1. No category

dedicated to Outkast, Andre Benjamin and Antwan Patton,
with sincere thanks for their contributions to music and society, all day and day
1
Outkast and The Love Below: Analyzing the Pop Concept Album
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
5
II. The Love Below in Context
8
1. Outkast and Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
2. Concept Albums in Popular Music
12
3. The Love Below as a Concept Album
15
4. Album Release and Reception
III. Individual Tracks on The Love Below
1. “The Love Below (Intro)”
2. “Love Hater”
3. “God”
22
27
34
4. “Happy Valentine’s Day”
5. “Spread”
46
6. “Where Are My Panties”
7. “Prototype”
10. “Roses”
55
58
8. “She Lives In My Lap”
9. “Hey Ya!”
38
63
68
75
11. “Good Day, Good Sir”
12. “Behold a Lady”
79
83
13. “Pink & Blue”
88
14. “Love in War”
95
2
19
22
8
15. “She’s Alive”
99
16. “Dracula’s Wedding”
17. “The Letter”
103
110
18. “My Favorite Things”
112
19. “Take Off Your Cool”
114
20. “Vibrate”
120
21. “A Life in the Day of Benjamin Andre (Incomplete)”
IV. Conclusions on The Love Below
129
V. Nothing Is Forever:
132
A Comparative History of Outkast and The Beatles
1. Outkast and The Beatles
132
2. Southernplayalisticadillacmusik
3. ATLiens
4. Aquemini
137
138
5. Antwan and Andre
6. Stankonia
140
143
7. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
8. Idlewild
9. The Future
VI. Bibliography
135
147
150
152
155
3
125
4
I. Introduction
The first music single that I ever bought was Outkast’s “Player’s
Ball” on cassette tape. I did not like it.
I had purchased the cassette single in the rap section of the record
store while trying to find some explicit lyrics to help me feel cool in 1993.
This was strange music and unlike the other rap tapes I had bought,
Luke’s “Work It Out” and Eazy-E’s “Real Muthaphuckkin G’s,” this did
not sound like rap to me.
However, I grew tired of Luke and Eazy-E by 1994 and soon found
myself appreciating the unique style on “Player’s Ball.”
A similar thing happened to me after sprinting through the quad to
purchase Outkast’s brand new album, Aquemini, in 1998. Expecting to
hear the trunk-rattlin’ sounds that had captivated me on ATLiens, I was
confused by the album’s strange novelties, and I did not like it.
But one month after being left in the dark by Aquemini, my best
friend called me to excitedly illuminate the story rap of “Da Art of
Storytellin’ (Part 1)” and the dirty distortion of “Da Art of Storytellin’ (Part
2).”
And as I sped off with my purchase of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
on the first day of its release in 2003, I was shocked to find the same result.
I did not like it. And I especially did not like The Love Below.
When I returned to New York City with Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
at the bottom of my backpack, my musical collaborator immediately
reached down to show me the musical goodies beneath “Pink & Blue,” and
the music vibrated higher than it ever has before.
5
Now I like it all. I like it a lot. While much of Outkast’s music is
immediately accessible upon the first listen, a patient musical listener can
find a greater appreciation of Outkast over time. And while Outkast’s
music has become some of my favorite to enjoy, it has also become some of
my favorite to study. Even after listening exhaustively to The Love Below
for nearly two years straight to write this book (and listening to my
exhausted cassette tape of “Player’s Ball” since 1993), my appreciation for
the music of Outkast continues to grow with each listen. Thus, the idea for
this book came about through my own passion for Outkast and The Love
Below…even if it did take me a while to come around to liking that cassette
tape.
This book is intended to help those looking to delve deeper into The
Love Below and into Outkast. I hope it will illuminate the outstanding
contributions Outkast has made to music and to society.
I contentedly spent 18 months listening, re-listening, and listening
again and again to The Love Below - transcribing, charting, and enjoying.
The variety of musical styles allowed for me to base my work each day on
my listening mood, and I never grew tired of the album.
The theoretical analyses in the third chapter of this book will walk
the reader through the album, song by song, helping to illuminate some of
the musical and lyrical choices that make The Love Below a concept album,
and help to make each song more interesting. And though this book covers
every song on The Love Below in order, though the reader may find, as I did
in my research, that this may not be the best way for you to appreciate The
Love Below.
6
For those readers with a limited knowledge of music theory, I would
suggest starting with the chapter on “Dracula’s Wedding” (while listening
to the song, of course!), where André 3000’s illustrative musical
descriptions of Dracula are easily recognizable and will seem familiar to
the listener. And for readers with a greater knowledge of music theory, I
would suggest starting with “She Lives in My Lap” to examine André
3000’s use of indeterminate modes and key centers to create a pervading
sense of unresolved character issues. For readers who are interested in
appreciating The Love Below as a whole, and as a connected concept album,
I would continue reading (and listening!) in order.
Listening is the essential ingredient that must be added to this book
and, certainly, every chapter and example will be misappropriated
without listening to the accompanying tracks.
The second chapter of this book gives the reader a framework in
which to place The Love Below as a concept album, exploring the history of
the Popular concept album and examining the definition of a concept
album in academic literature and popular culture.
The fifth chapter will help the reader become more familiar with
Outkast’s career growth, by means of a comparison with the career of the
Beatles, exploring the connections between the lead singers of each band.
I hope this book will illuminate the deeper levels of music theory
and conceptual connectedness in The Love Below, and I hope it will simply
allow you to find a greater appreciation for the “spottieottiedopalicious”
genius of Outkast.1
1 Outkast, “Spottieottiedopalicious,” Aquemini, LaFace Records, 73008-26053-2, 1998.
7
II. The Love Below in Context
Outkast and Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is the 2003 CD release from the hip-hop
group, Outkast. Outkast is comprised of Antwan Patton (b. 1975) and
Andre Benjamin (b. 1975), under the respective pseudonyms of Big Boi and
André 3000. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was released on September 23,
2003, as two separate discs - Speakerboxxx by Big Boi and The Love Below by
André 3000 - displaying their own distinct differences in musical, thematic,
and lyrical style. In this book, I will investigate the second album, The Love
Below, in a twofold manner: I will examine how André’s compositional
choices create specific characters and thematic setting within each track,
and how those individual choices create an overarching coherence
throughout, creating a concept album.
Though Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was primarily created with Big
Boi and André separated, they had worked successfully as a team on four
original albums (plus one disc of greatest hits) preceding Speakerboxxx/The
Love Below. The two members of Outkast first met in Atlanta, Georgia,
while in high school and began their successful musical careers in 1993,
under LaFace Records with the retrospective, funk single, “Player’s Ball.”
The success of “Player’s Ball” led to the group’s first full album release,
Southernplayalisticadillacmusik,2 a synthesis of 90’s gangsta rap culture and
70’s soul/funk musical styles. Their second album, ATLiens,3 presented
Outkast as futuristic, extraterrestrial rappers, with definitive space-age
2 Outkast, Southernplayalisticadillacmusik, LaFace Records, 73008-26010-2, 1994.
3 Outkast, ATLiens, LaFace Records, 73008-26029-2, 1996.
8
themed music, sound effects, and lyrics. They began to solidify their own
innovative rap sound and personal lyrics with their third album, Aquemini,
which examined both private and social issues, from false personal rumors
to the vain obsessions of modern culture. Separate focuses began to
appear within the lyrics of Aquemini,4 with “Dre” (who changed his
pseudonym after Aquemini from “Dre” to “André 3000”) frequently
focusing his lyrics on a singular didactic subject for each song, while Big
Boi continued to rap about Outkast’s superior abilities and about his lavish
Southern lifestyle. Through their first three albums, this dichotomy was
effective for Outkast as “an invigorating source of self empowerment,” as
Nelson George describes the significance of pride within Gangsta Rap in
his book, Hip-hop America. Fueling mutual pride through their differences,
Big Boi helped Outkast acquire “the essential swagger that underpins hiphop,” while André helped Outkast develop this swagger into “a way to
spin the negative [attitude of pride] on its head.”5 However, pride
apparently became no longer mutually beneficial for Big Boi and André, as
signs of differences between the two artists became prevalent on Outkast’s
fourth album, Stankonia.
The introductory song on Stankonia begins with André announcing a
setting, declaring that the album is happening “live, from the center of the
earth. Seven light years below sea level…Welcome to Stankonia.”6 In this
song it seems that André has the intention of establishing a through line or
thematic connection between songs on the album; when Big Boi appears in
the final ten seconds of this opening track, he does not even mention this
4 Outkast, Aquemini, LaFace Records, 73008-26053-2, 1998.
5 George Nelson, Hip Hop America (Viking Penguin, 1998), pp. 50-51.
6 Outkast, “Intro,” Stankonia, Arista Records, ARCD 6072, 2000.
9
“Stankonia” scenario, and the set up remains undeveloped through the
course of the album.
The differences in focus between Big Boi and André that appear on
Stankonia also occur in their personal lives; Andre Benjamin is a vegetarian
and he stopped drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana after Outkast’s
second album because his “brain was that fried egg I might need.”7
Contrastingly, Antwan Patton often speaks of his love of smoking highgrade “purp” marijuana and drinking expensive alcohol.8 Big Boi is
known for his fast, aggressive style of rap and his colorful word play,
while André is a multi-instrumentalist and often sings on their albums.
These differences manifested themselves on their fifth album,
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.
As the final chapter of this book will further delineate, the musical
and lyrical choices that separate André from Big Boi on Speakerboxxx/The
Love Below can be compared to some of the differences that separated Paul
McCartney from John Lennon in the later stages of The Beatles, as André
takes a sharp McCartney-like turn towards narrative and pastiche.
Separate albums could have been the result of The Beatles (The White
Album) had the Beatles divided the tracks into albums of the works from
each composer. As with The White Album, the separate artists contribute to
the other’s songs on Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, but they primarily create
a singular voice of their own, with the success of one seeming to feed the
other.
7 Outkast, “A Life in the Day of Benjamin Andre,” Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, Arista, 828765010133-1, 2003.
8 These lifestyle preferences may have also made it difficult for Big Boi and André to go on
the road together, as Outkast stopped touring after the Stankonia tour in 2001.
10
In essentially doing solo work with The Love Below, André was given
the freedom to create a completely dramatic album, and in doing so, also
emulate the limited narrative concept of the Beatles 1967 album, Sgt.
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which “though it was arguably [not] the
first concept album, certain elements of its musical structure and thematic
artifice suggest it qualifies as the first rock concept album.”9
Similarly, in The Love Below, there are certain musical and thematic
elements which qualify it as concept album; it is not an entirely linear
story in the style of The Who’s Tommy, nor does it contain a “large-scale
strategy and compositional design”10 like in Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down
on Broadway; however, like Sgt. Pepper, “specific musical devices relate
some songs to others” and “musical unity results not from [a large-scale
harmonic/contrapuntal plan for the album as a whole], but from motivic
relationships.”11
André’s fabricated stories, developed characters, and heightened
dramatic scenes like “Dracula’s Wedding” and “Good Day, Good Sir” are
very similar to the dramatic creations of McCartney’s like “Rocky
Raccoon” and “Honey Pie.” The 60’s rock homage and whimsical lyrics of
“Hey Ya!” are strikingly parallel to the parlor music homage and nonsense
lyric of “Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da.” André’s use of parody and pastiche in songs
like “Love Hater” and “My Favorite Things” is likewise used by
9 David Owen Montgomery, “The Rock Concept Album: Context and Analysis,” (Ph.D. diss.,
University of Toronto, 2002).
10 Mark S. Spicer, “Large Scale Strategy and Compositional Design in the Early Music of
Genesis,” in Expression in Pop-Rock Music: A Collection of Critical and Analytical Essays, ed. Walter
Everett (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 2000), p. 84.
11 Walter Everett, The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver through the Anthology (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1999), p. 122.
11
McCartney in songs like “Back in the U.S.S.R.,” and “Martha, My Dear.”
And the overarching connectedness of The Love Below is reminiscent of
Paul’s hope to make Abbey Road “a series of interconnected songs.”12 This
comparison is examined as an important reference in the history of concept
albums within Pop music, for both Paul McCartney and André 3000 play a
prominent part in the popular music of their era,13 even though McCartney
is primarily considered a Rock artist and André a Hip-hop artist.
Concept Albums in Popular Music
The term “concept album” has been applied to many genres of
music, given various definitions within scholarly literature and journals,
and those albums included in the canon are disparate in their defining
conceptual features. Genesis’s 1974 album The Lamb Lies Down On
Broadway has been called a concept album for it’s “motivic and harmonic
coherence,”14 while Paul Simon’s 1986 album Graceland has been analyzed
as a concept album for its “skillful integration of musical styles.”15 And
Sgt. Pepper is still widely considered the first concept album although
George Martin, producer of the album, has stated that “all the
songs…don’t really have a great deal of connection with each other. We
12 Everett, The Beatles as Musicians, p. 245.
13 The Beatles are the best selling recording artists of all time and Outkast is among the 5 best
selling hip-hop artists of all time. See the Record Industry Association of America website:
<http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table+tblTopArt>.
14 Spicer, “Large Scale Strategy and Compositional Design in the Early Music of Genesis,” p.
102.
15 Peter Kaminsky, "The Popular Album as Song Cycle: Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All
These Years," College Music Symposium 32 (1992): p. 38.
12
made it appear whole by editing it closely and by tying it up with idea that
the band, themselves, were another band.”16
All of these albums do, however, fit into the broad range of
definitions for “concept album,” as given in various scholarly articles and
books, such as in Roy Shuker’s Popular Music: The Key Concepts, where he
defines a concept album as being “unified by a theme, which can be
instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical.”17
David Owen Montgomery demands more thorough requirements
from an album of any genre in order to be considered a concept album in
his 2002 doctoral dissertation, “The Rock Concept Album: Concept and
Analysis,” concluding that “the term concept album describes a style of
presentation or format applied in creation, marketing and distribution…
Defining considerations, therefore, are both musical and non-musical, as
well as material and aesthetic.”18
In her essay, “Concept Albums: Song Cycles in Popular Music,”
Martina Elicker attempts to define the concept album as a descendent in
the tradition of nineteenth-century art song cycles, seeking to find “the
musical particularities of a concept album” by examining “key
relationships, motivic returns, long-range structural patterns, some sort of
coherent compositional plan and correlation between the narrative and the
music.”19
16 Martina Elicker, “Concept Albums: Song Cycles in Popular Music,” in Word and Music
Studies: Essays on the Song Cycle and on Defining the Field, eds. Walter Bernhart and Werner Wolf
(Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2001), p. 231.
17 Roy Shuker, Popular Music: The Key Concepts (London: Routledge, 2002), p. 5.
18 Montgomery, “The Rock Concept Album: Context and Analysis,” p. 33.
19 Elicker, “Concept Albums: Song Cycles in Popular Music,” p. 230.
13
Attempts to define the concept album within popular journals and
on the Internet continue to leave an extremely open-ended definition. The
Los Angeles Times popular music critics Mike Boehm and Don Heckman
broadly refer to concept albums as “effort[s] to turn the simple rock n’ roll
album into something much bigger: a story, a play, an opus,” and “projects
centered on a specific point of view or a related collection of materials.”20
These assertions in popular culture are unconstructive in establishing a
clear definition or canon for concept albums; however, they do summarize
the breadth of albums that may be considered as such by the consumer
and general public.
More helpful to an examination of The Love Below is the current
popular assertion that concept albums are “in vogue in the digital age”
with recent album releases that are seen as conceptual, such as Green
Day’s American Idiot (2004), The Decembrists’ The Crane Wife (2006), and
Jay-Z’s American Gangster (2007) gaining popularity as full length albums.21
These are a few of the albums noted in the online music journal,
PopMatters, to demonstrate that even “at a time when we’re led to believe
iTunes and file swapping will eventually bring about the death of the
album, more and more artists seem to be bucking that system by releasing
lengthy works that demand prolonged attention.”22 It seems that these
contemporary concept albums are not attempted “foray[s] into the realm
of ‘serious’ or ‘art’ music,”23 but rather practical career choices as “a chance
20 Elicker, p. 228.
21 Ben Wener, “Concept Albums Are Once Again in Vogue in the Digital Age,” Pop Matters
(December 2006) <http://www.popmatters.com/pm/features/article/8636/concept-albums-areonce-again-in-vogue-in-the-digital-age/>.
22 Wener, “Concept Albums Are Once Again in Vogue.”
23 Montgomery, “The Rock Concept Album,” p. 2.
14
for these bands to reinvent themselves.”24 While this assertion is helpful in
considering that the success of The Love Below may have influenced these
concept albums, it still leaves a wide spectrum of album types that may be
considered concept albums.
The Love Below as a Concept Album
André attempts to place The Love Below in the indeterminate canon
of concept albums by creating characters in specific scenarios about love.
On the first half of the album, he connects each track through the journey
of one character, the Love Hater, a man using the repetition of
bachelorhood as “a way of hiding and masking undesired or unpleasant
facts or conditions; a kind of coverage”25 against the stated belief of the
narrator (André) that “everybody needs somebody to love.”26 The
narrative of the Love Hater is omitted from the second half of the album,
which, instead, relates stories of various new characters dealing with the
troubles and joys that comes with love, sex, and relationships.
André conveys these stories using musical, thematic, and lyrical
devices on each song that give the listener a clear vision of each setting and
character. His use of connected narrative, illustrative musical choices,
sketches, sound effects, and other dramatic effects throughout, links The
Love Below with albums like Johnny Cash’s Ride This Train,27 an album that
24 Wener, “Concept Albums Are Once Again in Vogue.”
25 Tricia Rose, “Orality and Technology: Rap Music and Afro-American Cultural Resistance,”
Popular Music and Society 13/4 (Spring 1989): p. 42.
26 Outkast, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.
27 Johnny Cash, Ride This Train, Columbia Records, CL 1464, 1960.
15
uses the sound effects and themes of trains to connect the songs of railroad
travel across America.
André’s conceptual connections also link The Love Below to Prince
Paul’s A Prince Among Thieves,28 which uses extended sketches and songs
to convey a story of drug dealers and murder.
André connects The Love Below to the first concept album by
explicitly referencing Sgt. Pepper in both the introductory and concluding
tracks of his concept album, with the return of a significant harmonic
theme.
The Love Below’s split between narrative and unconnected stories is
similar to Rush’s 1976 album, 2112,29 which could be defined as a halfconcept album, with the first half of 2112 consisting of one continuous
story-song, in the form of a seven part suite, and the second half consisting
of separate songs unrelated to the plot; this is similar to the format of their
1978 album, Hemispheres.30
Many listeners may especially recognize the influence of Prince’s
1988 album, Lovesexy.31 The Love Below contains many of the same thematic
and musical styles as Lovesexy, and André’s vocal stylings will be
compared to those of Prince in the individual song analyses of this book.
Lovesexy is one continuous track with the connected songs confronting the
struggle between good and evil, much in the way that the characters in The
Love Below struggle with love and sex. The Love Below contains many
similar musical choices, using gospel, free verse, falsetto, which are all
found on Lovesexy. The albums also share the connection of being
28 Prince Paul, A Prince Among Thieves, Tommy Boy, TBCD 1210, 1999.
29 Rush, 2112, Mercury, 822 545-2 M1, 1976.
30 Rush, Hemispheres, Mercury, 822 547-2 M1, 1978.
31 Prince, Lovesexy, Paisley Park, 925 720-2, 1988.
16
primarily solo ventures, with Prince and André writing, performing, and
producing the majority of the material on their album. The provocative
nature of Prince’s lyrics and themes are also imitated by André, including
both album covers revealing the artist’s partially naked body. Many
reviewers of The Love Below, like those at Rolling Stone32 and Pitchfork
Media, have also commented on the Prince-like nature of album. 33
Like the concept albums noted above, there is little evidence of
intended motivic musical continuity throughout The Love Below, in the
sense of a tonal harmonic outline or an overarching key center, though, as
scholars have done with Sgt. Pepper, a large-scale harmonic analysis could
certainly be forced upon it. I will not attempt to impose such a harmonic
outline on The Love Below, as the musical choices used within the songs
provide ample evidence for the intent of a broad based concept album.
Also similar to Sgt. Pepper, the musical style of The Love Below can
vary greatly from track to track. For instance, the modulating tonal
structure of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” is followed by “Getting
Better,” which is the first track on Sgt. Pepper “with no harmonic
innovations.”34 This is similar to how the progressive tonality of “She
Lives In My Lap” is followed by the mixed modality of “Hey Ya!,” which
is followed by the diatonic stepwise motion of “Roses.” And similar to the
way that the first two songs on Sgt. Pepper establish it as a concept album,
while only employing a key change that is “not a harmonic relationship”
32 Jon Caramanica, “Album Review.” Rolling Stone (September 2003)
<http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/outkast/albums/album/290754/review/6068251/speakerbo
xxxthe_love_below>.
33 Brent DiCrescenzo, “Pitchfork Record Reviews.” Pitchfork Media (September 2003)
<http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/20669-speakerboxxxthe-love-below>.
34 Everett, The Beatles as Musicians, p. 106.
17
but “is replicated within the closing song,” the first two songs on The Love
Below create the framework for a concept album while only using a pivot
chord to directly link the key centers, a musical gesture which is also
recalled in the closing song.35
The song and story connections on The Love Below are outlined in the
following chart and are thoroughly examined in the subsequent chapter of
this book. As displayed below, the first half of The Love Below sets up the
concept album framework and follows the Love Hater narrative, while the
second half of the album creates short stories of characters dealing with
love, sex, and relationships.
#
1
Min
1:28
2
Title
“The Love Below
(Intro)”
“Love Hater”
3
“God”
2:20
4
“Happy
Valentine’s Day”
5:23
5
“Spread”
3:51
6
“Where Are My
Panties”
1:54
7
“Prototype”
5:26
8
“She Lives in My
Lap”
4:27
2:50
Story
Introduction of the musical
style and theme of the album
Presentation of the Love
Hater
Love Hater speaks with the
character of God
God sends Cupid Valentino
to infect the Love Hater with
love
The Love Hater meets the
Birthday Woman and takes
her home to have sex
The morning after sex, the
Love Hater and the Birthday
Woman contemplate their
actions
The Love Hater realizes that
the Birthday Woman may
actually be “the one”
Bachelor (possibly the Love
Hater?) stays with his fiancé
35 Everett, p. 122.
18
Notes
Establishing this as a
concept album
Connected Love
Hater narrative
Love Hater story line
possible.
without marrying her
9
10
“Hey Ya!”
