Kanyeezy has the entire ‘Net in the palm of his hands. He joins Twitter, visits their offices (as well as Facebook, XXL and most recently, Rolling Stone) and everybody takes notice. No one man should have all that power but he wasn’t the only one to make a headline last week. Read the rest of this entry »

Spoiler alert: David D. is an Outkast fan. When I was 10, my friends and I took blank tapes and stood in front of the radio to catch “Elevators (Me & You)” so we could record Andre’s third verse (one of my favorite verses of all times). Later that year, I bought a tape just because it had a comic book cover. I had no clue that I was buying Outkast’s ATLiens which featured that same classic track. Since then, Outkast has pretty much dominated my life. Read the rest of this entry »

Look here, idiot.

Big Boi a.k.a. Big Daddy Fat Sax a.k.a. Sir Lucious Left Foot, step second with the right one didn’t start ripping mics when the zShare’s and Mediafire’s became prominent on the world wide web. Just in case you allowed yourself to become a victim of inconvenient amnesia Read the rest of this entry »

The full album is streaming on MySpace now and we can all listen guilt-free because Big’s apparently down with it. But make sure to purchase on July 6th, okay? That’s what friends and supporters do, especially when it comes to good music. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s not much the majority of us here – neither writers nor readers – agree on. But Aquemini may be the closest topic which a common ground can be found. Even if it’s not a collective favorite from ‘Kast’s discog, there’s still so much great music to be found on the album that everybody (well, at least within our staff) can find a handful of tracks that musically connects to their tastes. Read the rest of this entry »

I have to give my better half full credit. She was the one who actually had this on shuffle the other day and I snuck to hit repeat. Read the rest of this entry »

According to Hot Tub’s tweet yesterday, this will be the actual artwork for the Sir Lucious and it’s sexy sexy. Illustrations by Rob The Barber, not Dre this time around. At this point, the July 6 release date cannot come soon enough.

Jive Records can eat a bag of baby dongs.

We’ve waited damn near a decade for new Outkast (no, Idlewild doesn’t count) and Jive records has pretty much guaranteed that the reunion won’t be taking place on Big Boi’s forthcoming album. Big explained the whole scenario to the good folks at the Gentleman’s Quarterly. Read the rest of this entry »

“Took a shower kinda sour cause my favorite group ain’t comin with it.” — André 3000

What was once nothing more than a dope line has become a self-fulfilling prophecy for one of the best groups to ever do it.

Luckily, between their discography, solo work and guest spots, Outkast has produced enough music over the years to satiate our appetites until they decide to put together another collaborative effort. And now HiStakes has also compiled a group of ‘Kast loosies from ’92-’99 and mixed them down for our listening pleasure. On top of that, he even chopped out almost everything that didn’t contain Dre or Big’s vocals to fortify your Outkast experience. His reasoning:

For my fellow OutKast fans: a smoothly-mixed, extensive compilation of b-sides, guest spots, and soundtrack features from 1992-1999.

These aren’t the original tracks. I mixed it to emphasize OutKast… I took almost everything else out cause I really didn’t want to listen to more Monica, singing Missy Elliot, Witchdoctor, or Slimm Cutta. It’s 95% or so straight lyrics from Andre and Big Boi… Tried to go for smooth transitions, nothing fancy. Hopefully, it’ll feel almost like a lost album – 54 minutes of straight Andre and Big Boi, with a few “guest” spots from T-Mo, Big Gipp, Slick Rick, etc.

Now did every one of these songs deserve the cutting room treatment? Of course not, but it flows & I don’t have the ability to do it myself. So I’ll happily take it as is and it to iTunes and save it for a rainy day.

