In 1994, I became obsessed with hip hop and music in general. The album that did it, Outkast’s debut, Southernplayalisticcadillacmusik. Prior to that point, all I knew about Southern hip hop was that I thought the Geto Boys were the most “real” rap group I’d ever heard in my life, “My Mind’s Playing Tricks On Me” was the dopest and most unique song I’d ever heard, and that Mr. Scarface was the most underrated emcee in all of the game. The second I popped Outkast’s debut into my Walkman, I knew three things. Foremost, Outkast was unlike anything I’d ever heard before. They were a blend of funk, soul, honesty and superior lyricism. I also felt that they had an uncanny chemistry, like a Simon and Garfunkel of rap. As well, I told every single one of my friends that Big Boi and Dre were going to be the base of a Southern hip hop revolution. Well a Ludacris, Master P, Lil Wayne, Paul Wall, T.I., Soulja Boy and Gucci Mane later, and we’ve hit another evolutionary point. And here comes Big Boi once again with new release Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty to yet again set the creative and stylistic precedent for the Dirty South.

Whereas Dre evolved into Andre 3000, a celestial rap superpower with his feet firmly rooted in the streets, Big Boi has merely become one of the best meat and potatoes emcees in the industry. There’s no flash or eye catching glitter to his style. It’s straight ahead lyricism over crunk, trunk destroying rhythms, still, 16 years later, the kind of music you play in your Cadillac as you cruise the trap in the SWATS on a humid summer evening. In taking nearly three years to put together Sir Lucious Left Foot, the industry changed, and Southern hip hop definitely veered away from lyricism and into the realm of producers, namely Fatboi, Tha Business and Bangladesh becoming in many ways larger stars than the rappers that rapped over their tracks. In one hour flat, Big Boi, in an era with T.I. serving time and Lil Wayne firmly entrenched in a Sun-Ra esque period of interpretive rhyming, resets the game and brings it back to basics. With producers familiar to him like Scott Storch, Organized Noise, Salaam Remi, and yes, rap partner Andre 3000, a veteran crew performs in a veteran manner to execute a stellar album.

Already released singles “Shutterbugg” and “Shine Blockas” (with Gucci Mane) are the mainstream club crunkers we expect. However, this album being three years in production is fire from beginning to end. “General Patton” features Big Boi at his braggadocios battle emcee best, while “You Ain’t No DJ” features support from buzzed about neophyte Yelawolf, whose style isn’t too much of a far cry from the established Outkast playbook. “Tangerine” once again shows Chico Dusty’s boy to be a top level storyteller, not having slacked since the days of “Git Up, Get Out.” This album is likely Big Boi’s precedent setter for the rest of his career. Having largely been silent insofar as a creative direction, with guest shots from Janelle Monae, George Clinton, Too Short, Jamie Foxx, Joi and Sleepy Brown, we get the method to his madness here, and it’s truly exemplary.

Following in the fine footsteps of the Wu-Tang Clan, The Roots and Jay-Z, Big Boi’s release shows that there is a definite necessity for hip hop’s veterans to be active stewards of setting the standard of excellence for the game to aspire to for the next generation. This album, by merely featuring a hip hop stalwart doing his job to the best of his ability, is likely a contender for being one of the finest rap albums of 2010.

So the word around the interwebs is that there was/is some apparent beef between Big Boi and Jive about this song making it onto the final cut of Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (which it didn’t). Jive didn’t ‘know what to do with it’ (WTF is that about?) and in a way they set out to make it disappear. HA! Some of those guys over at the ’big’ labels are so funny. Still thinking that’s possible in 2010. Silly record label execs.

Anyway, suffice to say Big Boi is pissed and confused; a fact he let be known to GQ Magazine. But fortunately for us MP3 heads the song mysteriously leaked onto the net yesterday and although the thought of a major still not being able to grasp the concept of the digital revolution still angers/puzzles me, just seeing the names Andre 3000 and Big Boi on a song together is a great  enough distraction for the moment.

“Lookin’ For Ya” is an awesome treat for an Outkast fan. It is produced by Boi Wonda and also features Sleepy Brown which together makes up the crew that laced us with ”Playa’s Ball” .  It’s innovative hip hop and man… André sure knows how to ride that beat well. Peep it below and to read what Big Boi had to say about his tiff with Jive click here. 

Big Boi – Lookin’ For Ya Feat. Andre 3000

6.) Dr. Dre – Detox

Slated for release ever since 2004, Detox has had a default slot on everybody’s anticipated album list for almost half a decade. 2010 is supposed to be the year. Yes, I’ll believe it when I see it, but my sources say it’s true. Will Dre go the Jay-Z “old man” route and school the youngin’s? Or will he take new rappers like Freddie Gibbs and Nipsey Hussle under his wing like he did with a young Snoop Dog? Only time will tell.