“Roses”
3:55
6:10
11
1:25
12
“Good Day,
Good Sir”
“Behold a Lady”
13
“Pink & Blue”
5:05
14
“Love in War”
3:26
15
16
“She’s Alive”
“Dracula’s
Wedding”
“The Letter”
4:07
2:32
“My Favorite
Things”
“Take Off Your
Cool”
5:12
20
“Vibrate”
6:39
21
“A Life in the
Day of Benjamin
André
(Incomplete)”
4:50
17
18
19
4:37
0:21
6:38
Relationships in general
The narrator’s opinions on
the habits of a promiscuous
woman
Two gentlemen discuss a
proper lady
Narrator discusses the
virtues of a woman
A younger man seduces an
older woman
A couple tries to work out
their relationship
Story about a single mother
Dracula fears commitment to
Mrs. Dracula
André receives a letter from
a former lover
Instrumental of Rodgers and
Hammerstein standard
A plea to one’s lover to
remove their self-imposed
façade
André’s plea to the listener
to rise above the impulses of
the Love Below
The story of André’s career
Featuring Rosario
Dawson.
1st single released
Only track featuring
Big Boi
3rd single released
Connected sketch
and song
Written with R. Kelly
Featuring Kelis
Connected sketch
and song
Featuring Norah
Jones
Album Release and Reception
The Love Below was released with one extra digital track on the
iTunes release. There were also changes with certain songs on different
releases of the album, which will be discussed in this book, thus the album
19
running time ranges from 78-79 minutes depending on the pressing. The
main body of this book examines the explicit, unedited iTunes version of
The Love Below, which includes the most comprehensive track listing and
establishes a more coherent concept album.
Released as a double album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below received
mixed reviews from critics, with Rolling Stone Magazine proclaiming that
“each of these albums is as noteworthy for what's missing as for what's
there,”36 while Pitchfork Media declared that the two-disc album “beg[s] to
be ripped, sieved and re-sequenced.”37 However, Speakerboxxx/The Love
Below won the 2003 Grammy Award for Album of the Year38 and was also
voted album of the year in the 2003 Village Voice Pazz and Jop critics
poll.39 The album was also a great commercial success, certified as
Diamond in the U.S. for shipping over 10 million units40 and ended 2004 as
the number two album on Billboard 200 chart.41 While there were multiple
producers for Speakerboxxx, André was the primary producer, writer, and
performer on every track of The Love Below, and thus he will be generally
referenced in this book as having made the compositional and recording
36 Jon Caramanica, “Album Review.”
37 Brent DiCrescenzo, “Pitchfork Record Reviews.”
38 The Recording Academy,
<http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/Winners/Results.aspx>.
39 Village Voice, LLC,
<http://www.villagevoice.com/specials/pazznjop/03/albums_winners1.php>.
40 Recording Industry Association of America,
<http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=tblDiamond>.
41 Nielsen Business Media, Inc,
<http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/yearend_chart_display.jsp?f=The+Billboard+200&g=Yea
r-end+Albums&year=2004>.
20
choices on each track; tracks that were chiefly collaborative are discussed
as such.42
Chapter III of this book will examine The Love Below by analyzing the
musical and thematic characterizations in each song, and examining how
these choices form a dramatic story concept album.
42 For the full listing of credits for each track on Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, see: Kevin
Lewandowski, <http://www.discogs.com/release/428016>.
21
III. Individual Tracks on The Love Below
“The Love Below (Intro)”
The album The Love Below begins with André posing an emblematic
question that sets the framework for the scope of the entire album. At the
final moment in the lyrics of the opening track, “The Love Below (Intro),”
André rhetorically asks the listener “who knows where this flower
grows?,”43 implying that any story of love may unabashedly bloom on this
album. At the final musical moment of this opening track, André
rhetorically asks the listener the very same question, in the form of a
sustained, sforzando, augmented chord, implying that any musical choice
may also blossom unashamed on this album. These illustrative moments
are the most pronounced of “The Love Below (Intro)” in establishing this
framework of possibilities for the entire album, however, they are also
supported by other musical and lyrical choices that work toward the same
purpose.
The first song begins with sweeping strings, dramatic timpani, and
jazz piano arpeggiations. By purchasing the album from the online iTunes
store, the listener believes he or she is going to hear a hip-hop or rap
record, as the genre is listed as “Hip-Hop/Rap” and comes with an
“explicit” lyrics warning, but the first thing that the listener hears is
something akin to the theme music for Fox Twentieth Century
Corporation or the beginning of a epic 1920’s film scored by Erich
Korngold. The opening measures of the album are fortissimo, legato, and
43 All subsequent lyric quotations from the analysis of tracks on The Love Below will not be
amended as “[sic]” for incorrect grammar, as the words and phrases are colloquial to André, and
unless noted otherwise, they are quoted from: Outkast, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.
22
Romantic, immediately signaling to the listener a work of dramatic
proportions.
Drama, even the emotional indulgence of melodrama, is
immediately evoked through the instrumentation of strings and timpani,
recalling more symphonic works than hip-hop albums. The low strings
begin the illustrative musical setting with a descending bass line, moving
from the mediant on the first measure, to the supertonic, to the flatted
tonic, to the dominant in the final bar of the A section. The descending
bass is a musical demonstration of the title and main theme, the Love
Below.
In the story of the Love Hater, the term “the love below” specifically
refers to the sex organ and, moreover, the sexual urges that drive a person
like the Love Hater to be “an ‘organ donor,’ the way I give up my heart.”
The listener also learns on this album that the force of love and sex, which
is all part of the Love Below, can be empowering, but it takes great
strength to “Vibrate” above one’s animalistic sexual urges. This theme of
love coming from a deep and visceral place, below the surface, is musically
demonstrated in the bass line of “The Love Below (Intro)” and is also
prevalent in previous Outkast material.
The undeveloped theme from the album Stankonia describes the land
of “Stankonia” as being “7 light years below sea level.” André says that
this is “the place from which all funky things come. Would you like to
come?” This is followed by a series of sexual noises, giving sound effect to
the emphasized word, “come” (“cum”), insinuating orgasm. The title and
final song of Stankonia is titled “Stankonia (Stanklove),” and ponders “why
must we fly so low; are we afraid of heights?” These lyrics and sound
23
effects help establish a non-musical connection between the depths of the
irrepressible sexual urges and the elevated heights of being in love.
By using a musical representation, the descending bass line, to
represent the Love Below in the instrumental A section, André sets the
standard for illustrative musical accompaniment to embody the lyrical
statement of each song on The Love Below.
André continues to use musical choices that portray the lyric, as the
descending bass line theme also appears throughout the sung B section in
two bar phrases illustrating the accompanied lyrics, giving each city
mentioned - Atlanta, New York, and Paris - a varied musical description.
André avoids using descending root position chords by employing
chromatic motion in the bass within each two bar phrase, while changing
the timbre and inversion of each chord. This creates aural distinctions
between the different cities; this type of aural distinction will also be used
throughout the album to musically differentiate the various characters that
André presents.
In the vocal section of “The Love Below (Intro),” when the lyric
reaches the modifying conjunction of “but,” André employs modal
mixture to respell the diatonic first chord of the B section, the minor
submediant, into major, thus constructing the musical phrase to
demonstrate the turn in the lyric, as shown in the B section below:
24
Then, the overarching question posed by this song, “who knows where
this flower grows,” is an extension of the dominant chord. André exploits
the descending bass line pattern again in the seventh and eighth measure
to delay the stepwise motion to the dominant, before leading to the full
cadence on the final lyric.
The melody cadences, as well, supporting André’s inquiry with a
leap up from the dominant to the tonic by emulating the raised inflection
of a question. The final cadence helps to establish the rhetorical nature of
the posed question by providing resolution in the music, thus informing
the listener that the question is already resolved by the rest of the album.
Although “The Love Below (Intro)” brings to mind musical styles of
the Romantic era, it also mirrors the style of the dramatic overture in
Classical opera, as an original orchestral piece in an A-B-A’ structure. This
is in contrast to the medley-style overtures that precede many Romantic
comic operas and operettas. By leading directly into the next song on the
album, “The Love Below (Intro)” may bring to mind the introductory
25
function of the single-movement reprise overtures of late eighteenth
century opera, like Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, in which the
separate, composed overture lacks a full final cadence and, instead, leads
directly into the first aria of the opera, just as “The Love Below (Intro)”
leads into The Love Below’s first full strophic song, “Love Hater.”44 The
beginning songs of The Love Below also function in the style of musical
theatre shows like Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, in the use of the
prologue, where the setting for the story is initially established by the
music, by posing the essential question for this piece and by exemplifying
the illustrative musical choices that will be used throughout.45
The introductory piece on The Love Below is specifically called an
“Intro,” which can be seen as a modern variation of these classic
techniques, taking on a similar function as an overture or prologue, but for
recorded albums. This original, introductory song helps to establish the
musical style and dramatic setting for the entire piece, while propelling the
action forward, straight into the next song, so that as “The Love Below
(Intro)” ends and the first strophic song begins, the cohesive structure for
the overall piece has already been foreshadowed and developed.
Using these techniques, André references Sgt. Pepper and the
conceptual theme of connectivity, which is used primarily at the beginning
of both Sgt. Pepper and The Love Below, yet helps to convey a sense of
connected music throughout. An extended repeat of the A section
concludes with the augmented chord that poses the musical emblematic
44 For more information on the history of the overture in opera and on Die Entführung aus
dem Serail, see: Donald J. Grout, A Short History of Opera (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988).
45 For more information on the use of prologue in musical theatre and on West Side Story,
see: Stanley Green, The Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre (New York: Da Capo, 1991).
26
question for the album, which leads directly into “Love Hater” where the
listener is first presented with the main character.
“Love Hater”
The introduction of “Love Hater” fades up directly out of the final
augmented chord of “The Love Below (Intro),” which is used as a pivot
chord to transition into the heavily distorted opening with electric guitar
and whammy board effects, heard without a specific meter or tempo for
the first nine seconds of the song.
The pivot chord is used to establish the bass note of A flat in the first
counted measures, beginning with the piano arpeggiation of a dissonant
trichord (016) in quarter note triplets, giving a 6/8 feel to the common
time. The trichord is transposed down a whole step in the second
measure, to a G flat in the bass, using the same arpeggiation, and is then
transposed back to the original pitches in the third measure. The horns
swell in a repeating crescendo-decrescendo, with the peak of the
crescendos occurring on opposing beats for two sets of horns, one on the
first beat of the measure and the other on the third beat. The 6/8 feel,
combined with repetitive stepwise motion and opposing dynamic swells,
provides a disorienting, cyclical feeling of gain and loss. Shown in the
example below, this can be seen as a musical embodiment of the stormy
dating patterns of the Love Hater.
27
It is important to note that this transcription is from the
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below published sheet music, piano/vocal/guitar
selections from Hal Leonard,46 which has only seven songs from The Love
Below included, “Love Hater,” “Prototype,” “ She Lives in My Lap,” “Hey
Ya!,” “ Roses,” “She’s Alive,” and “My Favorite Things.” The Hal Leonard
sheet music has been helpful in my analysis of this album, however, those
transcriptions are intended as accompaniment for piano, guitar, and vocals
only, so are not always detailed or precise (and were not necessarily
46 Chrysalis Music Group, Selections from Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (Milwaukee, WI: Hal
Leonard Corporation, 2004).
28
intended to be so). Therefore, I have relied on my own transcriptions for
every song (with the help of my editors), and all further transcriptions
shown throughout these analyses are my own; however, for the analysis of
this “Love Hater,” I have excerpted musical examples from that
publication to demonstrate the published musical material available for
The Love Below and to provide an example of those transcriptions.
While the arpeggiated trichords are notated correctly in the above
musical example, the attentive listener will hear more than just two pitches
in the horn parts, as referenced in the bass clef of the Hal Leonard
transcriptions, which form a chromatic chord cluster. Preceding the first
verse, in A minor, is a final dissonant chord (0:17 – 0:19), shown in mm. 78, which is also a chord cluster with the supertonic as the root and the
tonic note as the upper voice, creating a cadential-like dissonance leading
into the first lyrics.
There are two verses sung by the lead vocalist in this song and one
extended instrumental verse preceding the coda. The overall form of this
piece is more complicated than most of the songs heard on the album.
Whereas most songs on The Love Below are in simple verse-chorus form,
this song has a form more closely related to that of a rondo, using varied
harmonic and melodic sections separated by repeats of the regular A
section, as shown below.
29
0:00 – 0:08
Introduction, not measured
Distorted guitar only
0:08 – 0:19
(B) B section, 8mm.
Based on the quarter-note
triplet, feels like compound
duple meter
0:20 – 0:27
(A) Verse, 20 mm.
a, 6mm
0:27 – 0:35
a, 6mm
0:35 – 0:46
Refrain, 8mm
0:46 – 0:57
(B) B section, 8 mm.
0:57 – 1:05
(A) Verse, 20 mm.
Based on the quarter-note
triplet, feels like compound
duple meter
a, 6mm
1:05 – 1:12
a, 6mm
1:13 – 1:23
Refrain, 8mm
1:23 – 1:33
1:33 – 1:53
1:53 – 2:00
2:01 – 2:08
2:09 – 2:24
2:24 – 2:49
Two six bar phrases,
“Everybody needs a glass of
water today…” plus eight
bar hook
(C) Horn Break, 8 mm.
(D) “Love Hater” Chorus, 16 mm
(A’) Extended
a, 6mm
Verse,
a, 6mm
½ Refrain
(3xs) 12mm
Coda, 9 mm
Two six bar phrases,
“Everybody needs a glass of
water today…” plus eight
bar hook
“Love Hater”
Two six bar phrases, plus
ext. of the hook
Rubato for last five measures
This creates a modified rondo form, with the overall structure of
BABACDA’, preceded by an introduction and followed by a coda.
The verses are separated into three irregular stanzas in the form of
two six-measure phrases followed by an eight measure refrain. The first
two phrases begin on the tonic and conclude on the dominant, before a
deceptive cadence leads into the refrain. The refrain is distinguished by
the climax in the melody at the lyrical hook, “everybody needs somebody
to love before it’s too late,” as shown below:
30
The corresponding statement and restatement preceding the divergent
refrain may be interpreted as the narrator’s viewpoint that the
monotonous repetition of bachelorhood, as exemplified by the main
character of the Love Hater, can be released by finding “somebody to
love.”
31
A parallel may be seen between the irregular phrasing of the verse
in “Love Hater” and the phrasing used later on the album in “Hey Ya!,” as
“Love Hater” is the first song in the lengthy narrative of the Love Hater
and “Hey Ya!” can be seen as the first song in a new set of stories about
love on the second half of the album.
The dissonant B section returns after the first verse with a repeat of
the cyclical horn and piano parts. Within this B section, André declares
that “nobody wanna grow old alone,” supporting his stormy musical
setting with his spoken opinion of the preferred way to spend one’s life.
André’s lyrics during the A and B sections are those of a narrator
commenting on the action. He tells the listener his feelings on the subject
of relationships, saying that “everybody needs someone to rub their
shoulders, scratch their dandruff” and that men like the Love Hater, who
reject the very idea of love, “need to quit acting hard and shit before you
get your ass whooped.”
The Love Hater himself is not introduced until the horn break and
“Love Hater” chorus, where, as the main character of the story, he is given
a dramatic and flashy introduction. The horns are featured in a
presentational, big band style. The horns play in unison here, arpeggiating
diatonic chords and swung blues rhythms. The horn break is played in
two bar phrases, with the first measure descending over a subtonic
trichord and then ascending through the tonic chord. The majority of the
motion is done in whole steps or leaps of a third; there is very little
chromatic movement, and no tritone intervals within the phrase. This is in
direct contrast to the piano arpeggiations during the introduction, where
chromaticism, the tritone, and large leaps are employed to musically
embody the narrator’s view of the unsteady lifestyle of the Love Hater.
32
Contrastingly, this horn break is the Love Hater’s introduction for
himself. This is the music that shows his personality with familiar chord
outlines, jazzy rhythms, and unison playing. Whereas the introduction
was the narrator’s point of view of the Love Hater, this horn break is the
Love Hater’s vision of himself, immediately revealing for the listener his
strong personality, self-confidence, and swagger.
This continues with the “Love Hater” chorus, as rhythmic jazz piano
is accompanied by a walking bass line covering nearly two octaves, and a
double tracked vocal exclamation of the main character’s name. This calls
to mind the choral introduction of “Billy Shears” on Sgt. Pepper. On The
Love Below, the first character is introduced with repeated phrases of his
name, as if the Love Hater is a star of the stage being ceremoniously
brought out for an encore performance. This further reveals the marked
difference between the Love Hater’s self-perception and that of the
narrator.
With these techniques, André further exemplifies the musical
choices that will be used for the entire album, as he did on “The Love
Below (Intro),” acquainting the listener with the musical and dramatic
style of The Love Below album. These techniques are used in this song to
introduce the narrative of the Love Hater, continuing through the entire
first half of the album, and to establish the narrator’s feelings regarding the
Love Hater. Thus, these first two songs concisely launch a strong setting,
narrative, and point of view.
André continues the sequence of events by making a smooth
musical transition from the embellished, A minor add 9, final tonic chord
of “Love Hater” into the first chord of the next song by using the relative
major, C major 7 chord, to begin “God.” Thus, putting into motion The
33
Love Below and leading the listener directly into the next part of the Love
Hater’s saga.
“God”
This song introduces us to the mysterious character of God; a silent,
but influential character in the storyline connecting the first eight songs on
the album. This character is mysterious as she is only established through
musical depiction and through description by another character, the Love
Hater.
God’s unspoken involvement in the storyline of the Love Hater is
similar to the way that the biblical God takes part in the New Testament,
where God’s attributes and wishes for sinner’s repentance are primarily
revealed through Jesus describing the powers of his father.47 In André’s
song “God,” the Love Hater describes the power of God by asking her
(God) to find the Love Hater an excellent lover, or as he describes it “a
sweet bitch…somebody not too fast, but not too slow.” The character of
God is revealed to be in the female form, as the Love Hater initially
discovers her, saying, “Damn! You’re a girl!” and later uses a pun to make
light of this, closing his song and prayer by saying, “Amen! Oh, I’m sorry,
I’m sorry. Ah, lady!”
André has chosen very colloquial language for the Love Hater to use
when addressing God in this song, making it seem that God is very
47 In the Book of John, Chapter Five, Jesus describes the powers of his father at length, for
example, saying “the father raises the dead and gives life.” For further examples, see: Herbert May
and Bruce Metzger, editors, The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1977).
34
accessible and understanding. However, this is juxtaposed with André’s
musical choices portraying God as a mysterious and unfamiliar being,
completely portraying the character of God as, at once, both accessible and
mysterious.
The song, “God,” moves through a highly chromatic chord
progression, with a tonal center of A major. While a diatonic tonal
harmonic progression is never completely established, a final cadence in A
major occurs at mm. 15-16, using a tritone substitution to create a flatted
supertonic chord, a Neapolitan, in the place of the dominant. The major
seventh is added to the Neapolitan triad, creating a tonic pedal throughout
the upper register and providing descending chromatic motion leading to
the tonic in the bass. This use of the Neapolitan chord is preceded by a
half-diminished seventh chord on the supertonic, creating an altered
version of a cadential ii-V-I progression, and establishing the key center of
the song as A major. The diatonic cadential progression and the jazzinflected alteration in “God” are compared below:
The song is dominated by chromatic movement in the bass, most
noticeably in the repetitive bars between mm. 9-15, when the altered
cadence into A major is heavily foreshadowed by repeating the
35
penultimate and ultimate chords three times before resolving to the tonic
at m. 16.
The song begins with a fade-up, outlining a major-seventh chord
rooted on a blue note, the flatted mediant, before full volume is reached on
the second chord, a diminished triad, one half-step below. This may
confuse the listener from the very beginning of the song, as hearing a C
major-seventh chord descending chromatically to a B diminished triad
may make the listener assume this is will be a cadence back to C major,
becoming a I-vii-I progression. However, this is not the case and instead
the progression leaps to a major triad on D, the subdominant of the
eventual tonic, A. This confuses any initial thought of a quick cadence
back to C, and upon hearing the F# conflicting with the earlier F natural,
the listener begins to recognize the non-tonal nature of the harmony in this
song.
The progression descends chromatically from the subdominant, D
major triad, down to the eventual tonic, an A major triad, without the use
of a diatonic chord in between, giving the chord progression a lack of
functional harmonic forward motion, but a clear sense of resolution when
the A major triad is reached. The only pitch skipped as a chord root in this
descending chromatic progression from the subdominant to the tonic is the
flatted mediant, which was previously used as the root of the major
seventh in the mysterious opening chord.
The entire harmonic progression of “God” is condensed below:
36
The form of this song can be seen as binary, A-A’, with the first
ending at measure 18 acting as a bridge into the final A section, which
commences with one held measure, an arpeggiated strum, added to the
final tonic chord.
A repeating sixteenth-note picking pattern is used throughout the
song, varying only slightly with embellishments, most prominently used
over the tonic. The steady rhythmic picking pattern can be interpreted as
finding security in the knowledge of a supreme being and the use of an
acoustic guitar accompaniment can be heard as a representation of the
goddess, with the nylon strings recalling to mind the gentleness of a
bedtime prayer by a motherly figure. In this manner, André further
37
musically embodies character through his choice of instrumentation and
the way in which instruments are used.
The juxtaposition of familiar dialogue with unfamiliar musical
choices can convey God as a contradictory figure: both accessible and
mysterious, and as easy to understand as she is difficult to comprehend.
The only certain characteristic in this song may be that, to the Love Hater,
God is a female.
The through line of the Love Hater is palpable here, as in the
previous introductory song of “Love Hater,” the audience has been left
with the mantra that “everybody needs somebody to love.” In “God,” the
listener hears the voice of a “Love Hater” asking God for help, as he
admits that “life ain’t easy” and he could use “somebody by [his] side to
help smooth that thing out.” This one-sided discussion concludes with the
narrator revealing that God has “found somebody” for the Love Hater,
and so he excitedly asks, “When do I get to meet her?” God’s response of
“very soon” is also implied, as the Love Hater replies by saying “Thanks
God! You’re the greatest!” And so, understandably, in the very next song,
God sends out her modern messenger of love, Cupid Valentino.
“Happy Valentine’s Day”
“Happy Valentine’s Day” is the first track on The Love Below where
multiple character voices are heard within a single song. In “Happy
Valentine’s Day,” the listener is introduced to the new character of Cupid,
while continuing to hear the character of the Love Hater; both characters
sing from the first-person point of view. In the earlier song, “Love Hater,”
38
André establishes the title character through a third-person narrator.
Then, in “God,” André continues the Love Hater’s story by directly
showing the Love Hater’s relationship with the implicit character of God.
In “Happy Valentine’s Day,” the lead character of Cupid can be
interpreted as a logical dramatic response to the preceding songs, with
Cupid being sent by God to make the Love Hater fall in love. During
“God,” we hear that God has found “a sweet bitch” for the Love Hater,
and Cupid may be God’s means to pierce the impenetrable heart of the
Love Hater with love.