HiStakes Presents Outkast DeepKuts (Vol. 1)

01. TLC – What About Your Friends (Extended Remix)
02. OutKast – Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (Organized Extended Remix)
03. OutKast – Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (Diamond Remix)
04. OutKast – Benz or Beamer
05. Goodie Mob – Dirty South
06. Goodie Mob – Thought Process
07. OutKast – ATLiens (Bad Boy Remix)
08. OutKast – Everlasting
09. OutKast – Jazzy Belle (Swift C Remix)
10. OutKast – In Due Time
11. Goodie Mob – Black Ice
12. Cool Breeze & Big Boi – Gangsta Partna
13. Kilo Ali – Love in Ya Mouth
14. TLC – Sumthin’ Wicked This Way Comes
15. Witchdoctor – Dez Only 1
16. OutKast – Rats and Roaches (Unreleased)
17. Monica – Gone Be Fine
18. OutKast – Phobia
19. Cool Breeze – Watch for the Hook (Dugeon Family Mix)
20. Eightball & MJG – Throw Your Hands Up
21. OutKast – High Schoolin
22. Slick Rick – Street Talkin’
23. Youngbloodz – 85
24. Missy Elliott – All N My Grill
25. Tash – Smokefest 99
26. OutKast – Freestyle (Vinyl Bootleg)

Download — HiStakes Presents Outkast DeepKuts (Vol. 1) | Alt. Link

[steadybloggin']

For a long time, I never quite understood the relationship between the two parts of “Da Art of Storytellin’.” It dawned on me one day that the two songs tell the same story. The same stories of deconstruction that plague Suzy Screw and her partner Sasha in “Part One” are happening to Mother Nature in “Part Two.” Decay, the ills of the human condition and betrayal are all tropes that permeate both tracks. In part two, Three Stacks (no relation to Kat) reprises his role as the omniscient on-looker, witnessing the downfall of Sasha Thumper and miscreants gang-raping Mother Nature. His story is standard 3000, full of science-fiction, Technicolor, acid-filled rain, and detesting of silly mortals. Big Boi, on the other hand, rolls up the worst in all of us into three lines: Read the rest of this entry »

Today is Earth Day. Whatever that means. A day when cigarette butts, cheeseburger wrappers and Sunkist® cans are supposed to cease from hitting the pavement, I guess. Such observance periods are pretty futile in hindsight. Like time is supposed stop for eco-activists who want you to turn off the lamp to appease your neighborhood generators. Read the rest of this entry »

Nuff said.

Truthfully, I don’t think even Big Boi has a concrete reason why this project has the molasses effect simmering from its innards. But at the end of the day, when the music is timeless, all that matters is that it eventually reaches the surface and into the people’s awareness. Read the rest of this entry »

Haiti was on the forefront of everyone’s minds this week, both near and far.  A lot of people rushed in with support efforts for a country that’s long been forgotten and overlooked.  Sadly, some people saw this as a good time to bring up a non-profit’s faulty books, while not keeping in mind how it might affect aid to Haiti. Read the rest of this entry »

Dear ‘Kast,

We here at TSS are huge fans of your work. The old stuff, the new stuff and everything in between. We’ve covered all the bases round these parts. We even had a sit down some time ago. Hell, my first post was related to you all. That being said, it’s a new year and I, personally, have new-found hope of walking into a Best Buy on some random Tuesday of this year and spending my money (yes, I still purchase CD’s) on a project cultivated by you two. Read the rest of this entry »

Politically, economically and culturally, a lot has changed since December 31, 1999. In terms of music, the past ten years has seen a seismic shift in the way we consume music and in turn has profoundly influenced how music is made. In ‘99 we were still in the midst of the compact disc era (although I was snagging tunes off shared dorm room drives for the first time and had just installed WinAmp on my computer).

But in terms of content, has Hip-Hop music really changed much since 1999? Take a look at what the TSS Crew would have been debating as the 90′s closed.

The all-time low of Pop music — Seriously. If you think shit’s bad now, then maybe you should check out this Top 100 list from 1999. Cher’s “Believe” at number one? Sugar Ray and Ricky Martin in the top 10 and the rise of teen pop? No wonder people thought there was going to be an apocalypse. Read the rest of this entry »