5.) Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

Expected to drop in 2009, Big Boi’s first official solo release has been shelved for the better part of this year. Even though Royal Flush received amazing buzz on the Internets, and they actually filmed a video for “Somethin’ Gotta Give,” Outkast fans have been left waiting. All is not lost: Big Boi has been touring the country for the past few months, and he just dropped a new track, “Shine Blockas”, with Gucci Mane. All is not lost.

4.) Lupe Fiasco – Lasers

Ever since Lupe dropped his Grammy nominated album, The Cool, the Chicago rapper has been somewhat of a mystery. I truly believe that Lupe is confused and fustrated. He’s easily one of the best MC’s this decade but he never got the respect from the old hip-hop crowd that he deserved, and the new school’s lack of respect for lyricism won’t help him either. However, as his freestyle rant at MTV’s “hottest” rapper list would show us, he is still hungry, and hopefully he will be out for blood in 2010.

3.) Diddy – Last Train To Paris

This album will either be a game changer, or the biggest bust of 2010. Hyped for almost all of 2009, via Diddy’s Twitter, a Felix The Housecat produced mixtape, and an MTV show, the electro-tinged Last Train to Paris is a concept album, which follows your boy has he chases a girl from London to the French capital. Will it be too European and avant-garde for American audiences? Possibly. Or it could be the next 808s and Heartbreak. It will all be revealed next year.

2.) Corinne Bailey Rae – The Sea

After dropping the single Like A Star and becoming a commercial and critical darling 2006, Ms. Rae simply dropped off the face of the earth. The sudden death of her husband last year kept Rae out of the public eye, however a few weeks ago, she posted a video on her site, detailing her comeback. Shortly thereafter she made appearances on UK television with her newest single “I’d Do It All Again”. The Sea, promises to be a deeply personal album, dedicated to her husband, and fitting follow-up t0 her self-titiled debut.

1. ) Sade – Soldier of Love

Yes, this one is a no brainer. I mean, come on, it’s the first album from Sade in 10 years!!!! Nuff said.

It’s good to have a true original back in the limelight. At 50, Ms. Adu has still “got it,” and during her almost 30 year career she has not yet disappointed me. I will be first in line to cop this for sure.

BONUS – Other albums that are eagerly anticipated:
RJD2 – The Colossus
Hot Chip – One Life Stand
Vampire Weekend – Contra
Radiohead (rumored)

To be honest, I never even checked Gavin Holland and Nacey’s Nouveau Riche parties. I figured that it would be some electro-hipster bs—not my scene at all. I was so wrong.

Nouveau Riche is a mix of everything. House, hip-hop, B-More Club, Rap, Top 40, UK 2-Step, ATL Booty, and whatever else Nacey and Gavin find in their music collection. As much as I hate on DC parties (and I hate a LOT), this party popped off in a MAJOR way. Even if people weren’t’ familiar with what was being spun, they went in like they didn’t care. I don’t even think I can put the level of banannas that this party provided me in simple words.

The highlight of the night for me was the 30 minute UK dubstep session, complete with MC’s spitting over the beats, towards the end of the night. I’ve been familiar with dubstep (it evolved years after I was living in London) but I never thought it would knock this HARD in a club setting, and especially in America. Maybe we need to set up a UK Dubstep party here in DC?

Here are the top 7 songs I heard (or remember I heard) from Saturday night:

Kid Sister – Pro Nails (Rusko UK Dubstep Remix) and Benga – 26 Basslines

Again, Dubstep is my new addiction right now. The 30 minute dubstep session was a crazy surreal experience to see in DC. Benga’s 26 Basslines was dope, but Rusko’s Pro Nails remix absolutely killed it. It was so crazy that swear I saw girls hanging from the rafters.

Outkast – Bombs Over Baghdad

One of my favorite Outkast songs of all time, and a song that I thought didn’t really get much respect until last night. The 120 bpm track pretty much sent the crowd crazy

Tabi Bonney – The Pocket

I love it when local guys get love in the club, and this Tabi cut pretty much killed. The pocket is the quintessential NE DC song, but now its definitely getting some play with the hipsters in NW. Progress?

Ghosttown DJs – Last Night

Nacey’s affection for Ghosttown DJ’s warms my heart (er, no homo?). He’s pretty much dropped this song every time I’ve heard him spin. This song always brings me back to my high school rec center parties back in the day down South, but I’m glad DC goes in for this song as well.

Wiley – Wearin’ My Rolex

This is such a classic song for me, though its sorta unfortunate that people at the spot weren’t getting into it like they should. Except for Ms. Lady Glock of course.

MJ Cole – Crazy Love

I’m about 80% sure that this was the UK Garage song that they played last Saturday. UK Garage was the soundtrack to my times in London, and it has always been close to my heart. To hear garage in The States is a surreal feeling.

Anybody down in Atlanta going to this? I’m not the biggest ballet fan, but this type of thing is such a good look for Big Boi. It pretty much Outkast can do pretty much anything and still come out on top.  However, didn’t we all think that Andre 3000 would do something like this first?

If you’re in Atlanta and are going to this, I would love to get a review.

More Info/Tickets from the Atlanta Ballet Website.