André immediately makes clear the intentions of Cupid, through the
“free verse”-like48 spoken mezzo-piano, monotone lyrics at the beginning
of the song: “My name is ‘Cupid Valentino,’ the modern day Cupid, and I
just want to say one thing - Happy Valentine’s Day, every day the
fourteenth!” André demonstrates the personality of Cupid through
musical description. Cupid is portrayed as an exalted character, a figure
beyond the human realm with supernatural powers, through the following
musical choices: the use of multiple musical modes, the use of measured,
spoken lyrics in the A sections contrasted by the use of a choir of Cupid’s
minions singing with him in the B sections.
The A and B sections are the core of this song, and they have
separate modes, as well as melodic choices. Following a four-bar
introduction, the A and B sections alternate three times, before a new C
section completes the song. This overall layout of the song can be seen as
the following:
48 “Free Verse” in musical theatre or poetry gives the artist the freedom to recite freely, out of
meter. For more on the use of Free Verse, see: Green, The Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre.
39
0:00 – 0:09
0:09 – 0:47
Big A
0:48 – 1:07
Introduction, 4 mm.
A section 1, 16 mm.
B section 1, 8 mm.
1:07 – 1:45
1:45 – 2:04
2:04 – 2:42
2:43 – 3:06
Big A
3:07 – 3:26
3:26 – 4:06
Big C
Big A
4:07 – 5:23
A 2, 16 mm
B 2, 8 mm.
A 3, 16 mm.
B 3, 10 mm
C section instrumental, 8 mm
C section with rap, 17mm
Coda of C section, 32mm
Spoken lyrics and beat only
A section in E Dorian mode
Four 4-bar phrases of guitar,
“Happy Valentine’s Day…”
B section in an indefinite mode
Chorus of Cupid’s minions,
“You won’t believe in me…”
A,
B
A
B’: B section, plus 2 measure
interruption of the A section
C section: in E minor
C with Love Hater rap
(with extra bar added to change
the phrasing for the Coda),
“Got a sweet little darlin’ up in
my corner…”
C’: C section, beginning on the
original second measure
Women chorus sing “Happy
Valentine, happy valen-talentine…”
Fadeout
The introduction begins with a swung backbeat, utilizing
synthesized hand-claps in place of a snare drum on beats two and four.
This use of group hand-claps foreshadows the group elements in the B
sections, Cupid’s minions, which call to mind a gospel choir. This synth
backbeat stays constant throughout the entire song with intermittent tacet
passages.
The A section begins on top of this beat with a two bar guitar riff,
which continues repeatedly to create the four 4-bar phrases. The minimal
use of melody in the A section, the spoken word by Cupid, and the twonote melody of Cupid’s minion, make the key signature of this section
40
problematic to discern. While the guitar riff makes clear that the tonic in
this section is E, it is the use of the raised sixth within the guitar’s minor
chord progression that leads the listener to think this section may be in E
dorian mode. Further complicating the progression is the use of the
mediant chord in place of the expected dominant for the cadential chord
returning to the beginning of the progression, while the use of the raised
sixth creates a diminished second chord (C# diminished) and a major third
chord (A major). The perpetual use of E within this progression creates an
implied E pedal, creating the possibility of hearing the entire progression
as a prolongation of the tonic chord, with the raised submediant as a
neighbor tone to the dominant, and the subtonic as a neighbor tone to the
tonic, as shown below:
Making the chord progression slightly varied from the standard iVI-iv-v progression, by using the raised sixth, evokes the idea of Cupid
being a step above the norm, with similar feelings to those of a human, but
slightly elevated. This use of the Dorian mode for the character of Cupid
brings to mind traditional funk styles, recalling the powerful and
mysterious auras of funk icons such as Prince, George Clinton, and Isaac
Hayes.
The musical association of Cupid with funk icons to create a sense of
commanding character is assisted by Cupid’s calm, measured, metered,
41
spoken-verse, establishing him as a confident character, who hardly needs
to change his tone, vary his pitch, raise his voice or speak many words in
order to convey his message. This is so much the case that at the end of
each four bar phrase, rather than conclude his own thought, a chorus of
men sing the final cadence for Cupid. This is reminiscent of a preacher in
church being supported by the choir or members of the church, creating a
force of sound much greater than the preacher could achieve alone. These
singers are the first instance of André evoking a minion accompanying
Cupid on his missions, and this begins to solidify Cupid as a character of
greater power than the mortal Love Hater.
The confident character style is further established with the repeated
use of simple instrumental accompaniment whenever Cupid speaks: only
drum sample and electric rhythm guitar is used while Cupid is speaking,
allowing for the text to be prominent and showing how Cupid does not
need several instruments to connect with his listener. Also, Cupid refers to
himself in both the first and third person throughout the song, saying such
contradictory self-references as “when Cupid knocks at your door, you
can’t ignore me” and “he won’t miss you, but that’s alright ya’ll won’t
believe in me anyway.” These self references in both the first and third
person point of view can be seen as further reference to Cupid’s elevated
status as an otherworldly figure and messenger of the character of God.
The B section primarily features a fortissimo women’s choir and, like
the A section, it is difficult to determine the mode. The tonic is clearly A;
however, the repeated use of a flatted supertonic in the choir melody,
recalling phrygian mode, goes against the natural supertonic used in the
subtonic chord (G major), while the raised sixth in the harmony recalls the
42
Dorian mode of the A section. These factors create an indefinite mode, as
shown in the diagram of the B section below:
This reinforces the idea of Cupid being an indefinable, supernatural being
who is beyond the realm of clearly defined musical modes.
While this section retains the established backbeat, the energetic
instrumentation of the B section forms a striking change from the A
section’s relaxed electric guitar groove; the instrumentation for the B
section is dramatic with a driving eighth-note pulse from the bass guitar
and organ, and cymbal crashes on the downbeat of each measure. This
increase in volume, instrumentation, and rhythmic intensity can be seen as
the musical embodiment of Cupid instilling awe in the non-believer and
the musically demonstrative B section shows Cupid’s phenomenal power,
appropriately contrasting the modest A section.
The melodic choices for the B section are also in stark contrast to the
spoken-word of the A section. The B section is where Cupid melodically
displays his might through the use of the minion of singers who do his
bidding. The chorus sings the lyrics in first person, collectively speaking
43
Cupid’s point of view saying, “You won’t believe in me, but you would
fancy leprechauns or groundhogs…” The use of the first person point of
view here intimates that this choir is under Cupid’s control and he will not
hesitate to employ all his followers to instill love into the Love Hater, as
Cupid emphatically declares through the powerful choir, “Love will rule
supreme!”
At the end of the third B section, Cupid makes clear that he is going
to inject the Love Hater with love “tonight!” The texture and
instrumentation change as he says the word “tonight” on the downbeat of
the new C section, signaling a change in setting. The harmony changes
into a functional E minor progression and there is a fast arpeggiation of
sixteenth-notes, from a synthesized arpeggiator. This rapid arpeggiation
can be heard as Cupid’s wing motion, as he moves from the otherworld
into the natural realm, symbolized by the change from A phrygian into E
minor.
At the end of the instrumental section, the rap of the Love Hater
begins, also in E minor. The use of E minor and the rhythmic rap indicate
the contrast of the Love Hater’s natural realm from that of Cupid’s. As
Cupid has now entered the Love Hater’s world, there is a descending slide
in the solo bass, essentially creating an extra measure at the end of the C
section rap by taking the first bar of the final C section from the last bar of
the second C section, as displayed below:
44
This deep slide in the extra bar can be heard as Cupid’s bullet of
love entering the Love Hater’s body. Then, the final C section starts on the
second measure of the original four chord phrase and Cupid’s minions
celebrate by singing the final C section with variations of “Happy
Valentine’s Day” in unison.
The changes in mode, style, and instrumentation show the contrast
between the powerful, otherworldly Cupid and the flawed, mortal Love
Hater. “Happy Valentine’s Day” is the first song in The Love Below where
the listener can compare the main characters and see them in direct
contrast with each other, not only by hearing two different voices, but also
by hearing two different musical and lyrical approaches.
It is important to note here that the front cover for the CD of
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below has a picture of André wearing a sash and
holding a pink smoking gun. The sash evokes the classic image of Cupid
45
and the pink smoking gun evokes the modern image of Cupid, as André
specifically references in the song, saying “My name is Cupid Valentino,
the modern day Cupid…when arrows don’t penetrate, Cupid brings the
pistol.” This use of visual representation of characters brings to mind the
album covers of rock concept albums that picture possible character
references, like in the Beatles’ Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and
Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.
Cupid as the sole focus of the album cover for The Love Below
emphasizes his importance as the catalyst for this album. André seems to
point out that Cupid, and therefore love itself, is the catalyst for all the
explorations on this album. The Love Hater himself is literally propelled
forward by Cupid shooting him with his proverbial arrow, a bullet of love,
and in the very next song, “Spread,” the listener hears the result of Cupid’s
shot.
Interestingly, the way in which two characters are presented in
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” with the secondary character of the Love Hater
only being featured in one contrasting section, recalls the formal structure
that appears in “Spread,” with the introduction of a female character, the
Birthday Woman, featured in a contrasting musical section.
“Spread”
Just as Happy Valentine’s Day was the sequential response to the
dramatic scenario established in “God,” Spread” is the sequential dramatic
response to “Happy Valentine’s Day.” During “Happy Valentine’s Day,”
we hear Cupid declaring that, despite the Love Hater’s best attempts to
run from love, “Cupid will not be defeated” and the Love Hater is “gonna
46
find out tonight!” The catalyst character of the Birthday Woman49 is
introduced in “Spread” and can thus be seen as the object of the Love
Hater’s love interest upon his being struck by Cupid’s bullet of love. This
is the first woman character heard on the album50; her actual voice is only
briefly heard, not being prominently presented until the next track,
“Where Are My Panties,” but her presence is established in this song in
relation to the Love Hater.
“Spread” is dominated by an atypical snare-drum loop of off-beat
sixteenth notes and an organ ostinato, which constitute an eight-bar
rhythmic and harmonic pattern that repeats throughout the entire song.
The common time, 2-bar pattern is defined by an abundance of snare hits
that create noticeable variations in the accent of the beat between the first
and second measure. In the first measure, the snare drum accent is on beat
two, whereas, in the second measure, the snare drum accent in on the
upbeat of beat one, creating a continual feeling of rhythmic deviation. The
entire two-bar pattern repeats consistently throughout the song, with
frequent tacet breaks, and is transcribed below:
The song is in simple verse-chorus form, as defined by the rhythmic
repetitiveness and harmonic continuity. New melodic and instrumental
material is the primary separation between the verse and the chorus (and
instrumental verse). André helps to define these sections by using a
49 The woman introduced in this song will be referenced in this paper as the “Birthday
Woman,” since the listener learns in the next track that the song “Spread” takes place on the eve of her
birthday.
50 In “God,” God is presented as woman, albeit an unvoiced and omnipotent woman.
47
distinctive vocal tone in each: the chorus is marked by André’s use of an
airy falsetto melody; the verse is marked by André’s use of a nasal,
electronically-affected voice with delay; and the rapped verse is marked by
a straight forward, spoken rap. These melodic elements and vocal choices
create a clear simple verse-chorus formal structure that can be outlined in
the following manner:
0:00 – 0:13
0:13 – 0:41
0:41 – 1:08
1:09 – 1:36
1:36 – 2:03
2:03 – 2:30
2:30 – 3:26
3:26 – 3:51
Introduction, 8 mm.
Introduction of initial 8-bar
progression with half time feel
Chorus 1, 16 mm.
Twice through 8-bar progression,
falsetto voice, “I don’t want to
move…”
Verse 1, 16 mm.
Nasal, electronically affected rap,
“I…I can’t read minds…”
Rapped Verse, 16 mm.
Straight forward vocal rap “I got
an eye out…”
Chorus 2, 16 mm.
Harmony as before, “Don’t want
to make you feel strange…”
Sound Effects
Exaggerated sound effects,
Instrumental Verse, 16 mm embodying the lyric “I can’t wait
to get you home”: Love Hater car
speeding, breaks squealing,
unzipping pants with Birthday
Woman, etc.
Chorus 3 (2x), 32 mm.
1st x: as first chorus, with
virtuoso piano arpeggiations; 2nd
x: as second chorus, tacet organ
ostinato
Ending, 14 mm.
Fade out with scratching and
Birthday Woman’s “ahh”s
The organ progression is an eight-bar harmonic pattern continually
repeating, in the fashion of an ostinato, and is first established in the
introduction. The mezzo-piano, elongated notes, and stepwise changes in
the organ, plus the addition of a rubato saxophone arpeggiating a
48
chromatic melodic riff over the second half of the ostinato, gives the
listener the impression that this song will have a soft, slow, jazzy groove.
This idea is negated by an accented fortissimo chord from the brass on the
downbeat of the opening chorus and then an immediate explosion of
sixteenth notes from the electronic snare drum. This dramatic change from
the slow introduction to the up-tempo chorus is reinforced in the very first
lyrics, “I don’t want to move too fast, but can’t resist,” as André directly
mirrors the lyrics with the musical action.
The eight-bar harmonic pattern incorporates modal mixture and
chromatic chord motion, based in the key of B flat major,51 although it
employs non-diatonic harmony by the third bar. The first bar begins with
the diatonic mediant triad, then moves to the supertonic in the second bar,
incorporates modal mixture with the major triad on the mediant in the
third bar, and the major subdominant in the fourth bar. These chords are
common within the major key and, if one considers the mediant in the first
bar as a substitute for the tonic, they can be heard as a modified ascending
chord progression. Thus, after the steps leading up to the subdominant
chord in the fourth bar, the listener might expect to hear a functional
dominant chord creating a cadence back to the tonic; the progression
moves to a secondary dominant, the major supertonic seventh chord (V/V,
51 This song is approximately a quarter-tone off from B-flat and from the twelve-tone equal
temperament relative to the standard pitch of 440 Hertz. This pitch variation is most likely due to
tempo adjustment after the initial recording. However, considering the title and objective of the main
character, for the woman to “spread” for him, it is interesting to note this conspicuous variation in
tuning. Insinuated in the meaning of the term “spread” is the eventual insertion of the male organ
between the spread female, and while it may seem unlikely that André would have purposefully
created such a subtle reference as inserting the tuning of the song between the standard pitches, it
seems even less likely that this tuning discrepancy would go unnoticed during the recording process,
during which such careful attention is paid to precise tuning.
49
C7), setting up even greater expectations for the tonicization of the
dominant. The altered supertonic chord is prominently heard here, as the
listener has just heard the minor supertonic three bars before, however, the
music is still using functional diatonic motion. But in the sixth bar, instead
of the expected dominant seventh chord, André uses descending
chromatic motion and moves to the flatted supertonic, C-flat major seventh
chord, and then again uses descending chromatic motion to resolve to the
tonic in the seventh bar. Out of the context of the harmonic progression,
this chord could be analyzed as a Neapolitan chord, however, it does not
function as a traditional Neapolitan in this case, but rather is a tritone
substitution, taking the place of the dominant with the same tritone
leading straight to the tonic in the next bar. The overall progression is
displayed below:
50
This use of chromatic harmony in “Spread” creates exciting tension
through each phrase. The use of this harmonic device can be seen as the
musical embodiment of the sexual tension between the two characters.
Based on the lyrics, the scenario in this song is a male character singing to
a female, who he has only recently met, with whom he hopes to have sex,
established as the Love Hater sings to the Birthday Woman, “I don’t want
to move to fast, but can’t resist your sexy ass…Don’t want to come on too
strong, but I’ll play in you all day long;” he explicitly hopes that she will
“spread” for him. This sense of the sexual tension and excitement between
two possible partners can be heard in the choice of chromatic harmony.
This sexual tension is also accentuated by the melody in the chorus.
The melody ascends stepwise towards the held climax note, the supertonic
(C), which occurs on the same beat as the title lyric of the song, “Spread.”
It is held over the entire bar and descends to the dominant note from the
supertonic, outlining the secondary dominant chord, before resolving to
the tonic. This melodic phrase stands out from the short rhythms of the
earlier melody, creating a distinct rhythmic melodic climax here. The first
melodic phrases leading up to the highest note are syncopated with dotted
eighth notes; the notes in the fourth measure occur on each beat, building
up to the resolution of the tonic on the held line of “Spread” in the fifth
phrase, as shown in the following transcription:
51
This repetitive building of tension preceding the tonic can be seen as
the musical embodiment of the entire song’s objective, as sung by the Love
Hater: “I can’t wait to get you home.”
The chorus is stylistically distinguished by André’s use of an airy
falsetto voice, the addition of accented staccato horns playing on the
downbeat of the first three measures, and prominently featured
synthesized bass arpeggiations. The lyrics used with this falsetto voice
convey the idea that a man is speaking directly to a woman character,
whose actual voice is confirmed later in the song. The Love Hater
specifically addresses the Birthday Woman, as the music in the chorus
portrays this sexually-charged encounter, eventually causing the
characters to rush home to have sex.
This specific situation is overtly displayed in the Sound EffectsInstrumental Verse of the song, where the listener hears the two characters
speeding off in a car from their current location to the man’s house, where
52
they quickly run inside, throw down their keys, unzip their pants, and
immediately begin to have sex. Their rush home to have sex is playfully
conveyed through exaggerated sound effects, including the gears of a car
shifting as it speeds off with the tires squealing; the sexual act is even
comically hinted at with exaggerated sound effects of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs.’
Once the sex begins, the musical accompaniment can be heard as an
embodiment of the playful enjoyment of the sexual act, as the piano solo
traverses the length of the keyboard during the final chorus, explicitly
intimating the lovers traversing the length of each other’s bodies.
Before the Sound Effects-Instrumental Verse, the first and second
verses set up the point of view of Cupid and of the Love Hater. The first
verse is marked by the use of a nasal, electronically affected lead vocal
with delay. André uses his voice in a distinctly different tone, rhythm, and
register, along with only the drum and organ ostinato as accompaniment,
to create a conspicuous aural difference from the chorus when the verse
begins. Cupid’s presence in the Love Hater’s life is foretold in the
previous song, “Happy Valentines Day,” when Cupid, says “Well, keep on
running, player…cause you gonna find out tonight.” Here in the first
verse, based on the electronically affected voice and the romantic lyrics,
André is evoking the point of view of the character of Cupid. The singer of
the first verse seemingly addresses both the man and the woman
characters that are presented in the choruses. The electronically affected
voice of Cupid, initially speaks to the man saying, “I think she said that
she wants to pour…yourself all over me. I could be wrong, but Cupid’s
don’t lie.” At this point the woman responds to Cupid, making it seem as
though Cupid was speaking through the male character. Cupid replies to
her directly, saying “The way you stare, yeah I’m there.”
53
These pronoun changes do not create one concrete point of view,
though it is clear that Cupid is the character speaking. André creates a
clear story line without explicitly giving each lyric definitive meaning.
André comfortably uses ambiguous poetic license within a song that still
has specific meaning. Much like John Lennon’s recommendation to Paul
McCartney that keeping unclear lyrics, like “the motion you need is on
your shoulder” in “Hey Jude,” would not remove the meaning behind the
overall song,52 “Spread” is a good example of André’s ability to strongly
convey a specific situation within a song through the musical choices, thus
having free reign to include certain unspecific lyrics.
The character voice becomes obvious during the rapped, second
verse, when the straight forward rap can be interpreted from the point of
view of the Love Hater preceding his injection of love by Cupid. The lyrics
during the Rapped Verse are those of someone more obsessed with sex
than love, saying “I’m too young to be settlin’ down, quick to change my
mind tomorrow, so for now can borrow your timid torso, more so than
your soul.” This use of Cupid in one verse and then the Love Hater in the
next is also mirrored in “Happy Valentines Day” when Cupid’s sings the
A and B sections and is then followed by the Love Hater in the rapped
verse.
After the demonstrative Sound Effects-Instrumental Verse, “Spread”
ends with André singing the words, “the morning after,” in the
background, making clear that this story is continuing on and the listener
is about to hear what happens the morning after the late-night events of
“Spread.”
52 Everett, The Beatles as Musicians, p. 192.
54
“Where Are My Panties”
“Where Are My Panties” is a full dialogue scene, one of four
sketches on the iTunes release of “The Love Below.” This scene comments
on the songs surrounding it, and helps to connect the songs, sometimes
through a specific narrative story line and sometimes through related
thematic commentary. Like his use of music to paint a clear mental picture
of a scene and of specific characters, André does the same with dialogue.
Dialogue and short sketches are familiar to Outkast fans from
previous albums, most notably in Stankonia, which included five
"Interludes" that are specifically titled as such. The interludes in Stankonia
are not directly related to the connected songs, but, like the sketches on the
second half of The Love Below, they are tangential, mostly comical,
commentary having to do with the topics of the songs they are positioned
by. For instance the song on Stankonia, “I’ll Call Before I Come,”
deceptively about pleasuring your sexual partner and announcing your
oncoming orgasm, is preceded by a sketch, entitled “Kim and Cookie
(Interlude),” with a woman relating the story of her previous night’s
sexual encounter in which her male partner was incapable of bringing her
any sexual pleasure – so she comically recounts stealing his
“everything…I’m talking about wallet…credit cards…money. And you
know what, I was gonna hit him up for his goddam pistol, but I didn’t
know how many motherfucking bodies he had on that motherfucker!”53
Another example from Stankonia, “We Luv Deez Hoez” is blatant in its
mock appreciation of the finer aspects of certain women: “from the
weaves, to the fake eyes, to the fake nails, down to the toes: Ha-ha-ha-ha,
53 Outkast, “Kim and Cookie (Interlude),” Stankonia.
55
we love these hoez!”54 This song is preceded by a sketch, entitled “Good
Hair (Interlude),” about a woman trying to pass off her weave as her
authentic Spanish hair. Each of the seven interludes on Stankonia is
accompanied by satirical music, often parodying a style close to the subject
being discussed, and the sketches on The Love Below function in a similar
manner.
In "Where Are My Panties,” André has removed all musical
accompaniment and allows the sketch to stand on its own. The only
additions are the sound effects of chirping birds and affected voices.
However, André has added a previously unused effect in Outkast
sketches, by showing the character’s thoughts through inner monologue,
in the fashion of a soliloquy.
