zevon!