The sketch starts in silence, with André’s voice explaining the
situation in a classic narrator’s tone, conveying the set-up and the implied
title of the piece, “the morning after.” Then, the sound of birds chirping is
heard, and the first character voice is heard whispering: “Where-Where are
my-Where are-Where are my panties? Oh my god, where are my
panties?!” We learn that the Birthday Woman is still in bed with The Love
Hater and not wanting to cause a commotion looking for her panties, so
the frantic nature behind her calm demeanor is established by this
skipping, fluctuating announcement of her search. The scene is given
balance and aural bookends with the use of this skipping technique at the
very end of the Love Hater’s soliloquy, revealing to the listener his
concealed excitement in wondering, “What if she’s the-What if she-What if
she’s- What if she’s the one?”
54 Outkast, “We Luv Deez Hoez,” Stankonia.
56
We learn that this is interior monologue through André’s clever
concealment of the story’s exposition. André reveals the details of the
situation, beyond those already established by the previous song and the
implied title “the morning after,” through the character’s revelations as
they speak. Using the sound of a rooster’s crow to signal the arrival of
morning, André reveals that the two characters have had sex on their first
night and that both characters feel mutually justified in their promiscuous
actions with her admission of: “He gonna think I’m a hoe!...Fuck that; I
liked it. I was drunk and it was my birthday, anyway.” And he similarly
admits that, “giving it up on the first night…just let me know that she
know what she want out of life.” The expository dialogue and aural clues
demonstrate André’s ability to use these tools to establish a clear mental
picture of a scene for the listener, without the use of pictures, set pieces, or
accompaniment, that is equally as descriptive as the musical
characterizations he creates throughout the album.
A less explicit moment in the scene occurs when the listener hears
the phrase “Ice Cold” being yelled in the background of the scene, as the
Love Hater is trying to convince himself not to “fall for her.” This moment
can be interpreted as the Love Hater’s conscience and old habits screaming
at him to remain with his old, uncaring, ice-cold ways. “Ice Cold” is one of
André 3000’s nicknames and he references it again in “Hey Ya!,”
establishing it as a hyperbole of the personality of the Love Hater:
someone who acts cooler than cool becomes ice cold. In “Where Are My
Panties,” the Love Hater makes an attempt to break out of those habits, as
the listener hears his conscience drawing him back in. This lack of mental
resolution within the Love Hater is further explored in the next song,
“Prototype.”
57
“Prototype”
This song continues the story of the Love Hater, and can be heard as
the final part of the narrative that connects the first eight songs. At this
point in the album, the Love Hater hopes for the possibility of completing
his search for love with the Birthday Woman. However, he feels a
contradiction between his hope of finding resolution, and the opposite
possibility, a lack of resolution in love, which he has previously
experienced and suspects could happen again.
The main focus of the song is, both thematically and harmonically,
the possibility of resolve versus a lack of definitive resolution. This theme
is succinctly expressed in the first lyrics, “I hope that you’re the one. If not,
you are the prototype.” André also expresses this theme through the
music, primarily through a lack of resolution in the melody and through
the use of modal mixture.
The song’s tonal center is A, however, it does not function
diatonically in either A major or A minor, but rather straddles the two
using modal mixture. The harmony repeats a four-measure, four-chord
progression, starting with a major seventh chord rooted on the
subdominant, then a major seventh chord rooted on the tonic, leading the
listener to perceive the song in A major. However, André then employs
modal mixture, using the parallel minor in the third and fourth measures,
using the same chord roots, but changing the tonality by chromatically
lowering the mediant, submediant, and subtonic to create minor seventh
chords on the subdominant and tonic. The progression is shown below:
58
This progression repeats throughout the song. The song is in simple
verse-chorus form, alternating eight-measure verses and choruses, as
shown in the diagram below.
0:01 – 0:25
0:25 – 0:49
0:50 – 1:15
Introduction
Verse, 8mm
Chorus, 8mm
Electric Guitar melody
“I hope that you’re the one”
Bass enters
“I think I’m in love, again.”
“Today must be my lucky
day”
1:16 – 1:40
Verse, 8mm
1:41 – 2:05
2:06 – 2:31
2:32 – 2:56
2:57 – 3:22
Chorus, 8mm
Verse 3, 8mm
Chorus, 8mm
Matinee Dialogue Verse, 8mm
3:22 – 5:26
Coda Adlib Choruses, 48mm
“If we happen to part”
Sound effect film
“And…action!”
Fadeout
The melody in “Prototype” also employs modal mixture, using both
the natural and flatted mediant, as well as both the leading tone and the
subtonic, to embody the uncertainty in the lyrics. The Love Hater
continually attempts to resolve the melody to the tonic, but never resolves
fully, instead ending phrases on the dominant and the leading tone. The
listener can interpret this as the Love Hater’s uncertainty as to whether or
not the woman he describes, the Birthday Woman, is “the one,” or only the
“prototype.”
The first measure employs a descending scalar melody in A major,
over the subdominant major seventh chord, beginning on the tonic and
59
ending on the supertonic. Putting the first two measures in the major
mode supports the Love Hater’s “hope that [she’s] the one.” The
progression changes to the major seventh tonic chord by the second
measure, using plagal ornamentation to quickly reach the tonic in the
accompaniment. This is paired, however, with the descending melody
only reaching the supertonic, thus musically embodying the Love Hater’s
immediate attempt to find resolution in the story. The Love Hater has not
yet found resolution, as the melody has not resolved and though the
harmony is unexpectedly on the tonic, it is colored with the addition of the
major seventh.
Then, in the third measure, moving from the major to the minor,
André employs modal mixture to change the mood and show the Love
Hater’s uncertainty, returning to the subdominant chord, but using the
parallel minor. The melody also creates the largest change in the song,
making an ascending leap from the tonic to the dominant, E natural. This
combination of changing from major to minor mode and the large leap in
melody following a predominantly scalar line creates an unexpected
moment that musically emphasizes the Love Hater’s sudden uncertainty,
qualifying his previous hopes by wondering, “If not?” This lyric, “if not,”
occurs on the strong downbeat and echoes over two more beats, conveying
a solid sense of the Love Hater’s doubt, and leaving the listener waiting to
find out what his response will be, as shown below:
60
By reinforcing himself with positive thought, the Love Hater’s
answer once again attempts to resolve his uncertainty, saying “if
not?...You are the prototype,” and then proceeding forward in the song
with optimistic visions of what their life could be together. But like the
second measure, the fourth measure does not have a perfectly authentic
resolution, leaving the tonic chord with an added minor seventh and the
melody on the dominant. This pattern, as shown above, repeats
throughout the song, and this unresolved major to minor construction
continually reinforces the Love Hater’s hopes for, and lack of, resolution in
love.
In the chorus, André further musically embodies the lyrics with the
unexpected melodic twist on the word, “again.” The singer begins the
chorus melody by outlining the minor tonic chord, stating that “I think I’m
in love,” holding the word “love” on the dominant note for three and a
half beats over the subdominant chord. The subdominant harmony
supporting the dominant note in the melody sets up a possible plagal
cadence; however, instead of this phrase resolving to the tonic, the melody
moves to the supertonic and the singer finishes his sentence with the word
“again,” musically and lyrically implying that this near resolution has
happened before and may happen again.
The use of modal mixture also embodies the singer’s dreams to “do
something out of the ordinary” with his lover, such as the audible, soundeffect enhanced trip to the matinée movie in the Matinée Dialogue Verse.
This spoken section over the verse is very similar to the previous two
songs, and the previous four tracks, in its use of dialogue to tell a story.
The exact situation in this dialogue is less clear than the previous tracks
61
and it uncertain whether the singer imagines viewing a film with the
Birthday Woman, if he shoots a film with her in it, if he actually attends a
matinée with her, or some combination. Regardless of the exact scenario,
the use of dialogue and sound effects continues to play a prominent part in
the first half of this album, with André using the sound of a rolling film
projector here, as well as the director’s call for “action!” The listener also
hears the sound of the Birthday Woman’s voice only through dialogue,
which constitutes the third track in a row where a woman’s voice has been
featured with dialogue, but without singing. There is not a featured
woman’s solo until the sixteenth track of the album, during “Dracula’s
Wedding.”
The texture of this song is different than most songs on the album;
the primary instrument is a rhythm guitar strumming through the
majority of the song. An electric guitar is the lone accompanying
instrument during the introduction of the song and the first verse when
the lead vocal enters. At the beginning of the first chorus, a prominent
bass line begins, which is featured through the rest of the song, along with
a synthesized bass drum and snare drum. The bass drum gives the feeling
of a slap bass, employing a sound fluctuation on each beat of the song,
helping to create a distinct, slow groove.
The song ends with an elongated repetition of the chorus, where
André ad-libs over the previously recorded material, as we hear him say to
the sound engineer, “Are we recording our ad-libs? Well, were we
recording just then? Let me hear that…first one.” Background singing has
then been added, echoing André’s ad-libs. These ad-libs give the listener
insight into a part of the recording process for the album, showing André
62
creating intriguing musical and lyrical material through ad-lib, and then
developing it for the final product.
This song can be interpreted as concluding the specific narrative of
the Love Hater through the first eight songs. It is the final moment in a
timeline that stretches over the span of just one day, from the evening
when the Love Hater speaks to “God,” to the morning after sex when the
Love Hater dreams of the Birthday Woman being “the one.” And while
the next song, “She Lives in My Lap,” does not appear to fit within this
twenty-four hour timeline, if one considers a leap forward in time, it too
can be seen as the final piece of the Love Hater’s narrative. And while a
narrative for one specific character is no longer present from this point
forward in the album, André does unceasingly continue with the themes
of love, sex, and relationships, and musically embodies these themes
throughout the rest of the songs on The Love Below.
“She Lives In My Lap”
“She Lives In My Lap” uses a direct quote from the song “Pistolgrip
Pump,” by Volume 10.55 In “Pistolgrip Pump,” the narrator of that song
keeps a “Pistolgrip Pump on my lap at all times.” In “She Lives In My
Lap,” André uses that idea as a metaphor for a man that keeps his love in
his lap, in the same fashion as a pistolgrip pump shotgun. The “She” in
this song is merely an object, like a pistolgrip pump shotgun, that he can
use at any time. He always keeps it close at his side, but it never becomes
anything more to him than an object. André musically embodies this by
55 Volume 10, Hip Hopera, RCA, 07863 66276-2, 1994.
63
creating a feeling of uncertainty through his choice of unstable harmony
and conflicting instrumentation.
The basis for the song is a four-bar harmonic phrase that repeats
throughout the song. This phrase begins simply in the introduction, with a
single, slow melodic line played on what sounds like a Rhodes piano. This
melody is in E natural minor, ringing on the diatonic dominant,
submediant, and subtonic notes, and is accompanied by a sound effect that
sounds like the blowing wind, along with a series of very fast, scalar runs
in E minor that sound like the motion of underwater air bubbles. These
dark instrumental elements create a sense of loneliness; however, these
elements are suddenly countered by the distant sound of a woman’s
intense laughter. This woman’s warm laughter brings to mind a playful
state of ecstasy. These two distinct atmospheres immediately establish a
discordant feeling of uncertainty in the song.
There is a silent moment in the music, before a dramatic crescendo
into a new instrumental obbligato, made by using the pitch wheel on a
synthesizer to create a portamento effect; this effect is repeatedly achieved
by an ascending slide into each of the intended notes. Although it sounds
similar to the slow introductory melody, which continues to play, this
obbligato is faster, with frequent sixteenth note changes instead of whole
note changes; the sliding effect creates a whining tone instead of the clear
ringing tone of the introductory melody and the group of notes is the same
with the added subdominant, A natural, beneath the dominant. However,
this whining, fast-moving melody sounds conflicting to the warm laughter
and blustery accompaniment of the introduction.
This conflict of sound is further supported in the bass, as the bass
melody is constructed differently than the rest of the song. The E natural
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minor melody in the introduction leaves the listener expecting to hear the
tonic, E, in the root upon the bass entrance; however, the bass enters on the
raised submediant, C#. This is audibly not diatonic, nor is this note a
common embellishment to the tonic chord, as it creates a tritone with the
third of the chord, the mediant. An initial analysis of a raised submediant
in a minor scale may lead one to believe that the bass line will ascend to
the raised subtonic, D# (the leading tone), utilizing the melodic minor;
however, in the next measure the bass does ascend, but only chromatically
to the subtonic note, D natural. It is not until the next measure when the
bass finally moves to the dominant note that the progression sounds like it
will finally resolve to a root position tonic chord. But, as stated earlier, the
progression repeats, creating the sound of a deceptive cadence by moving
the bass up a whole step, back to the raised submediant.
One could initially analyze this four part progression as a
continually repeating deceptive cadence, giving a perpetual lack of
resolution to provide the principal feeling of instability in the song. The
harmony strongly suggests E minor, with tonic-dominant motion
embellished by the bass C#, however, upon closer analysis of the bass line
with the new obbligato, introductory instrumental phrase, and later
harmony, one can see that this song is never truly established in E minor;
in fact, the repetition of the C#, D, and B in the bass gives a strong sense of
B minor. E minor and B minor are closely related keys, only one sharp
removed from each other, and although the melody in the chorus helps to
make the song feel primarily in E, neither E minor nor B minor is fully
established; moreover, the use of these nearly unified key centers, barely
off from one another, is the most appropriate choice to embody the
65
uncertainty of the male character and the close conflict between both of the
characters in this song.
The diagram below provides an example of the tonal conflict present
between the instrumental introduction and the primary obbligato, shown
above the repeating bass line in the appropriate, diatonic key signature:
The theme of uncertainty in this song is further displayed in the
lyrics and supported by the instrumentation. The conflict of the closely
related key centers is most prominently supported in the conflicting
statements of the main character to “She”: “Don’t leave, don’t stay…Make
me wonder where you are, then forget you...We’re oh-so close, but yet so
far.” In the chorus, the two characters are clearly engaged to be married,
with the male character saying that “She” is “forever, my fiancée.” André’s
negative opinion is made clear with the main character admitting that he’ll
“get the courage one day.”
The woman laughing in the introduction of the song is the “She”
that the male narrator, played by André, refers to throughout the song.
66
“She” is played by Rosario Dawson; 56 this woman speaks throughout the
song, hoping to help the main character feel comfortable with love and to
reinforce the stability in their relationship, pleading with him, “Baby, why
are you acting like this?...I care about you. Baby, I love you.” The
concerned, soothing tone of her spoken lines are contrasted by André’s
aggressively sung melody, highlighting their failure to establish a
connected relationship and to emphasize the instability of the main
character in the song.
The instrumental uncertainty is heard in the excess of timbral
choices, noticeably more than other songs on the album, which are added
and removed throughout the song. André uses at least ten different
instrumental timbres throughout, adding to the indecisive texture of the
song. The funky rhythmic bass line and driving beat push the entire song
forward at the same time that the legato introductory accompaniment
underscores various parts of the song. André uses double tracked lead
vocals in the verse, using one lead vocal to conflict with the other, which is
significantly behind. In the choruses, two different electric guitar lines are
put in opposition, with one panned to the far left and the other panned to
the far right. The sliding, shifting sound of the obbligato is in conflict with
the clear, ringing tone of the organ that accompanies Rosario Dawson’s
spoken dialogue. Previously mentioned is the warm laughter of the girl
character that gives the impression of playful surrender, which is also in
conflict with the wail of a muted trumpet, introduced only at the end of
the song, which gives the impression of desperation. These last two
conflicts can be seen as a specific embodiment of the male narrator versus
56 Rosario Dawson is primarily a theatre and film actress, see: <http://rosariodawson.net/>.
67
the “She” in this song, with the instability of the narrator imbued in the
sliding obbligato and the wailing trumpet, in opposition to the boldness of
the “She” that is imbued in the clear organ and the warm laughter.
Throughout the song, the use of an unresolved harmonic conflict,
along with an excess of conflicting instrumentation, helps to support the
lyrical conflict established between the two main obbligatos, and gives a
feeling of uncertainty. The trumpet squeals over the held vocals at the end
of the song to push the sense of uncertainty through the silence between
tracks, into the deceptively reassuring next song, “Hey Ya!”
“Hey Ya!”
“Hey Ya!” is seemingly a simple song, memorable and catchy
enough to receive multiple commercial awards and perform well
throughout the pop charts, winning a Grammy Award for Best
Urban/Alternative Performance of 2003, 57 and staying at the number one
position for nine weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.58 However,
although the song is very accessible to a mass audience, it has musical
intricacies that mirror the intricacies in the lyrics, which are easily missed
(André says before the second chorus, “ya’ll don’t wanna hear me, you just
57 For Grammy results, see: The Recording Academy,
<http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/Winners/Results.aspx>.
58 “Hey Ya!” was knocked out of the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 by another
Outkast single from the Speakerboxxx disc, “The Way You Move.” See: Todd Martens, “Outkast Ousts
Itself From No. 1,” Billboard Online (February 2004)
<http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2084763>.
68
wanna dance”) without a closer examination of the subtly distinct musical
choices.
André begins this song with simple diatonic harmony in G major, IIV-V. However, then André not only avoids the expected cadence to tonic,
but uses modal mixture to create the non-diatonic triad of E major, a VI
chord with a raised third. This makes E major sound like the key center
and complicates the tonality or modality of the song, before returning
again to the initially perceived tonic to begin the pattern again. This
progression creates an uncertain musical mode for the song, as two
possible tonal centers may be perceived, creating two different modal
possibilities, as shown below.
The first possibility in G major can be heard initially in the
previously mentioned I-IV-V progression in the first four measures of the
harmonic pattern. However, when hearing the progression in G major the
final chord is heard as using modal mixture, raising the tonic to create an E
major chord rooted on the submediant. In the fourth measure, the D major
chord may sound like a dominant chord, preparing for return to the tonic
in G; however, upon hearing the E major chord in the next two measures,
the D major chord may sound like the a diatonic subtonic major chord
within E Mixolydian. When hearing the progression in E mixolydian, the
69
opening G and C major chords are altered, but the subtonic D major chord
creates an accepted mixolydian cadence into E. The lack of a definitive
tonal center or mode within this deceptively simple pop song can be
interpreted as a musical example of André’s lyrical declaration that “you
think you’ve got it, but got it just don’t get it 'til there’s nothing at all.”
The indefinite harmonic pattern is repeated in simple verse-chorus
form, with a breakdown before the final chorus, and is shown below:
0:00 – 0:01
0:01 – 0:34
0:34 – 1:07
1:07 – 1:40
1:41 – 2:14
2:14 – 2:47
2:47 – 3:20
Count off, 1m.
Verse, 24mm
Chorus, 24mm
Verse 2, 24mm
Chorus, 24mm
Verse 3, 24mm
Break Down, 24mm
3:20 – 3:54
Chorus, 24mm
“1, 2, 3, unh!”
“My baby don’t mess around…”
“Hey Ya!”
“You think you got it…”
“Don’t want to meet your daddy….”
“Alright now, fellas!”
“Shake it…shake it like a Polaroid
picture!”
Fade out last twelve bars
The unique harmonic choices in this song are complimented by the
distinctive metrical pattern. André creates an irregular meter from the very
beginning of the song with his eccentric count off, “One, Two, Three,
Uhh!,” establishing the song in 4/4 time, however, the count off actually
begins on the second beat, thus putting the perceived fourth beat in the
count off, “Uhh,” on the downbeat of the first measure, making his initial
count off incorrect and metrically confusing. The first three bars of the sixbar repeating progression are in common time, with the bass rhythm
accenting the downbeat and the fourth beat. However, the fourth bar is
then changed to a bar of two, accenting both downbeats, before returning
to the 4/4 time rhythmic pattern in the fourth measure.
70
The changes in harmony are also irregular. The G major triad is
only present for one measure of 4/4, then C major for two bars of 4/4, D
major for only one bar of the shortened 2/4 measure, and then E major for
two bars of 4/4 before returning to the beginning of the pattern. The
pattern and count off are shown below:
The simple melody of the chorus mimics the metered changes in the
harmony, and it repeats throughout each chorus. The words, “Hey Ya!,”
are the only words used in the two, three-bar phrases. The melody repeats
four times during each chorus and is the simplest melodic chorus of the
entire album, with only embellished stepwise movement, all within the
interval of a third.
While the chord progression and melody in the chorus stay the same
throughout the song, the melody varies between in each verse. The sixnote range, stepwise movement, quarter-note heavy rhythm, and accented
downbeats in the long melodic phrases (sung in one breath) during the
first verse are abandoned in the second verse in favor of staccato eighthnote rhythms at the beginning of each phrase. Both the first and second
verse similarly conclude the last two measures of each phrase with a
legato, dotted whole note on the mediant, embellished during the second
verse with accented leaps of a third. The melody in the third verse is
71
completely different than those in the first two, with the third verse
actually abandoning sung pitch, instead using spoken word to specifically
address the audience and invite them to join in the song. The varied
melodies of verse one and two are shown below:
Lyrically, this song is much more ambiguous than the previous
songs on the album. It is the first song on the album that does not take an
explicit point of view from a single character, multiple characters, or
narrative; rather, it seems to be about the complexity surrounding modern
relationships in general. The chorus is most perplexing from a lyrical
point of view, with only the unspecific lyrics, “Hey Ya!” to inform the
listener. The patter-like lyrics of the first two verses, though difficult to
follow, help to clarify the narrator’s opinion.
72
The one lyric frequently heard throughout the verse is the
conjunction “but,” highlighting the narrator’s thoughts about the
conflicting nature of relationships between lovers. The first verse begins
with the narrator singing that his lover is loyal to him, “My baby don’t
mess around because she loves me so and this I know for sure.” This is
immediately contrasted with the possibility of her secretly wanting to
cheat on him, as he wonders “But does she really wanna but can’t stand to
see me walk out the door?” In the second verse, the narrator discusses the
frequently opposing feelings that one may have when being in love, again
using “but” to highlight the contrast, “You think you’ve got it, but got it
just don’t get it 'til there’s nothing at all. We get together, but separate’s
always better when there’s feelings involved.”
The lyrics of “Hey Ya!” explore sex and relationships in a world
influenced by hip-hop and modern love. Love may seem a natural and
essential part of modern humanity, but the intricacies of a relationship can
reveal how, in a world heavily influenced by hip-hop, sex is often “not an
act of love,” but rather an act filled with complications.59 The musical
aspects of “Hey Ya!” subtly embody this through the complicated use of
harmonic mode, intricate changes in meter, and melodic variations within
the three different verses, all of which contribute to the music mirroring
the narrator’s thoughts on modern love.
In the chorus, the narrator seems to acknowledge the lack of
resolution in sexual relationships with his unspecific declaration of “Hey
Ya!,” sung over the unresolved tonal center and mode. The narrator
(André 3000) is self-referential and recalls earlier characters in the album,
59 George Nelson, Hip Hop America, p. 44. Nelson explores the relationship between lovers
and hip hop here, in his chapter entitled “Hip Hop Wasn’t Just Another Date,” as well as throughout
his book.
73
taking a practical point of view toward the feelings that the Love Hater
embodied, saying “If what they say is ‘Nothing is forever,’ then what
makes love the exception?,” while contrastingly mocking the seemingly
‘cool’ attitude that the Love Hater would take towards relationships, by
asking the men, “What’s cooler than being cool?” and responding by
saying “Ice Cold!”
During this call and response between André and the audience,
which makes up the entire third verse, there are further complications
subtly altering the simple expectations from this song. The exchange
begins with the narrator’s precise rhythmic call, “Alright now, fellas,” and
the fellas scatteredly answering, “Yeah?” on the upbeat of beat three.
Next, however, the ladies answer his precise rhythmic call, also
scatteredly, on the downbeat of beat four. This is a seemingly strange
rhythmic deviation to choose, especially considering that it would be in
André’s best interest for the mass listening audience to be able to easily
answer with the pre-recorded responses. However, André continues to
musically embody the intricate nature of sex and love, and the oftencontradictory feelings in a relationship by putting the fellas’ and ladies’
responses on different beats.
The breakdown of Hey Ya! is possibly the most recognizable part of
the song. Its repeating rhythm and memorable catch phrase, “Shake
it…Shake it like a Polaroid picture” seem to ignore the conflicting elements
of love and relationships, and simply encourages everyone to “get on the
floor” and “break this thing down.” The single bar of 2/4 is especially
noticeable in this breakdown, as the spoken “shake it, shake, shake it”
mantra of staccato eighth-notes is distinctly altered with the full quarter
rest on the second beat of the 2/4 measure, creating another slight
74
complication within an otherwise repetitive and seemingly simple phrase,
further establishing “Hey Ya!” as a song that is very accessible to a mass
audience, while having musical intricacies that mirror the complicated
nature of love that is examined in the lyrics.
“Roses”
“Roses” begins much in the same way as “Spread,” with a solo
keyboard introducing an eight-bar harmonic progression that establishes
the bass ostinato, which is used throughout the song. This stepwise,
descending harmony, in E minor, descends through the diatonic triads of
each scale degree on the E natural minor scale, varying only slightly by
lowering the supertonic a half-step (F-sharp to F-natural), creating a major
triad on the lowered supertonic. This may lead the listener to expect a
move to the dominant, as the major triad on the flatted supertonic could
function as a Neapolitan chord; however, rather than move directly to the
dominant, the harmony continues to descend with stepwise motion,
moving through the tonic and the subtonic, before using the leading tone
to create a dominant seventh chord, creating a final cadence back to the
beginning of the phrase, as shown in the following transcription:
75
This descending pattern immediately establishes a musical
representation of the narrator’s views about the main character of
“Caroline.” The narrator feels that Caroline is “the reason for the word
‘bitch’” and uses a repeating harmonic phrase, based on the introductory
descending pattern, to embody Caroline’s cyclical negative habits. The
bass line in each verse and chorus continues to descend through the
altered E minor scale, as in the introduction, while the organ moves
between the tonic and dominant triads until the cadential measure, again
using the dominant seventh chord to begin the pattern. This creates a
simple verse-chorus form; however, as was the case with “Spread,” André
creates a slightly varied formal structure through the use of diverse
melodic choices. While in “Spread” the sectional variations were primarily
heard in the changing register of André’s voice in each, here the sections
are varied by a guest appearance, an extended coda with new melodic
material, and can be formally analyzed as the following:
0:00 – 0:17
0:17 – 0:52
0:52 – 1:27
1:28 – 2:03
2:03 – 2:
2:38 – 3:13
3:13 – 4:23
4:24 – 4:59
4:59 – 5:34
5:34 – 6:09
A section
A
A’
Extended Coda
Introduction, 8 mm.
Verse 1, 16 mm.
Chorus, 16 mm.
Verse 2, 16 mm.
Chorus, 16 mm.
Guest Verse, 16 mm
Chorus (4x), 32 mm.
“Mars” Verse, 16 mm.
“Crazy Bitch” Verse, 16mm
Instrumental Ride-out,
16mm
76
2xs through 8bar chorus
Fade out
The last two beats of the introduction are rhythmically accented to
foreshadow the supplanting of the solo piano with the entrance of the
descending bass line, drum beat, electronic instrumentation, and rhythmic
vocals to begin the verse. Although the piano gives an accented dominant
chord on the last two beats of the preceding measure, the listener may be
surprised by the sudden, dramatic shift in dynamics and style, as the
music goes from a mezzo-piano jazz groove into a fortissimo electronic
rock groove. Beginning at this point, the bass acts as an obbligato part,
with a slight overdrive effect helping to emphasize the bass line. The
drums stay fairly straightforward, keeping a straight backbeat throughout
the song. The rest of the instrumentation helps to create a style
reminiscent of funk, with the heavy use of synthesizer to create cosmicsounding keyboard ornamentation, in addition to the prominent bass,
bringing to mind the sounds of George Clinton, Parliament, or the P-Funk
All Stars.
André uses a raw, howling tone for his lead vocal that boldly
matches the forward tone quality of the bass. Using his chest voice, he
confidently slides to notes, warps his vowels, and chews his diphthongs to
create a highly-stylized lead vocal that matches the energetic style of the
instrumentation. The vocal choices suggests the style of James Brown,
including the familiar exclamatory shouts of “Yeah!,” “Ha-ah!,” and “Dig
this now!” André’s lead vocal is complimented and contrasted with a
more supported, rounder, double-tracked backup vocal by Killer Mike, in
unison with André during the choruses, while acting in a call-andresponse manner during the verses. This resonating backup vocal
contrasts the raw tone of André’s lead vocal.
77
The strident vocal and bass lines create an unsentimental musical
setting for the portrayal of the subject, Caroline, a woman who is
possessed by the want for material wealth and depends on her looks and
sexual prowess to survive. Caroline is described as a woman who “all the
guys would say ‘she’s mighty fine,’ but ‘mighty fine’ only got you
somewhere half the time and the other half either got you cussed out or
comin’ up short.”
The critical attitude toward Caroline is further described in the guest
verse, when the listener is introduced to Big Boi, the second half of
Outkast, for the first, and only, time on The Love Below.60 Big Boi creates a
dense rhyme scheme, in his unfavorable depiction of Caroline, using a
long series of rapid, imperfect interior and exterior rhymes. An example of
Big Boi’s intricate and lengthy imperfect rhyme schemes is highlighted
below:
“Well, she got a hottie’s body
But her attitude is potty
When I met her at a party
She was hardly acting naughty
I said ‘shawty,’ would you call me?
She said, “pardon me, are you balling?”
I said, “Darling, you sound like a prostitute pursing.”
The explicit lyrics throughout “Roses” are complemented by the
demonstrative musical portrayal, making clear the singer’s disdainful
60 Big Boi is also known as “Daddy Fat Sacks,” “Lucious Leftfoot,” “Billy Ocean,” and
“Francis the Savannah Chitlin Pimp.” Both members of Outkast have numerous nicknames. André
3000 is also known as “Possum Aloysius Jenkins,” “New Kid Blossom Gang, the Third,” and, as seen
in the analysis of “Where Are My Panties” and “Hey Ya!”, he is also referred to as “Ice Cold.” As a
team, Outkast deservedly refers to themselves on ATLiens as being “cooler than polar bear’s toenails.”
78
feelings toward this woman’s actions. During the final repetitions of the
harmonic progression, two new melodic sections are used over the
previously heard accompanying material to create an extended coda.
Using melodic material that is different from the previously heard chorus,
André creates two new verses in these final sections (labeled earlier as the
“Mars” and “Crazy Bitch” verses).
With all of these varied sections developed over the repetitive
harmonic material, the listener gets an expansive understanding of the
narrator’s disdain for the cyclical habits of Caroline. This unflattering
perspective of Caroline is further reinforced and juxtaposed by the
contrasting musical and lyrical portrait of, what the narrator perceives to
be, a sophisticated lady in the next two tracks of “Good Day, Good Sir”
and “Behold a Lady.” This specific contrast helps to continue a throughline from track to track and to unify the second half of The Love Below,
which is less explicitly connected than the first eight tracks of the album,
but is still distinct in connecting songs through thematic music and lyrics.
“Good Day, Good Sir”
This sketch can be seen as homage to Abbott and Costello’s famous
sketch “Who’s On First?”61 André employs the services of Fonzworth
Bentley (whom André addresses as Bentley Fonzworth in the sketch), a
hip-hop artist and violin player. Emulating the comic duo style, Bentley
plays the straight man to André’s funny man. The sketch is an
61 Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, “Who’s on First?,” Who’s on First?, Stardust, RGI 1F8, 2007.
79
introduction for the ensuing song and uses formal language to set-up the
scenario and lyrics of “Behold A Lady.”
The sketch begins with audience applause, emulating a radio show,
and later continues this premise by adding canned laughter, seemingly
acknowledging the satirical nature of the sketch. The gentlemen both use
put-on British accents and, following the start of the applause, Bentley
plays the first eight measures of the first movement from Johann Sebastian
Bach’s “Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor” (BWV 1043). Bentley takes
a moderately slow tempo compared to the “Vivace” indication in the
score.62 The piece is played as a solo, with only the concert violin and, in a
similar fashion as many of André’s solo vocal lines, is somewhat off-pitch
at certain difficult passages. Finger snaps are added to give an eighth note
backbeat and a double-time feel to the moderate tempo.
André immediately informs the listener that this is a comedic sketch
by highlighting his conscious use of mixed classical references: whereupon
hearing the eighteenth-century German Baroque violin concerto, he
ironically references a twentieth-century American Musical that employs
Jewish folk music from the Nineteenth Century, saying, “Ah, such sweet
sounds…the fiddler on the fuckin’ roof!”
The overt references to the well-known “Who’s on First” sketch
focus on love instead of baseball, but use similarly nonsensical names like
those in “Who’s On First” in order to create the comic confusion: André
says that Bentley “look[s] fine” to which Bentley contradicts that he is
“Fantastically Well! I am certainly not Fine…but you could say I’m close
to Spectacular.” Thus, the confusion is wrought based on three characters
62 Johann Sebastian Bach, Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins and String Orchestra: BWV
1043, edition Eulenberg (London: Ernst Eulenberg, Ltd., 1940).
80
that are addressed by the formal names of “Fine,” “Fantastically Well,”
and “Spectacular.” This creates the expected confusion as André’s
character wonders how Bentley’s name can be “Close to Spectacular”
when he just said his name was “Fantastically Well.” “Which one are
you?” he demands. To this, Bentley explains that he is named
“Fantastically Well,” though he was previously standing close to a
character named “Spectacular,” and he is meeting a character named
“Fine” in a minute. The nonsense-name characters have been diagrammed
below, along with the full transcription of the dialogue (the referenced
character names are capitalized and in bold).
André: “Ah, such sweet sound... The fiddler on the fucking roof. Is
that Mr. Bentley Fonzworth?”
Bentley Fonzworth: “Indeed it is, sir.”
André: “Good day, good sir! How do you do? Look fine!”
Fonzworth: “Fantastically Well! I am certainly not Fine by far, but
you could say I’m close to Spectacular.”
André: “Close to spectacular? How so?”
Bentley: “Open your eyes! Spectacular’s right in front of you.”
André: “Whatever you say. You’re spectacular.”
Bentley: “No, I’m Fantastically Well.”
André: “Come on, man, make up your mind. A minute ago you
said you were fine.”
Bentley: “No, I said I’m close to Spectacular, but I’m meetin’ Fine in
a minute.”
André: “Close to spectacular? You said you were fantastically
well!”
Bentley: “Exactly!”
André: “Exactly? Which one are you? Close to spectacular or
fantastically well?”
Bentley: “I am certainly and without a doubt Fantastically Well.
And was close to meetin’ Spectacular, but I must say, Good Sir, you just
pissed Spectacular off, and don’t even mention Exactly! … But here
comes Fine right now…”
André: “Ooh Lord, she IS Fine!”
Fine: “Gentlemen.”
André and Bentley: “Behold a lady!”
81
‘Fantastically Well’
(Bentley Fonzworth)
“Fine”
(“A Lady”)
“Spectacular”
André 3000
(silent character)
- ‘close to Spectacular’
- ‘meeting Fine in a
minute’
- ‘she is fine’
- walks by at
end
- get ‘pissed off’
and leaves
“Exactly”
(silent)
- ‘Spectacular - briefly
is right in of
mentioned
him’
The character of “Exactly” is only briefly mentioned, as having also
been “pissed off” at the same time when “Spectacular” leaves, due to
André not acknowledging them. Apparently, André does not see
“Spectacular,” even though Bentley tells André, “Spectacular is right in
front of you.” While the other characters have at least one confusing
name, André is not addressed as such, and is, in fact, not addressed by
name at all, only being welcomed as “Good Sir.”
At the end of the sketch, the confusion is cleared, to a certain degree,
when the woman character of “Fine” walks by in high heels. Creating the
sound of high heels across a hardwood floor is the main use of sound
effects in this sketch; this is similar to the use of sound effects used in the
previous skits and songs. André sees the woman character walking by
and now understands, agreeing with Bentley that “she is fine!” The
woman character, “Fine,” cordially greets the “Gentlemen” as she walks
by; the gentlemen make no attempt to woo her, but rather are silent until
she has passed.
This polite exchange is in line with André and Bentley’s attempts at
antiquity and high culture, with the put-on British accents and Bach
musical reference. The exchange between the men and the woman
provides the nostalgia of a time when males acted like gentlemen and
females acted like ladies, creating an appropriate segue into the next song,
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as the gentlemen confirm that to look on the character of “Fine” is to
“Behold A Lady!”
“Behold a Lady”
“Behold a Lady” is in direct lyrical contrast to “Roses” and, once
again, musical devices are used to underscore this contrast. While both
songs have a nearly identical time signature and backbeat, Andre creates
two diverse songs and two diverse portrayals of women.
“Behold a Lady” is a depiction of André’s image of an ideal “lady,”
whereas “Roses” is a depiction of André’s image of an archetypal
“bitch.”63 “Behold a Lady” is dominated by a clean, treble
instrumentation, a syncopated bass rhythm, an atypical harmonic
progression, and the use of improvised, elevated prose; whereas “Roses” is
dominated by a prominent bass line with overdrive effect, diatonic chord
progressions, and repetitive, colloquial speech. These musical differences
typify André’s characterization of these women.
The commanding treble nature of “Behold A Lady” begins
immediately when a solo, synthesized accompanying melody starts the
song by repeating an F natural an octave and a half above middle C (F4).
This ringing, treble tone is the lone harmonic accompaniment,
complimented by only the percussion of a bass drum, group hand claps,
and shaker.
63 The sexual language and heavily male-dominated point of view in this album are flagrant
and worth detailed study; however, within the scope of this book, it is not possible to survey the
implications therein. For more on the dominating male ego in hip-hop, continue to see: George
Nelson, Hip Hop America.
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The bass drum is the only instrument sounding in a low register. It
hits on the downbeat of every measure and on the upbeat of the second
beat, creating a syncopated groove that helps separate this song from the
straight ahead groove of “Roses. The bass drum slightly alters in pitch, as
the bass tone shifts up and down with the movement in the root of the
harmony. The group hand claps take the place of a snare, and the pitch of
these hand claps is significantly higher than the low, flat sounding snare
drum used in “Roses,” further adding to the definitive treble sound of the
song. The shaker is used in various stanzas to add another treble texture
onto every beat of the measure. The use of the shaker gives the feel of a
soldier’s march and boots walking in time on the gravel, similar to the
march heard later in “Love in War.” When used in conjunction with the
group hand claps, the backbeat is reminiscent of the crack of a whip
striking against thin air. These aspects give a strict, rigorous feel to the
music while, contrastingly, the bass drum gives a syncopated, sexy
intimation to the music.
This contrast between strict and syncopated can be seen as a musical
representation of Andre’s juxtaposed images of how a true lady speaks:
“you don’t say too much, but when you do it’s profound,” as well as how
a true lady conducts herself in private and in public: “in the streets you
hold your head high - at home you get low down for me.” And the treble
dominated instrumentation can be seen as a musical representation of this
elevated womanly figure.
While the harmonic structure in “Behold A Lady” is repetitive like
in “Roses,” the harmony of “Behold A Lady” uses a chromatic bass
ostinato, creating fewer diatonic triads than those used in “Roses.” This
can also demonstrate how André feels that the idealized woman depicted
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in “Behold A Lady” is “a rare breed, indeed,” while a maligned woman,
like the one depicted in “Roses,” is just another “one of them freaks.”
The harmonic pattern that repeats throughout “Behold A Lady” is
based on a chromatic tetrachord, alternating a semi-tone apart, beginning
on F natural and moving to E natural. This phrase is arpeggiated for two
full measures and then inverted, creating half-step movement from D
natural to E-flat. Then this inverted phrase is also given rhythmic motion
by a synthesized arpeggiator for two full measures before the entire
sequence starts again. This creates entirely intervallic motion within a
minor third, and this use of a chromatic tetrachord helps to create a “rare”
musical vocabulary for the song and the lady described.
Another rare aspect to this song is the elevated language in the
lyrics, made immediately apparent in the title, “Behold A Lady.” The
previous sketch, “Good Day, Good Sir” used elevated language in a
tongue-in-cheek manner, and this song is a continuation of that sketch.
The use of the word “Behold,” is in stark contrast to the connotations of
synonyms André has previously used, as he does in “Roses” when he
introduces his verses with “dig this now.” And in songs like “Spaghetti
Junction” and “Player’s Ball,” from Stankonia and
Southernplayalisticadillacmusik respectively, he uses the everyday phrase
“check it” - far from the formal synonym, “behold.” His use of the word
“Lady” also contrasts his usual address of women, seen most noticeably in
the comparison with “Roses” through the continual use of the word
“bitch,” but also in the songs “We Luv Deez Hoez” from Stankonia and
“Mamacita” from Aquemini.64 With the majority of André’s lyrics, he is far
removed from the formal language of a phrase such as “Behold a Lady.”
64 Outkast, Southernplayalisticadillacmusik; Aquemini; Stankonia.
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André’s vocal improvisations also play a key part in defining
“Behold A Lady.” Throughout the song, Andre appears to be improvising
over the repetitive harmonic pattern to create unique sections for each part
of the song. Improvisation is a recurring theme throughout this album and
an essential component of this song, as it gives personality to repetitive
sections of harmony. The listener may hear André improvising
throughout The Love Below, like at the end of “Prototype;” and many parts
of “A Life in the Day of Benjamin André (Incomplete)” appear to be have
begun as free-styles and were then refined into a finished phrase.65 This
conjectured use of improvisation is best heard in “Behold in Lady” in
Andre’s imaginative use of spoken word over the already established sung
chorus: André continues to juxtapose formal and informal language while
wondering, “Where do all the good girls go? What club they hang at?” He
uses simile to demonstrate how the “classic lady [is] a rare breed, indeed,”
comparing a woman with an imaginary creature: “candy coated unicorns
are quite hard to find;” a classic car: “is that make and model
discontinued?;” and the omnipotent former inhabitants of the earth:
“maybe they disappeared with the dinosaurs.” André invokes popular
culture, referencing bubble gum, Baby Boomer nostalgia, Eastern
philosophy, and Cole Porter as he sings about the ideal lady, proclaiming
that “you’re not Extra-Extra, you’re so Plain Jane, the yin to my yang,
darling, you’ve got that thang.” This wide array of references and
thorough use of improvisation over a repeating treble-dominated
accompaniment demonstrates André’s own admission that he is “always
changing, but [the ideal lady] stays the same.”
65 André’s use of ad-lib is deduced from the discussion of the ad-lib which happens at the
end of both “Prototype” and “A Life in the Day of Benjamin André.” This is examined further in the
analysis of each song.
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André also changes the musical choices in the last three bars of
many of the stanzas, creating a miniature codetta for each. For instance, in
the last verse of the song, André repeats the phrase “can’t get no lower”
three times, in different incarnations: André creates these incarnations by
panning two different voices into each far side of the mix. On the far right
side of the mix, one voice descends stepwise while a higher voice stays
stable, building wider intervals by lowering the root. However, on the far
left side of the mix, one voice ascends stepwise while a lower voice stays
the same, building wider intervals as the upper voice ascends. This
juxtaposition creates a unique codetta-like ending to the verse and
musically lampoons the phrase “can’t get no lower.” Andre adds a lower
register descant and a falsetto descant to the last repeat of the chorus; he
adds a gospel-like “Thank you, Jesus; thank you, Lord!” to the end of the
first stanza of the second verse; and he adds a different melodic variation
to the end of each stanza throughout the song, all contributing to the
distinctiveness of each section and the distinctiveness of the ideal lady.
The choices of treble instrumentation, syncopated percussion, atonal
harmonic progressions, elevated prose, along with vocal improvisation
and transformative lyrics form a unique song that creates a unique musical
picture of an ideal woman. These choices also help to create a musical
contrast between this exceptional picture of a “lady” and the
unexceptional picture of a “bitch” in “Roses.”
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“Pink & Blue”
“Pink & Blue” shows a younger man’s slow seduction of an older
woman, seducing her sexually, but also philosophically, convincing her
that their socially-taboo love should not be looked down upon, but, rather,
embraced. This seduction is a palpable experience for the listener with
both André’s lyrics and music explicitly conveying the seduction.
The listener is explicitly informed of this seduction by the narrator’s
lyrics, from his dismissal of age differences, insisting to the older woman
that “age ain’t nothing but a number,” to his use of double entendre to
suggest, in a sexual manner, that she “crawl, baby, crawl, baby!” The male
narrator seduces the woman by using foreplay, changing styles, and by
building to a climax; André does the same with the music, creating a
musical embodiment of the younger man’s seduction of the older woman
by slowly building to a climax and juxtaposing contrasting timbres.
It is no wonder then that “Pink & Blue” is co-written with R. Kelly, a
trendsetter in 1990’s sexually driven R&B. Kelly has released such hits as
“Bump n’ Grind,” “Down Low (Nobody Has To Know),” and the
infamous, hip-hop soap-opera film, Trapped in the Closet.66
It is worth noting that Kelly also wrote and produced the song that
is sampled at the beginning of “Pink & Blue,” “Age Ain’t Nothing but a
Number,” which was a hit for the young singer Aaliyah in 1995.67 In that
year, Vibe magazine printed unconfirmed allegations that Kelly and
Aaliyah had married and that Aaliyah had lied about her age in order to
66 For more on R. Kelly, see: Zomba Recording LLC, <http://www.rkelly.com/index2.html>.
67 For more on Aaliyah, see: MTV Networks,
<http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/aaliyah/artist.jhtml>.
88
do so.68 Regardless of the verity of Kelly and Aaliyah’s romantic
involvement, their musical collaboration is specifically pertinent to “Pink
& Blue,”69 as one may perceive the introduction in this song as a tribute to
Aaliyah, who died tragically in an airplane crash in 2001.
The sample from the hook of “Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number,”
immediately sets the common meter and moderate tempo for the song,
although the rhythm initially seems difficult to follow due to the out-oftime scratches preceding each repetition of the hook. After the fourth loop
of the “Age Ain’t Nothin' but a Number” hook, the musical style changes
completely: the listener suddenly hears only pitched percussion, amplified
to be a prominent feature of the song, which is exposed alone for eight
measures.
Going right from the remixed Aaliyah introduction into the pitched
percussion provides a dramatic contrast from electronically busy to
acoustically simple. The expectation has been set for this song, from the
Aaliyah introduction, to be filled with scratches and multiple tracks; the
stark contrast in timbre going into the pitched percussion immediately
draws the listener’s attention into the basic track of the song, as the listener
hears a full eight bars of only the pitched percussion. The introductory
Aaliyah sample is never heard again.
68 Abdon M. Pallasch, “Indecent Proposal,” Vibe 15/5 (May 2007): 83-85.
69 In relation to the subject matter of Pink & Blue,” some readers may also care to note Kelly
was taken to trial in 2008 under accusations involving a minor in sexual conduct; the case was thrown
out by the judge. Sex tapes involving Kelly have since been spread over the internet. While “Pink &
Blue” portrays the love between an adult man and an older woman (the narrator notes her having “a
couple of grey hairs”), the possible implications regarding Kelly’s personal life, regrettably, must be
noted here.
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This is a demonstration of the narrator’s seduction techniques. He
begins with the busy introduction, showing that he is capable of building
great excitement quickly; André shows this by using the kind of material
in the introduction that listeners may be used to hearing in an energized
hip-hop song: busy, sampled, multi-tracked music. However, instead of
rushing forward in this style, he grabs our attention by immediately going
to the naked calm of the pitched percussion, testing our patience with a
full eight bars of this calm. This evokes the sexual tension that builds
throughout this song. The pitched percussion recalls the essence of tribal
music, further evoking a raw, unfettered sexuality. Here, the narrator also
shows that he is capable of the assumed youthful tendencies of haste and
impatience, but instead chooses to seduce the older woman in the manner
that she prefers, with patience.
Upon hearing these starkly contrasting sets of eight bars, the listener
may be uncertain of what musical choices will follow. The pitched
percussion continues and the listener is next introduced to the bass line,
which will repeat throughout the song to create the overall formal
structure of simple verse-chorus, as shown below:
0:00 – 0:19
Introduction, 8mm
0:19 – 0:57
Instrumental Chorus (2xs),
16mm
0:58 – 1:35
1:35 – 2:13
Chorus (2xs), 16mm
Verse, 16mm
2:13 – 2:50
2:51 – 3:10
Chorus (2xs), 16mm
Instrumental Chorus, 8mm
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Sample of Aaliyah’s “Age Ain’t
Nothing But a Number”
Turntable scratches re-mix the hook
One beat pickup
Two Eight Bar Phrases
1x – percussion only
2x – add Bass
Enter vocal “Pretty pink, baby blue”
“Miss lady, you coulda’ been born a
lil’ later…”
2x – sexual, adlib vocals added
Percussion only
3:10 – 5:04
Extended Coda (6xs), 48mm
Completely new melodic material:
“You’re so ‘phisticated!”
New Instrumentation: Electric
Guitar and Strings (Bowed and
Pizzicato)
1x – electric guitar and staccato
strings
2x – Legato strings come in
3x – adlibbed vocals “teach me
somethin' new”
4/5x – fade out vocals
6x – strings only
The legato synthesized bass line, along with the pitched percussion,
act as the musical basic track of the song. The synth bass sounds sexually
aggressive and primal, as it attacks each pitch and inserts a change of
envelope on each attack, creating an instrumental diphthong. With each
change of pitch, the bass gives the impression of quickly biting into and
chewing each note before releasing the actual pitch, implying aggressive
sexuality.
Together, the pitched percussion and bass line establish the key of Eflat major. The bass line begins by attacking the tonic for the whole first
measure, followed in the second measure by the third and fifth of the
dominant triad, D and F natural. These are the same pitches that are used
throughout the song in the pitched percussion, continuing the musical
tension of the dominant to represent the sexual tension from beginning to
end.
The use of melody in the chorus creates the framework for the
musical embodiment of sexual foreplay in the first three minutes of the
song. The melodic phrases in the chorus use simple eighth and quarter
note rhythms, focused on the downbeat, to primarily move in unison with
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the bass line, embodying the man and the woman attempting to achieve
unity during sexual foreplay. In the chorus, the simplicity of the melody
moving with the accompaniment is highlighted by the double tracked lead
vocal. Through the steady, slow, swung groove of the bass line, André
continues to make the melody simple, using stepwise movement and slow
rhythms, holding elongated note values, up until he stutters “Why don’t -why don’t you…” where he brings melodic variation to the chorus with
the sudden leap to the tonic followed by descending eighth notes. This is a
musical embodiment of the lyric: as he says “--why don’t you teach me
something new” he brings the strongest rhythmic and intervallic variation
to the song since the introduction. The use of melody in the chorus against
the dominant tension in the pitched percussion, to create the expectation of
foreplay, is shown below:
André’s pitch is imperfect and his voice wobbles throughout the chorus,
too inconsistently and too far off-pitch to be considered vibrato. Whether
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or not this is done purposefully, the sliding pitches and quavering tone
quality add to the sexual rawness of the song.
The verse of the song can be seen as the musical foreplay, with
André displaying his expressive and creative vocal ability to build
excitement into the final chorus. His animated inflections and sexual
screams are reminiscent of Prince’s sexually charged inflections,70 and
display André’s own vocal range and strength. He musically embodies
the possibilities of sexual foreplay by playing with the melody, changing
dynamics, highlighting the syncopated rhythm by over-articulating certain
consonants, over-emphasizing audible breaths, demonstratively sliding up
and down to pitches, inserting beats of subito piano to highlight adjacent
matching rhythmic phrases, modifying certain words, and speaking in the
low, primal part of his voice.
The second (and final) chorus explicitly builds upon the first chorus,
with André adding erotic vocal riffs to emulate the exclamations made
during foreplay and sex, building the storyline and the music with greater
anticipation. However, André breaks the mold again, by abruptly pausing
the seduction and taking the music back to the Instrumental Chorus, with
another eight bar phrase of only the tribal, pitched percussion.
This abrupt stop functions as a subito piano within the whole of the
song, providing the anticipation of something big about to happen in the
music, and it does: André inserts a new section. The double entendre here
should be clear, but, to clarify, the music reaches a new height of the song
with an extended coda, just as the lovers reach new heights in the story
and begin actual intercourse. The music provides the first string
70 Prince recorded innumerous vocals with sexual inflections, comparable to those André
makes in this song. For some of the many examples, see: Prince, Ultimate, Warner Brothers, 8122
73381 2, 2006.
93
instrumentation in the song, with the electric rhythm guitar embodying
the love of the younger man and the classical bowed string section
embodying the love of the older woman. This string instrumentation also
recalls the usage of the Bach quote in the earlier track, “Good Day, Good
Sir,” which sets up the lyrical description of the older woman as
sophisticated.
This new “Sophisticated” section also has new melody and lyrics,
and André creates matching rhythmic phrases by creating a clever play on
words by fusing the phrase “so sophisticated” into one, putting the word
“so” on the downbeat to exclaim that this woman is “so ‘phisticated,”
creating a matching five syllable rhythm for the next line “me and miss
lady.” He highlights her sophisticated nature by showing that although
this woman is older, their playfulness together in the bedroom is
unfettered and open, saying that she “makes me talk baby-talk.” This also
shows her lack of inhibition, adding to her sophisticated nature, which
helps bring out André’s willingness to surrender any possible masculine
ego for the experience of being with a sophisticated woman. The extended
coda contains repeating melodic phrases that continually ascend up and
down in a steady rhythmic motion focused on the sixteenth and eighth
note pick-up rhythms, embodying the playful release achieved during
sexual intercourse and complimenting the lyrical examples, which
highlight André’s ability to create detailed character portrayals in each
word and phrase.
In the final repeat of the coda, the legato and pizzicato strings play
for eight bars, without other accompaniment, providing a fitting final
contrast to the opening eight bars of busy, electronic sampling. The
profusion of strings in the second repeat of the coda can be seen as the
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musical embodiment the lover’s sexual climax. And André shows that the
echoes of this shared experience between lovers will continue on well-after
the sex is over, as a gradual diminuendo of vocals is overtaken by the forte
string accompaniment, eventually continuing on its own, without the
pitched percussion or bass. This demonstrates that the love between this
younger man and older woman will stand alone, without the need for
seduction.
The additional use of pizzicato strings, alongside the full legato
strings, further enriches the final coda, using a texture rarely heard in hiphop music. This pizzicato string texture leads directly into the downbeat
of the electronic march of “Love in War,” without breaking tempo or
adding rests. As with the beginning of “Pink & Blue,” this smooth, yet
sudden, change thrusts the music into a completely new timbre and
texture without stopping the rhythmic motion of the song. This pushes the
momentum of the album forward as a whole.
“Love in War”
The song “Love in War” is based on the John F. Kennedy quotation
“Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to Mankind.”
Andre makes this phrase tangible for the listener by equating the struggles
in a relationship with worldly struggles, personalizing Kennedy’s broad
vision.
From the very beginning of the song, André sets the scene with an
illustrative musical accompaniment to make a clear mental picture of war.
A definitive soldier’s march is used as the beat for the song, sounding on
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every beat and repeating throughout the song. This is used along with a
low resonating bass drum, more removed and explosive than any other on
the record, that sounds like exploding bombs created by a synth trigger.
And the most palpable indication of war is the definitive sound of a snaredrum roll, which can be heard as emulating the antiquated snare drum of
the drummer boy on the battlefield or the sound of machine gun fire. The
constancy of the soldier’s march, the exploding bass, and the snare-drum
roll immediately establish the feeling of war.
In addition to these war-like references in the percussion, a quieted
synth chorus of “ahhs” is panned from one side of the mix to the other at
the beginning of each four measure phrase, evoking the sustained vocal
style of a chant. The synthesized chant used here is reminiscent of
evocations of church chants, frequently used by film composers to create
accompaniment for war scenes and to suggest a character struggle.71
While André sets up a clear feeling of battle for the listener with the
percussion and chants, he makes an even more effective evocation of battle
through a discreet use of contrasting melodies in the instrumental
obbligato and the melody in the first verse. An instrumental obbligato in
the high register, played on synthesized plucked strings, plays throughout
the track, establishing the main motive for the song. The melody of this
four bar motive is played in a staccato fashion with each note resonating
for no more than the duration of a sixteenth note, while each note is
panned to a different part of the mix, making the obbligato sound as if it is
echoing from one side of the speakers to the other. This motive is the
featured melodic element of the song from the beginning, playing over the
71 The use of a chant style is used in a generic fashion in countless contemporary films to
accompany scenes of war. To find examples of this, see: Alan Mencken, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.;
James Horner, Troy.; Hans Zimmer, Crimson Tide.
96
sustained chant, and it continues to be prominently featured throughout
the song, even during the lead vocal melody. Between this obbligato and
the rest of the song material, there is a subtle conflict of harmony and the
feeling of the soldier’s march sounds twisted and disturbed.
This conflict is between the obbligato theme and the lead vocal
melody. The lead vocal melody, and synthesized chant, are based on an A
minor triad, with four bar phrases in the chorus that begin and end on A,
and use the first five diatonic scale degrees of the A minor scale. The
obbligato theme also uses the diatonic scale degrees of A minor, however,
the listener can detect a conflict between the parts; the obbligato is based
on an F major triad, with only the semi-tone change from E to F making
the difference between the two trichords. Along with the F replacing the E
in the trichord, the F becomes the tonic pitch and tone center of the
obbligato, whereas the E was the dominant pitch in the lead melody.
Analyzing the obbligato with the lead vocal melody, one can see the
frequent conflict between the semitones E and F, as well as the difference
in tonal center between the two parts. The obbligato initially sounds like it
is based on the F major scale, however, at the end of the second and fourth
measures, the raised B-natural is used instead of the diatonic B-flat. This
could also be considered as a conflict between the obbligato based in F
lydian mode, with the use of a raised fourth scale degree, against the lead
melody based in A minor. The following diagram compares these
differences between the obbligato and the melody:
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The conflict using E versus F to create two contrasting melody lines,
based in two different tonal centers, strengthens the feeling of battle in the
music and adds to the illustrative nature of this song. This semitone
change between E and F can also be seen as a musical motive connecting
“Love in War” with the earlier song, “Behold a Lady,” as the chromatic use
of E and F is the basis for the tetrachord in “Behold a Lady. This musical
connection between songs can be heard as a literal musical device to help
connect the tracks in the second half of the album, in which a specific
narrative is not employed; or it may be interpreted as a representation of
the sub-textual commonalities that lie beneath the surface of all
relationships.
While “Love in War” lacks the forward harmonic motion used in
many songs on The Love Below, the form is similar to many songs on the
album, as it is straightforward and strophic; André uses similar
techniques to those used in other songs that are in simple verse-chorus
form, varying the lead vocals and melodies in each stanza, and adding
varied instrumentation to make the simple verse-chorus form sound more
diverse. The basic form and added diversions are charted below:
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0:00 – 0:20
0:20 – 0:41
0:41 – 1:21
Introduction, 8 mm.
Chorus, 8 mm.
Verse, 16 mm.
1:22 – 1:43
Chorus, 8 mm.
1:43 – 2:24
2:24 – 3:05
3:06 – 3:25
Instrumental Verse, 16 mm
Chorus (2x), 16 mm.
Coda Fadeout, 7mm
Synth instrumentation only
“Let’s kiss, not fight”
Repetitive verse melody with beat
and chant instrumentation
Use of affected voice reading J.F.K.
quotation
Legato string solo
Turntable scratch effects
Fade out
This song is lyrically simple, containing only one sung verse, in
which André broadly philosophizes about the nature of love and life. In
the frequently repeated chorus, Andre proposes his hope for the general
advancement of love over war in relationships, “Let’s kiss, not fight,” and
compares this with the 1960’s, Vietnam War-era hope for love in the world,
“Make love, not war.” This is framed by an affected loop of the John F.
Kennedy quotation during the choruses. André also uses a legato string
part as the lead in the second verse and adds turntable scratches to the
J.F.K. quotation to diversify the simple verse-chorus form.
André’s musically embody the conflict in “Love in War,” using the
conflicting melodies in the obbligato and verse melody, the church style
chants, the rolling snare drum, the exploding bass, and the soldier’s march,
as André musically and lyrically furthers his case for seeking out love,
both personally and on the battlefield.
“She’s Alive”
“She’s Alive” creates a musical characterization of a single mother
raising her son. The mother’s speaking voice is heard on this track and it
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seems to be André’s actual mother, as the Hal Leonard sheet music states
that the woman is “Miss B,” presumably “Miss Benjamin.”72 Musically
and lyrically, this song embodies the mother’s straightforward and clear
approach to raising a child, by doing simply what she needs to do in order
to provide for the child, even after she has been left without a partner. The
music and lyrics display her clear and steady response to the challenges of
single motherhood.
The form and instrumentation are among the simplest on the album;
the song is dominated by a chorus in D minor, repeated six times, that
features an oscillation between the subdominant and dominant chord,
resolving to the tonic in standard eight-bar phrases. The chorus is
accompanied by jazz-style drums and a single piano that outlines the
chords and doubles André’s melody. The simple instrumentation, jazz
drum kit, and the continual brush along the snare drum embody the single
mother as a simple, calm, and steady force.
The lyrics and melody of the chorus, among the most candid and
straightforward on the album, also embody her qualities as a single
mother. Andre describes how she had “a boy to raise at a young age…no
help from [the father], but she’s alive.” This is not an easy task for any
mother, but the lyrics reveal that the mother does not seek sympathy for
her troubles, rather, she lightly mocks any possible sympathy for her
plight by using tongue-in-cheek, juvenile slang to create a blunt, mature
mantra, describing how life “must be a drag, but she’s alive.” The use of
such a casual phrase, “must be a drag,” in contrast with the severity of the
72 Chrysalis Music Group, Selections from Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (Milwaukee, WI: Hal
Leonard Corporation, 2004).
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most vital point, “she’s alive,” displays the single mother’s ability to keep a
calm, even lighthearted, manner in dealing with such a difficult situation.
Likewise, Andre does not provide a lyrical, emotive melody to this
song; on the contrary, the melody of the chorus is a repetitive, descending
motive of only four notes, matching the straightforward simplicity of the
lyrics. André, using his head voice, is frequently off pitch in the chorus,
often fluctuating from the doubled melody of the piano. This happens so
frequently in this song that it seems as though it may be a deliberate
choice; however, this seems unlikely, considering the other times in the
album when André is off pitch, primarily while using his head voice.
Since the musical choices on this album focus on detail, it seems that
Andre’s pitch fluctuations have been kept to preserve the authenticity and
uniqueness of Andre’s singing voice.
In fact, the practice of imperfect, seemingly untrained, singing is
frequently heard in popular music and often seen as an essential part of a
performer’s character. Bob Dylan’s vocal sound was prominently nasal,
gruff, lacking resonance, and frequently not even sung, yet his albums are
counted among the greatest of the twentieth century; Paul McCartney, in
the latter part of his Beatles career, would repeatedly sing a lead vocal
part, over and over again, in order to obtain a raw quality to his voice;
Elliot Smith was well known for the light, breathy tone quality of his voice
and his lead vocal was almost always double tracked, further displaying
the unique quality in voice.73 While the advancements in recording
technology allows some contemporary pop singer’s voices to be tweaked
and homogenized in the studio, Andre’s wavering, breathy falsetto and
73 For examples of the untrained sounds of these artists, see the following albums: Bob
Dylan, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, Columbia Records, CK 8786, 1990. The Beatles, Abbey Road,
Parlophone Records, CDP 7 46 446 2, 1987. Elliott Smith, Figure 8, DreamWorks, DRMF-13510-2, 1998.
101
affected, stylized chest voice helps define his dramatic style and makes his
voice clearly distinguishable from other artists. And while inconsistencies
in pitch may bother some listeners, Andre’s technique is in line with artists
who discount “the general presentation of technical prowess in the
singing,” and instead embrace their own unique characteristics that allow
the voice to “reveal the particular workings of the physicality in the
singing.”74
The choruses of this song are interspersed with eight-bar verses and
a restatement of the four-bar introductory phrase. The main point of
harmonic interest is found in the introductory phrase: the song begins with
the E-flat major seventh chord, scratched to skip four times to create the
“count-off” for the tempo of the song. This chord then begins a chain of
major seventh chords descending through the circle of fifths, creating
forward harmonic motion, from E-flat to B-flat. The descending circle of
fifths in the introduction is accompanied by the sound of a crying baby.
The combination of these gestures can be seen as a representation of how
life keeps moving forward, even in the complicated case of a single
mother. The musical response of the chorus to this introductory gesture is
grounded in unwavering tonality, displaying the single mother’s steadfast
reaction to the difficulties found in her life.
The verses adapt the introductory motive by elongating the first four
major seventh chords into full measures, and repeating them to make a full
eight-bar phrase for each verse. This creates a varied, shifting harmonic
texture to contrast the firm tonal texture of the chorus. Within the second
and third verses, the voice of the single mother is featured speaking about
74 Michael David Szekely, “Gesture, Pulsion, Grain: Barthes' Musical Semiology,”
Contemporary Aesthetics (December 2006)
<http://www.contempaesthetics.org/newvolume/pages/article.php?articleID=409>.
102
her experiences raising a child on her own and the lessons she learned
from it. Her strong words and confident tone over the tumultuous musical
accompaniment further confirms the thematic ideas that are expressed
both lyrically and musically in the song. Through twists and turns in the
introductory phrases and verses, the single mother stays steadfast and
returns to her mantra of subdominant – dominant – tonic harmonization.
The musical choices inform the lyrics, embodying the mother’s
straightforward reaction to the difficulties of raising a child alone.
“Dracula’s Wedding”
In “Dracula’s Wedding,” André uses music to create one of the most
vivid characterizations on the record, as well as create one of his most
poignant love/relationship metaphors. Andre creates a scenario where the
legendary monster, Dracula, whose weaknesses are few and has little to
fear, is terrified by his lover. André uses this character as a direct metaphor
for those strong men, like the Love Hater - embodied in the earlier parts of
the album, who show no fear in so many aspects of life, yet are afraid to
get married or commit to a partner. André brings to light the ironies of
this type of person with the exaggerated situation of someone like Dracula
who, as André notes, “will live forever.”
Dracula’s Wedding is created as a “list song” to extensively exhibit
the ironies of Dracula being scared of marriage. List songs are an integral
part of the American Musical Theatre tradition and it is likely that André
could have been influenced by any number of well-known list songs in
establishing a clear and comical characterization, including “My Favorite
103
Things,” which is the very next song on the album.75 André constructs
each line to show an aspect of Dracula’s life that makes him fearless, only
to end each line with Dracula admitting, “but I’m terrified of you.” As the
lyrics of the verse and chorus display, André, playing the role of Dracula,
cleverly includes most every possible aspect of his life that makes him
fearless, to vividly show the irony of his being afraid of marriage:
You're all I've ever wanted, but I'm terrified of you
My castle may be haunted, but I'm terrified of you
I've cast my spell on millions, but I'm terrified of you
Baby, I do this from the ceiling, but I'm terrified of you
I wait my whole life to bite the right one
Then you come along and that freaks me out
So I'm frightened…oh!...Dracula's wedding
I've never ran from no one, but I'm terrified of you
See, my heartbeat is a slow one, but I’m terrified of you
I've been around for ages, but I'm terrified of you
Put my fang across the stage, but yet I'm terrified of you
I wait my whole life to bite the right one
Then you come along and that freaks me out
So I'm frightened…oh!...Dracula's wedding
This is a impressive display of Draculean references, and André uses
the same detail in musically characterizing Dracula. The song is in the key
of E-flat minor and the only chords in the entire song are the minor tonic,
the subtonic, and dominant chords. The song is propelled by virtuosic
rhythmic bass movement, and includes a menacing backbeat and a
repeating two-bar strummed guitar accompaniment.
The guitar constantly repeats the same rhythmic two-bar phrase
with accents on the second beat, effectively reinforcing the backbeat. In
the verses, the guitar stays on the same chord throughout. This creates
staccato accented phrases and repeated short themes, which are
75 For more on the list song, see: Stanley Green, The Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre.
104
reminiscent of themes used in suspense and horror films, most notably
similar to a style made famous by Bernard Hermann. The repetitive,
driving theme in the guitar is akin to the repetitive, driving themes in the
string sections for the “Prelude,” “Flight,” and “Rainstorm” sequences of
Psycho. Hermann is well-known for having composed short themes to
shape the score for such famous thrillers as Vertigo, Cape Fear, and, most
famously, Psycho.76
The basic bass line follows the chord changes in the rhythm guitar,
and adds a three note descending melodic line at the end of each phrase,
emulating a stock gesture to suggest suspense and horror, which is
especially reminiscent of techniques portraying comically scary characters,
used liberally by Danny Elfman in his playful scores for films like The
Nightmare Before Christmas and Beetlejuice.77 However, the bass line
contains frequent variations that bring special attention to the bass:
Throughout the song, the bass line is continually panned back and forth
between the left and right speaker, there are multiple sections of wide
ranging leaps and slides, and the bass is frequently interwoven with a
synthesized bass line played at least an octave higher than the usual bass
range; these combined elements provide the listener with a very busy,
constantly changing bass line. This transmuted style imitates a Draculean
bat that is flying around, terrified of his soon-to-be wife. The movement in
the bass not only simulates his rapid “bat-like” movement around the
room, but can also represent Dracula’s transmutation between forms, and
his vacillating commitment to his partner. A transcription of this bass line,
76 Royal Brown, “Hermann, Hitchcock, and the Music of the Irrational,” Cinema Journal 21/2
(Spring 1982): 14-49.
77 Tim Burton, The Nightmare Before Christmas,; Henry Selick, Beetlejuice.
105
displaying the “bat-like” movement of the bass and connected high-synth
line in the instrumental chorus section (1:44 – 1:54), is shown below.
In addition to the instrumental emulation of Draculean suspense,
the backbeat in this song is a chomping-like sound, provided by a
synthesized snare, which acts as the only percussion instrument in the
song. This menacing backbeat provides further musical characterization of
Dracula, by emulating the sound of Dracula’s fangs chomping down on
the neck of a victim.
André also makes captivating vocal choices throughout the song to
keep the attention of the listener and embody a suspenseful Draculean
style. André uses a thick, nasal falsetto to personify the fearfulness of the
usually unafraid Dracula, and his voice is affected throughout the song in
a slightly distorted fashion, further displaying Dracula’s shaky anxiety.
The entire song begins a cappella, with only Andre’s voice on the subtonic,
showing Dracula’s unresolved tension before the characterized
accompaniment even begins. In the first chorus, the lead vocal is cut off to
make way for the list of ironic fears in the second verse, further showing
Dracula’s nervous energy. In the second chorus, André uses exaggerated
vibrato in his head voice to characterize a descending “Scooby-Doo”-like
scared “oooooh,” before repeating the lyric, “You know I’m terrified.”
106
These exemplify the many vocal choices André uses to musically personify
the character of Dracula.
In the second half of “Dracula’s Wedding,” the voice of the character
of Dracula is absent; instead, the listener hears the voice of Dracula’s
partner or Bride-to-be, played by Kelis.78 The second half of the song
begins with Dracula fearfully announcing the arrival of his partner, by
whispering, “Shh! Shh! Here she comes!” Kelis is heard calling André’s
name through a reverberating echo that is panned from left to right and
back again; immediately following each of her calls, the “bat-like” high,
synth bass line is panned in the opposing direction, continually moving
away from the pan of Kelis’ voice. This gives the effect of Dracula’s fiancé
stalking through the immense halls of the Castle looking for Dracula,
while he evades her as quickly as possible. This short section is played out
over the harmonic structure of the third chorus, while the usual attributes
of the chorus are disguised by the new melodic material and the shifting
bass line, helping to form a transitional section from the first half of the
song, consisting of Dracula’s two verse/chorus stanzas, into the second
half of the song, consisting of Kelis’ stanzas.
Whereas the form of “Love in War” exemplified conventional use of
varied vocals and melody to break up a strophic structure, “Dracula’s
Wedding” exemplifies a more complicated use of this technique to create
difficult categorizations for the song’s form. A basic outline of the form is
below.
78 For more on Kelis, see: <www.Kelisonline.com>.
107
Stanza 1
André
3000
as
‘Dracula’
Stanza 2
Stanza 3
_ _ _
Kelis
as
‘Dracula’s
Bride-tobe’
Stanza 4
Stanza 5
Coda
0:00 - 0:01
0:01 –
0:20
0:20 –
0:29
Pick-up
Verse 1
8mm
Chorus
4mm
2 beat pick-up, “You’re…”
0:29 –
0:49
0:48 –
0:57
Verse 2
8mm
Chorus
4mm
0:57 –
1:16
Verse 3
8mm
The melodic leap up on, “that
freaks me out!” and the
exaggerated vibrato, “ooh,”
show his terror.
Andre’s codetta: “You know I’m
terrified”
1:16 –
1:25
Chorus
4mm
Introduction for Dracula’s Brideto-be
1:26 –
1:44
1:44 –
1:54
1:54 –
2:13
2:13 –
2:22
2:22 –
2:31
Verse 4
8mm
Chorus
4mm
Verse 5
8mm
Chorus
4mm
Verse 6
4mm
New rhyme and melodic scheme
Lead vocal at the end is cut short
by the next verse, showing
Dracula’s nervousness
Instrumental
Wedding Vows
“Well, not in our case, cause we
will live forever”
Instrumental; half verse
While the harmonic structure of this song continually switches back
and forth between verse and chorus, forming five full stanzas, the
variations make some sections of the song expressly unique and more
difficult to define: the melodic chorus that is established by André in the
first and second stanzas does not reappear in the remaining stanzas; as
shown on the outline, the third verse is used as a codetta to André’s half of
the song, in conjunction with the previously discussed third chorus
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(Introduction for Dracula’s Bride-to-be”) in forming a transition section,
which breaks up the third stanza; verse 4 has a new rhyme and melody
scheme; chorus 4 is completely instrumental, featuring the synthesized
bass; the fifth stanza features Dracula’s Bride-to-be chanting a modified
version of the ceremonial wedding vows. The main five stanzas are
followed by a conclusion (Coda) that simply uses the first half of the verse
material.
These sectional variations help to create a narrative sequence within
the song. André also uses recording techniques to help create musical
characterizations. In Verse 4, Kelis’ lead vocal is double tracked with two
differing melodies, creating a two-part harmony; these two vocal parts are
separated by the moving melodic line panned to the left side of the mix
and the monotone line spoken-on-pitch in the right side of the mix. This
creates a exotic timbre evoking the mysterious presence of Dracula’s Brideto-be, as well as establishes her presence on all sides of the mix, leaving no
place for Dracula to hide from her; whereas, before the bass line shifted in
the opposite direction from the pan of her voice, it no has nowhere to go.
Dracula’s Bride-to-be speaks directly to Dracula in Verse 4,
continuing the already established, authentic narrative style of two
characters speaking directly to one another, as in the traditional style of a
stage work or film. The satirical Draculean references in the lyrics are
continued here in witty form, with Dracula’s Bride-to-be encouraging
Dracula to have no fear of her, with puns and references to Dracula’s true
weaknesses:
Give me a chance to dance romance
Don't run, I'm not the sun (hot!)
So much at stake - oh! - bad choice of words
But I'm not the gun (shot!)
With silver bullets
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And I can count (1, 2, 3!)
Plus I make great peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
Van Helsing
Kelis’ lyrics and singing style are more carefree and calm when
compared to Dracula’s verses. She is quick to make fun of Dracula’s
weaknesses and playfully demonstrates how he has nothing to fear from
her, by comparing the things he fears the most with her domestic ability to
“make great peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.” This simplistic
comparison is underlined by a tacet bar in the accompaniment, which
highlights the comedy and playful nature of her comments. The
instrumental chorus that follows seems to insinuate that her words have
relaxed Dracula and that there may be some Draculean lovemaking
occurring, as the rapid, bat-like movement is, once again, featured in the
bass, but this time along with animalistic, high-pitched “ooh”s and “ahh”s
pervading the mix. Following this encounter, Dracula’s Bride-to-be has a
heavier tone of voice, as she reminds Dracula of the slight variation on the
traditional wedding vows that comes with immortality: “Til death do us
part. You only live once…well, not in our case, cause we will live forever.”
This ultimately serious statement closes the song with a reminder of
the terror and severity that began the song, as the music drops out the
percussion and features only the haunting sound of the solitary, striking
guitar and descending bass line.
“The Letter”
The sketch, “The Letter,” was not on the original 2003 compact disc;
it was an addition for the iTunes release and is still unreleased on CD.
110
“The Letter” mainly functions as an introduction to “My Favorite Things,”
but it is a telling addition to the album in terms of cohesive structure adding another dramatic sketch to the concept album, and in terms of
thematic connectivity - setting up a specific scenario for the wordless “My
Favorite Things.”
“The Letter” uses heightened sound effects to create a vivid mental
picture of the scene; the listener hears the amplified sound of paper
crumpling as the letter is opened by André, who reads the introduction
himself: “Dear Andre.” Then the reading of the letter is switched over to
the voice of the actual letter writer, changing the point of view in the mind
of the listener. These characterized sound effects are most similar to those
used in old radio shows like “War of the Worlds” and “The Shadow,” but
also similar to those used in cartoons like Looney Tunes and the Foley
sound affected films, all of which may create an exaggerated “sound for a
vivid mental depiction of the scene.”79
The heightened sound effects of this sketch help create mental
pictures of the scene and characters that are in line with the other musical
and dramatic characterizations that Andre has created throughout the
album in other songs and sketches.
From the sensual tone and formal language of the letter writer, the
listener can infer that this character is possibly a former lover. The writer
of the letter is unidentified; as André opens up the letter, the name of the
writer is “bleeped” out, presumably to allow for the listener to understand
that “The Letter” is a character sketch, and not a reference to André’s
personal life. Through this, André is making the identity of the writer
79 Ray Brunelle, "The Art of Sound Effects," Experimental Musical Instruments 12/1 (September
1996): p. 9.
111
more intriguing and mysterious, but also continuing the non-personal,
character driven features of this album. When Andre wants to specifically
talk about his own life, he does - giving specifics in “A Life in The Day of
Benjamin Andre.” Here, the anonymity of the letter writer allows the
listener to hear the sketch in relation to the next song, and not in relation to
André’s personal life.
“My Favorite Things”
“The Letter” creates the narrative set-up for the only cover song on
this album, “My Favorite Things.” “My Favorite Things” is a list song
from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The Sound of Music. “My
Favorite Things” was first sung by Mary Martin on Broadway and made
famous by Julie Andrews in the film version. The Sound of Music was a
success on both Broadway and in film, winning the TONY Award for Best
Musical in 1960 (in a tie with Fiorello!), and winning the Academy Award
for Best Picture in 1965.
It is no surprise that André would cover this song, considering the
multitude of celebrated artists from different musical genres that have
done so, such as Barbara Streisand, Dave Brubeck, Diana Ross and the
Supremes, Tony Bennett, The Boston Pops, Luther Vandross, and others.
Perhaps the most noticeable influence on Andre’s version is the
emblematic jazz studio recording by John Coltrane from 1961.80
André pays homage to Coltrane’s cover with the featured use of
soprano saxophone and piano. Like Coltrane’s version of nearly fourteen
minutes, the melody here is repeated numerous times over a five minute
80 John Coltrane, “My Favorite Things,” My Favorite Things, Atlantic, 7567-81346-2, 1990.
112
series of virtuosic solos. The primary instrumental difference between
these two covers is André’s heavy use of electronic sound effects to create
a driving up-tempo beat. As Coltrane was noted for expanding the
musical language of jazz, André may be comparing his own influence in
Hip-Hop to Coltrane’s influence in Jazz.
André uses this song, not only to address the woman in “The
Letter,” but also to reference his own, personal favorite musical things,
such as orchestral instrumentation and heavy electronic beats. The style of
the song itself is also unique on the album, as it is the only song that is
completely void of singing. There are other songs, notably “The Love
Below (Intro) ” and “God,” that have heavily featured instruments with
minimal vocal accompaniment, but this is the only true instrumental.
Since so many artists have covered this song, the melody and
meaning are well-known in popular American culture; this may be why
André leaves the song unlisted in many available track lists online, 81
including on Outkast’s official website.82 Unlike, “The Letter,” which only
appears on the iTunes version of the album, this song appears on all album
versions, but simply goes unlisted in the track order.
“My Favorite Things” also fits into the overarching theme of love on
this album as a personal statement of André’s embrace of diverse musical
choices. Using a musical-theatre list song as the only cover song on a hiphop record is a unique choice, and André shows that, unlike the Love
Hater, he is unafraid to reveal his desires. And André’s varied musical
styles continue to embody a broad acceptance of love and self, as the next
song specifically demands to “take off your cool.”
81 Amazon.com, Inc., <http://www.amazon.com/Speakerboxxx-Love-BelowOutKast/dp/samples/B0000AGWFX/ ref=dp_tracks_all_1#disc_1>.
82 Outkast, <http://www.Outkast.com>.
113
“Take Off Your Cool”
The only instruments used in “Take Off Your Cool” are acoustic
guitars and minimal synthesizer additions, a marked change from the
busy, electronic instrumentation of “My Favorite Things” and much of the
album. The uncovered use of acoustic guitar and lack of percussion, along
with the slow, bluesy groove, creates a comfortable musical setting for the
simple, yet poignant, lyrics to connect with the listener.
“Take Off Your Cool” begins with the fade-in of an acoustic guitar
strum that makes the meter of the song difficult to pinpoint at first. Since
the song comes out of the accelerated “My Favorite Things,” the listener
still has the feel of the pounding eighth note beat. The fade-in begins
audibly with four eighth-note chords, one immediately after the other, that
are the pick-up to the downbeat. These four chords create a quarter-note
tempo nearly identical to the one in “My Favorite Things;” this may lead
the listener to hear the phrase as a measure of slow, straight, 3/2, with the
beginning of the phrase starting on the eighth note before the downbeat, as
shown in the diagram below.
In this meter, the downbeat is concealed and the second beat is
accented, so the rhythm seems to not yet be “in the pocket” and the
114
listener may still be unsure of the time signature. However, the meter
becomes apparent once the lead vocals come in on the downbeat, and the
guitar strum is accented on the downbeat and the eighth note preceding
the third beat. Thus, the meter can be heard as a moderate swung 4, rather
than a slow, straight 3/2. The four eighth-note pick-up chords, which are
initially believed to make up the third beat of 3/2 - equaling two quarter
notes from the driving rhythm of “My Favorite Things,” are actually part
of the eighth-note triplet feel of the swung rhythm. The correct swung 4/4
rhythm, notated below in 12/8, can be compared with the previously
shown, straight 3/2 rhythm.
While songs like “Happy Valentines Day” and “Roses” also employ
a swung rhythmic design, “Take Off Your Cool” is the only relaxed groove
on the album. This creates an entirely different feel from “My Favorite
Things,” creating one the strongest rhythmic contrasts between contiguous
songs on the album. Norah Jones sings the first lyric section over this
accompanying swung 4/4 groove, establishing the simple message of the
song with a beautifully raw vocal, double tracking her voice for the
repeated line, “I want to see you,” to ensure that the listener hears the
warmth in her sung declaration. Norah Jones’ warm alto melody is
released into the instrumental B section by a noticeably audible “Ahh!”
115
from André, as “Take Off Your Cool” continues to exhibit some of the
most intriguing choices on the album, through simple means.
The form of this song is unlike any other yet heard on the album.
The song is without a true chorus or verse, but can actually be considered
in a basic ternary form. The first and last sections have the same harmonic
phrase repeated throughout, with variations in melody and
accompaniment; this warrants the label A and A’ for the first and last
sections, respectively. The instrumental middle section provides
significant contrast to the A sections, warranting the label B, by altering the
phrasing of the harmony to make the B section seem in a different meter,
and function as a separate, definable section.
0:00 – 0:18
a - introduction
8 mm.
0:18 – 0:36
a – scat verse
8 mm.
a – Norah Jones refrain
8 mm.
b – instrumental
16 mm.
transition into verse
2 mm.
a – André refrain
8 mm.
a (2x) – coda
16 mm.
0:36 – 0:54
0:55 – 1:31
1:31 – 1:36
1:36 – 1:54
1:54 – 2:37
A section
24 mm.
B section
16 mm.
Transition
2 mm.
A’ section
24 mm.
Instrumental introduction;
in 12/8
Fade-up
Scat duet
“Hey yow, bah-di-bow…”
Norah Jones solo
“Baby, take off your cool…”
Instrumental in 3/4
Transition in 12/8
André solo
“Babeee! Take off!”
Instrumental coda,
Fade-out
The change of phrasing for the B section reflects the rhythmic
ambiguity from the beginning of the song; André continues to intrigue the
listener by creating a repeating phrase for the B section that seems to
involve a change in time and meter. When the B section begins, the
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listener can detect a change from 12/8 (swung 4) into 3/4, with four-note
arpeggiations repeated on the acoustic guitar. This creates a rhythmic
contrast in the B section, consisting of a four measure phrase in straight
3/4 time, as shown in the below diagram. When compared with the A
section, shown in the above diagram in swung 4, this creates two
contrasting sections of four-bar phrases.
This change in meter is confirmed when the synthesized
accompanying melody comes in at the beginning of the third phrase, with
melodic phrases in 3/4. This metric contrast, however, is actually
achieved by a simple change in phrasing. The rhythm of the eighth-note
triplet, used in the A section to create the swing feel, is exactly continued
into the B section, acting as the straight sixteenth-note rhythm by accenting
every four notes, instead of every three, as shown in the below diagram:
Some listeners may argue that there is not an actual change in meter,
but simply a change in phrasing for this section, and that the contrast does
117
not warrant the label as a B section. This is a valid argument when
considering the standard changes found in the B section of a ternary
structure; however, within the context of this song, the contrast is great
enough to warrant a separate distinction for this section, thus creating a
basic model of ternary structure between the three sections. Regardless of
the way in which the middle section is transcribed, the perceived metric
ambiguity plays a large part in forming the structure of this song, which is
unique on this album. Also, in a song that employs lyrics about revealing
one’s true self, this change is appropriate in showing the musical
alterations that are possible while still staying true to the original meter.
Lastly, the change in meter further slows down the relaxed, swung A
section, creating a calm musical section, devoid of any lyrics or vocals,
before the triumphant, full choral return of the A section.
In the return of the A section, André’s voice, singing both the
melody and harmony lines, is tracked multiple times to achieve a glorious
celebratory effect. The multiple tracks are panned throughout the mix
creating a full aural enclosure, making a safe haven for the listener to
actualize to the lyrics.
This song contains less than 20 words total, many of which are
repeated, making the point of the song concise and clear. The protagonist
explicitly tells the listener, “Baby, take off your cool. I want to see you.”
Since the B section is only an instrumental, the point of the lyrics must be
conveyed in the short A and A’ sections. André creates a musical setting
for this song that can allow for the listener to “take off their cool.” As
previously examined, the beginning A section creates a simple, relaxed
environment for the lyric to first be heard. Then, the middle B section
slows down the already comfortable environment and adds the legato
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synthesized melody, allowing the meaning of the lyrics and feeling of the
music to gestate in the listener (in the words of Big Boi, the listener can “go
on and marinate on that for a minute”).83 Finally, the enveloping choral
return of the A section acts as a release from the B section, providing the
spark and warmth needed to allow the listener to “take off your cool.”
It is also entirely possible to see this song as another character piece,
in the style of a ballad in musical theatre. This seems especially possible
considering that both a man and a woman sing the song, initially together,
and then as soloists in separate sections. Although this song varies from a
standard musical theatre duet in which the soloist sections would usually
precede the duet, it does contain many fundamental aspects of the duet:
the separate solo sections, harmonized vocal sections, and a conspicuous
release at the end of the song.
When considered in this fashion, the protagonist is not speaking to
the listener of the album, but to another character within the world of the
protagonist. Like a musical theatre duet, the protagonist has a clear
objective to achieve, explained in the lyric, and attempts to achieve this
objective through the music and lyrics. The initial attempts to achieve this
objective can be heard in the simply stated A section, the development of
this attempt can be heard in the changes and instrumental growth of the B
section, and the success in achieving this objective can be seen in the
celebratory, final A’, where the ornamented repeat of the A section informs
the listener that the protagonist has achieved the goal of getting the other
character to “take off your cool.”
The phrase, “Take Off Your Cool,” can be understood in a dual
nature, like the effect of a double entendre. It can be understood to mean
83 Outkast, “Spottieottiedopalicious,” Stankonia.
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shedding your false behavior to reveal your true personal self, or to mean
shedding your clothing to reveal your true physical self. The composition
of all three sections in this song - the warm, intimacy of the initial A
section, the simple, unspoken instrumental of the B section, and the
explosive, romanticism of the final A section – can bring to mind the
delicate and beautiful nature of revealing one’s true self to another. This
expressive use of the double entendre can also allow the listener to
conclude that, in this song, André believes that to reveal one’s true self to
another, through sexual means or through personal means, is of equal
worth and equally valid in meaning to “take off your cool;” and moreover,
to integrate the two would be the ultimate expression of this unique
phrase.
“Vibrate”
Vibrate is the longest song on the album, reaching a total of six
minutes and thirty-eight seconds. The song uses a sampling of musical
choices from the entire album to create a penultimate concluding song.
The final song on the album, “A Life in the Day of Benjamin André
(Incomplete),” may be seen as a postlude or appendix, set apart from the
rest of the album and commenting upon it. However, in “Vibrate,” André
succinctly expresses a concluding message for the characters and stories on
The Love Below by combining various musical aspects previously used on
the album, utilizing sound effects, concise lyrics, a metrically confusing
introduction, simple verse-chorus form, and familiar instrumentation.
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“Vibrate” begins with an ethereal introduction consisting of sixteen
measures, making the introduction the same length as a full verse/chorus.
The introduction begins on beat three, initially concealing the downbeat
until the fifth measure when the downbeat is established with the entrance
of the piano. André has obscured the opening of other songs on the album
like “Take Off Your Cool,” “Pink & Blue,” and “Hey Ya!” by using
rhythmic variation to subtly vary the introduction. The introduction in
“Vibrate” is dominated by three electronic sound effects, which create the
looped beat that is the basic track for the entire song.
The first effect sounds like an oversized object being quickly pulled
through a vacuum; it provides a bass-like downbeat. On each repetition,
the effect is quickly panned from the middle of the mix to the outside on
both the left and right side, effectively creating a bass sound moving from
the back to the front of the speakers. The second part of the loop sounds
like a blade of metal slicing through wood. This higher pitched sound
provides the backbeat, occurring on the second and fourth beats. The third
part of the loop is reminiscent of a finger scratching against a piece of
sandpaper and subdivides the moderately slow tempo with a continual
sixteenth note pulse. Together, these three sounds make up the
continuous looped beat for entire song, as shown below:
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These are essentially sound effects, as André has used throughout
the rest of the album. In many other tracks on the album, André has used
sound effects to demonstrate a specific narrative, such in as “Spread” or
“Where Are My Panties,” or to emulate a specific character trait, such as in
“Dracula’s Wedding” or “Pink & Blue,” but here sound effects are used in
a less demonstrative way to create the actual basic track of the song.
Symbolically, this can be seen as André exploiting sound effects on a
higher level, embodying the title lyric “vibrate higher,” instead of using
sound effects for specific narrative effect.
This song is strophic with a simple verse-chorus harmonic structure,
just as most of the songs on this album have been primarily composed in
simple verse-chorus form. As with other simple verse-chorus songs like
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” “Roses, and “Love in War,” this song relies
heavily on melodic, instrumental, and timbral variations to differentiate
between sections, which can be defined into the following:
0:00 – 0:46
Intro, 16 mm.
0:47 – 1:32
1:32 – 2:18
2:18 – 3:03
3:04 – 3:49
3:50 – 4:35
4:35 – 5:21
Chorus, 16mm
Choral Interlude, 16mm
Chorus, 16mm
Verse, 16mm
Chorus, 16mm
Spoken, 16mm
5:21 – 6:06
6:06 – 6:38
Chorus, 16mm
Coda, 8mm
Two-beat pick-up concealing the
downbeat
8-bar Chorus (twice)
“The circumcision has already
begun…”
Basic track/sound effects tacet
One 8-bar Chorus, tacet
accompaniment
Representing a culmination of instrumental references from the
entire album, an instrumentation of bluesy, arpeggiated piano is used,
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along with legato, muted jazz horns, and ethereal synth sounds. These
references help to tie together the musical vocabulary of The Love Below.
While this instrumentation recalls many songs from the album, it
specifically recalls the instrumentation used in “Love Hater,” though it is
used here in a different way. The jazzy piano and horns in “Love Hater”
are used in a big band style, representing the exciting possibilities that lie
ahead on the album; however, this instrumentation is used by the end of
the album in an indeterminate fusion of styles to summarize André’s
breadth of stories and songs on this album. Only after André has
entertained the listener with nineteen tracks of conceptual music, does he
use the final song to candidly convey his simple message. André uses
these instrumental references to help bookend the album - with “Love
Hater” as the opening song and “Vibrate” as the closing. This helps to
solidify “The Love Below (Intro)” as a separate introductory track - similar
to a prelude, and “A Life in the Day of Benjamin André” as a separate
concluding track - similar to a postlude.
The lyrics of this song help to summarize Andre’s thoughts on the
album. André begins by sympathizing with the listener, or any possible
love haters, singing that “every boy and girl, woman to man” deals with
these stories and issues that have been investigated on The Love Below.
André explains that he understands the plight of the listener, knowing that
“sometimes when it’s late at night and you have no one to talk to…The
Love Below starts talking to ya.” He brings up the power of the “Love
Below” for the first time since the opening song. The phrase, “The Love
Below,” is a metaphor for sex drive and sexual urges, and the chorus
explains André’s remedy for rising above these sexual urges: “vibrate
higher.”
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The chorus of this song utilizes an octave divider on the melody,
placing the lead vocal in two registers. The octave divider mirrors the
frequent explicit musical techniques used throughout the album, by
literally embodying the higher vibration.
Following the third chorus, the sixteenth-note pulse of the basic
track is tacet in the first eight measures of the spoken section, as André
specifically addresses the listener. This is the opposite of “Hey Ya!,” when
Andre continues the dance groove while conveying a message, giving in to
his admission that the audience “don’t wanna hear me, you just wanna
dance.” Here, in “Vibrate,” Andre drops out the pulse of the looped beat
to make the listener suddenly acutely aware of André’s message. André
gives a direct, soapbox-like address to the listener: “Play with your own
squishy. Become the master of your own 'bation. And yes, God is
watching you. But, no need to be embarrassed, for the future is in your
hands. No…the future is in your hand. Play with your own squishy.”
Once again, André recalls techniques here that have been used on
other tracks of the album, like in “Dracula’s Wedding” and “Pink & Blue,”
using puns to playfully imprint his concluding message about sex, love,
and the Love Below. He suggests that, instead of following one’s sexual
urges, the listener should masturbate; and that the future of humanity,
pro-creation, literally lies within the Love Below. And so every listener
has the power to “vibrate” on a higher level, even when the urge from the
Love Below is strong.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the changes from the initial
release of the album to the digital iTunes release is the addition at the end
of “Vibrate.” After the song ends, the listener hears a monotone electronic
recording, mimicking the sound of an automated telephone operator. The
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automated voice says, “L – O – V – E. Not found.” The phrase, “L-O-V-E,
Not found” can be seen as a culmination of the journey of the “Love
Hater,” and while the theme of the album is still easily conveyed without
this addition, it adds further closure to the narrative by explicitly stating
that while The Love Below began with a search for love, it has ended with
love not being found.
This concluding phrase may also be seen as André’s personal
statement, considering that in “Vibrate” he addresses the listener with a
concluding message and that the next song, “A Life in the Day of Benjamin
André (Incomplete),” can be seen as a separate entity, as André specifically
addresses his own life. This phrase leads directly into the final track on the
album, which can be seen as an appendix, as André explores an entirely
new subject and musical vocabulary for “A Life in the Day of Benjamin
André (Incomplete).”
“A Life in the Day of Benjamin Andre (Incomplete)”
“A Life in the Day of Benjamin Andre (Incomplete)” sounds atonal,
however, it does not employ any post-tonal syntax or consistent sonorities.
When the piece is broken down into pitch classes, the pitch intervals do
not constitute familiar post-tonal musical sets, nor do they form diatonic
tonal harmonies. So, while one could analyze the sets, this piece does not
appear to have been intended to fit into a post-tonal or tonal analysis.
Rather, dissonance is generally created through chromatic clusters, with
the use of step-wise motion between clusters. The pitch content is shown
below, displaying the repeating pattern in the two A sections (0:01–1:18
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and 2:35–3:32) and the two B sections (1:35–2:35 and 3:32–4:49), creating a
repeating binary structure.
The pitch content, therefore, becomes secondary to the timbre and
style of the piece. Supporting the atonal harmonic sound is an ethereal
instrumentation, dominated by chilling synth vocal lines that are
reminiscent of a musical saw. The beat is created through the
juxtaposition between very low, resonant sounds and high-pitched flat
sounds. A resonant electronic bass drum sounds on the downbeat, the
upbeat of one, the third sixteenth-note of two, and the third beat. Group
handclaps sound on every upbeat while a woodblock-like snare accents
the eighth-note triplet at the end of each phrase, creating the higher
sounds. “A Life in the Day…” has a unique beginning, like many other
songs on the album, using a three beat introduction, with the bass drum
sounding on two, the upbeat of two, three, and four. After this three beat
pick-up, the beat is regular through the song. The combination of these
three dissimilar sounds and rhythms creates a disorienting effect on the
listener and supports the harmony in making this song sound post-tonal.
While, it is seemingly unexpected to have a song that does not rely
on common tonal or post-tonal composition techniques, this choice is
actually consistent with the rest of the album. André has employed
tonality and modality in various forms throughout the album, so it is
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logical that he would go one step further than post-tonal composition by
creating a piece in that style without using the common practices of posttonal composition. Considering the lack of post-tonal structure, and the
primarily tonal structure of other songs on the album, this song may be
considered as a form of post-progressive tonality. Comparing “A Life in
the Day…” with Everett’s examination of tonal systems in Rock, we see
that “A Life in the Day…” has many of the defining characteristics of postprogressive tonality, such as “tonal centers [that] are given little or no
syntactical support,” “chords [that are] related by half-step, without any
sort of harmonic, or even normal contrapuntal, syntax,” and “roots [that]
strongly suggest a rather atonal quality.”84
These compositional techniques are particularly justifiable in this
song for a number of reasons; this song is the only one on the album to
directly discuss André’s own real life experiences, and the title of this piece
includes the word “incomplete.” By including this ambiguous tonality,
André musically supports his own life experiences as being indefinable
and without rules. The use of the word “incomplete” can also be seen as a
reference to the incomplete progressions and lack of tonal center in the
song.
One helpful possible tonal reference in this song, which is indefinite
but worth noting, is the A-flat/C-natural dyad on the second beat of the A
section. The final dyad of the A section, E-flat/B-flat, may be heard as a
final cadence referencing the A-flat/C dyad as the possible tonal center.
This is worth noting as a replication of the pivot chord linking the opening
songs “The Love Below (Intro)” and “Love Hater.” The replication of this
84 Walter Everett, “Making Sense of Rock’s Tonal Systems,” Music Theory Online 10/4
(December 2004)
<http://www.societymusictheory.org/mto/issues/mto.04.10.4/mto.04.10.4.w_everett.html>.
127
chord in the final track, which is central to the opening tracks, recalls a
similar device used on the Beatles album, Sgt. Pepper, with the harmonic
relationship between the first two songs on the album being reused
between the verse and bridge of the last song.85 While André’s tonal
reference between the first and last songs of his album is indefinite, his
reference to concept albums is definitive, connecting The Love Below to Sgt.
Pepper by subverting the title of the last song, “A Day in the Life.”
This final song on Sgt. Pepper is one of the most widely known songs
to include post-progressive tonality; the B section of “A Day in the Life”
changes key centers, and the strings in the coda employ harsh dissonance
before resolving to the final chord. Even the “run-out groove”86 following
“A Day in the Life” is a repeating, indistinguishable conglomeration of
sounds. By using this title, André shows his intention to connect this song
with the post-progressive tonality in “ A Day in the Life”, and moreover,
shows his intention to attach The Love Below to concept albums like Beatles
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, arguably the very first concept album.
The comparison is completed here, as “A Day in the Life” is the last song
on Sgt. Pepper and “A Life in the Day of Benjamin Andre (Incomplete)” is
the last song on The Love Below.
85 Everett, The Beatles as Musicians, p. 122.
86 Everett, p. 122.
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IV. Conclusions on The Love Below
Thus, André makes his final statement of The Love Below as a concept
album, not by linking the final song directly to the other tracks, but by
linking it to the very first concept album in popular music. André creates
a connected relationship between the individual tracks of The Love Below,
as shown in the analysis of his music. André uses composition to animate
characters like the Love Hater and Dracula, and to establish settings such
as the bedroom and the club. The connected narrative of the Love Hater,
examined in the first half of the album, and the related stories of love, sex,
and relationships examined in the second half, create a dramatic coherence
for the album as a whole. This is strengthened by the compositional
choices that illustrate the stories of love.
Through musical and lyrical references in The Love Below, André has
linked the album to the broad scope and history of concept albums,
including Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. While the analysis of
André’s album does not help to clarify a concrete definition of the genre, it
does help to bring to light the attributes that may be used to create a
cohesive, dramatic work of music.
By creating two separate albums with Speakerboxxx and The Love
Below, Big Boi and André 3000 have set an uncertain path for the future of
Outkast. The follow-up to Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was a film, and
accompanying soundtrack, entitled Idlewild. The creation of a movie
shows the strong pull of André’s dramatic inclinations, but may also signal
a lack of interest from André to create more musical albums.
Andre Benjamin has began to work in film and television, appearing
in the films Four Brothers and Revolver, and creating his own cartoon series
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on The Cartoon Network entitled Class of 3000, while Big Boi has taken to
making tracks with the Purple Ribbon Allstars and fostering his pit bull
breeding company “Pitfall Kennels.” The signs of Outkast’s permanent
break up are palpable: On the Purple Ribbon All-Stars first album, Got
Purp? Vol. 2, Killer Mike repeats over and over, “All I know is Big here,
Dre gone, moved on, changed names from Aquemini to Purple Ribbon.”87
Similarly, the premise for André’s Class of 3000 is a pop music superstar
who gets tired of the business, so he retires and teaches music to kids.
In interviews, Outkast has discussed how they are seeking new
directions apart, however, they stress that they have no plans to break up
entirely. An interview with Vibe Magazine for the release of Idlewild88
quoted Outkast’s members, with André saying that he was “kinda hating
making music right now,” and corroborated that Outkast had not
“recorded an album in the same room since…Stankonia.” But Big Boi
reminded the interviewer that Outkast is “still tight,” and that “Outkast
ain’t breaking up. Outkast growing up.”89 Regardless of the future of
Outkast, the composition of The Love Below created a “coherent
compositional plan and correlation between the narrative and the music”90
that will hopefully be appreciated as an album and analyzed as a concept
album for generations to come.
In “The Love Below (Intro),” André 3000 poses the essential
question for the album, and for the concept album, “who knows where this
flower grows?” The Love Below addresses this question through
87 Purple Ribbon Allstars, “Dungeon Family Dedication,” Big Boi Presents…Got Purp? Vol. II,
Virgin Records, 0946 3 12207 2 2, 2005.
88 Outkast, Idlewild, LaFace Records, 82876-75791-2, 2006.
89 Matthias Clamer, “Back to the Future,” Vibe Magazine 7 (2006): pp. 98-105.
90 Elicker, “Concept Albums: Song Cycles in Popular Music,” p. 230.
130
compositional choices on individual tracks, which establish an overarching
coherence throughout. Thus, André answers his own question by growing
a concept album that blooms with recognizable characters, palpable
settings, and a far-reaching examination of love and the Love Below.
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IV. Nothing Is Forever:
A Comparative History of Outkast and The Beatles
Outkast and The Beatles
As examined in this book’s analysis of The Love Below, there are
many palpable links between the narrative musical creations of Outkast
and the Beatles. But the connection between the two groups goes beyond
just the music; examining the career growth of Outkast in comparison to
that of the Beatles reveals interesting creative connections and helps to
reveal a clearer understanding of André and Big Boi’s journey together.
“If what they say is ‘nothing is forever’, then what makes love the
exception?”91 This lyric quote from Outkast’s hit song “Hey Ya!” seems
the perfect question to address when considering the growth and
longevity of a pop super group. Can no pop group leave a permanent
mark in the greater conscience of the world, or does the love between two
great collaborators create an exception? Throughout their careers, the
Beatles and Outkast have shown that there’s “nothing you can make that
can’t be made;”92 and while no group can go on forever, perhaps their
music can.
Looking at early photos of The Beatles and Outkast, a picture speaks
a thousand words towards the idea that these two groups have very little
in common.
91 Outkast.“Hey Ya!” The Love Below, 2003.
92 The Beatles. “All You Need Is Love.” Magical Mystery Tour, 1967.
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The divide between the Beatles head-boppin’ Rock of the early-60’s
and Outkast’s trunk-rattlin’ Rap of the mid-90’s appears too vast to
traverse. It is a far cry between the Beatles’ smiling mop-tops and
Outkast’s hard-faced twisted caps, and between the advancements that an
eight-track recording system provides for the enhancement of a record
player and the advancements that an eight-inch subwoofer provides for
the enhancement of a Cadillac Seville. The Beatles first major album
release in the U.S. was entitled With the Beatles, and the first track begins
with the lyric “Ev’ry night when ev’rybody has fun, here am I sitting all on
my own”93; while Outkast’s first major album release in the U.S. was
entitled Southernplayalisticadillacmusik, and begins with “Mm, mm, mm.
That shit sho’ feel good.”94
But examining below the surface of these two groups, one finds
striking similarities that transcend the obvious differences of time period,
musical genre, and race. One can easily trace a curved line through
twentieth-century popular music from the predominantly White, British
93 Beatles, “It Won’t Be Long,” With the Beatles, 1963.
94 Outkast, “Peaches,” Southernplayalisticadillacmusik, 1994.
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rock of the 1960’s to the predominantly Black, southern rap of the 1990’s.95
One can certainly examine the Beatles influence on so many music
groups,96 and this chapter will reference the Beatles’ influences on Outkast,
both obvious and subtle; however, this chapter will primarily focus on the
similarities that exist in the career trajectory of the Beatles and Outkast,
and in the two dominant members of each group.
Most strikingly similar between the two groups is the remarkable
path of their careers and their musical growth. Both the Beatles and
Outkast have found mass popularity and longevity through continually
changing styles and sound. Surely, no rock group’s transformation has
been as well documented and heralded as that of the Beatles. Outkast has
had a similarly transformative career; comparing their discography to that
of the Beatles’ displays similar development and change. The following
chart displays some key albums of the Beatles alongside all of Outkast’s
albums, demonstrating their parallel development.
95 To examine such connections see: John Covach, What’s That Sound: A Introduction to Rock and Its
History, New York: W.W. Norton, 2006.
96 Mark Spicer. “Strategic Intertextuality in Three of John Lennon’s Late Beatles Songs.” (Spicer’s
article footnotes examines the possibilities of The Beatles overwhelming influence on successive bands;
his book on the subject is provisionally titled In The Beatles’ Wake.)
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The Beatles selected discography
Outkast discography
Please, Please Me (1963)
Southernplayalisticadillacmusik (1994)
Hard Days Night (1964) & Help! (1965)
ATLiens (1996)
Rubber Soul (1965) & Revolver (1966)
Aquemini (1998)
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1966)
Stankonia (2000)
The Beatles [The White Album] (1968)
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003)
Get Back [Let It Be] (recorded 1969)
Idlewild (2006)
Abbey Road (1969)
??
The growth and changes between the two groups is strikingly
similar: from their first albums emulating other artists, to cohesive concept
albums in their middle years, to disjointed individualistic later albums.
Southernplayalisticadillacmusik
Outkast’s first release, Southernplayalisticadillacmusik, was a synthesis
of 90’s gangster rap and 70’s soul/funk. One could consider the entire
album as paying homage to Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes, and other 70’s
soul and funk artists like Parliament and Funkadelic. Masterfully crafted
soul music and twisted southern slang, on top of turntable scratches and
straight-ahead gangsta rap beats created a sound that was innovative, yet
familiar. This is similar to the Beatles early releases, like Please, Please Me
and With the Beatles, where the Beatles were primarily imitating those
Skiffle, Rhythm & Blues, and early Rock & Roll groups that had influenced
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them.97 Both groups’ early releases gained popularity with a new take on
previously recorded material and styles. In the way that the Beatles show
the influence of Chuck Berry with their cover of his “Roll Over Beethoven”
and their own “I Wanna Be Your Man,” Outkast shows the influence of
Curtis Mayfield on songs like “Crumblin' Erb” and, their first single,
“Player’s Ball.”
And even though Southernplayalisticadillacmusik contains no cover
songs, like the Beatles early releases do, the album is better described as a
pastiche of soul influences than as a new genre.
This is also the case lyrically, as the Beatles early records include
many lyrics about girls and sexual references, such as those from “Please,
Please Me”: “Please, please me, oh yeah, like I please you;”98 and from
“When I Saw Her Standing There”: “Well, she was just seventeen, you
know what I mean, and the way she looked was way beyond compare.”99
Southernplayalisticadillacmusik is similarly adolescent in its use of lyrics,
which are primarily in a recognizable gangsta rap lyric style with a
distinctive southern slang, with Outkast doing a lot of “shit talking” about
their “hood,” cars, drugs, and women, as in the first verse of “Hootie
Hoo”: “Follow the funk from the skunk and dank that is crunk in the
Dungeon…goin' out to the jeeps, and the hoes, and the Lacs…I be thinkin'
about the good old days when I was a whippersnapper, you would try to
get a kiss, but now it be them drawers I’m after. I’m just a
97 For more detailed analysis of each Beatles album and the Beatles references made in this chapter,
please see: Everett, The Beatles as Musicians, 1999.
98 Beatles, “Please, Please Me,” Please, Please Me, 1963.
99 Beatles, “When I Saw Her Standing There,” With the Beatles, 1963.
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Southernplayalistic pimp…I be claimin’ true to Eastpoint and College Park
and…ATL.”100
ATLiens
The early success of the Beatles and Outkast in creating popular hits
by emulating their influences gave them the confidence and commercial
backing to move forward with greater writing innovations as they began
to form a distinct style. As the Beatles began to establish a playful, zany
identity with the film albums Hard Days Night and Help!, Outkast’s second
album, ATLiens, established Outkast as futuristic, extraterrestrial rappers,
with distinctly space-age themed music, beats, and lyrics. As the Beatles
playfully teased with Eastern music and mysticism in Help!, so did Outkast
bask deviously in the surreal alien scenarios of ATLiens.101 Announcing
themselves with the standard alien introduction of “Greetings,
Earthlings,”102 they created trunk-thumping, futuristic sounds using a
mixture of bottom-heavy bass lines, flange infused synthesizer melodies,
quickly panned sound effects, and systematic turntable scratches. This
produced Martian-like tracks, such as “E.T. The Extraterrestrial,” “Wheelz
of Steel,” and “Elevators (Me and You),” that allowed for every souped-up
Cadillac in Atlanta to sound like a UFO landing as it slowly descended
upon each red stoplight.
As the Beatles helped pave the way for an influx of British rock
bands, the distinct style and success of ATLiens helped to foster the rise of
100 Outkast, “Hootie Hoo,” Southernplayalisticadillacmusik, 1994.
101 It is worth noting the similarly exaggerated title fonts on the album cover of Help! and ATLiens.
102 Outkast, “Two Dope Boys,” ATLiens, 1996.
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mainstream hip-hop from the South, and helped to create a thriving brand
of southern hip-hop, based heavily around the goal of providing cars with
a plethora of bass for a subwoofer-filled trunk.
Aquemini
As the Beatles honed and solidified their own cohesive pop/rock
sound with original hit songs on the albums Rubber Soul and Revolver, so
did Outkast begin to solidify their own southern rap sound with their
third album, Aquemini. Both Revolver and Aquemini produced
groundbreaking hits for the respective groups. Songs like “Eleanor Rigby”
and “Yellow Submarine” on Revolver, and “Skew on the Bar-B” and “Rosa
Parks” on Aquemini, have become a part of the respective rock and hip-hop
canons.103 Just as Rubber Soul and Revolver began to reveal the Beatles
individual voices and pull back the thin curtain of their movie personae, so
did Aquemini remove Outkast’s veneer of concocted alien themes, as they
began to base their musical and lyrical composition on their own lives and
experiences. Just as songs like “In My Life” and “Here There and
Everywhere” focused on the Beatles’ lives and personal expressions, so did
Outkast begin to talk about their own personal lives in Aquemini,
addressing media rumors, their childhood, and their own friendship in the
103 A definitive canon has not yet been established in Hip-Hop, as one could argue that a Rock canon
is only now beginning to take shape amongst Rock scholars, critics, and fans. Certainly, a biased and
partial canon is being created through the promotion of certain albums and artists in popular
magazine reviews, internet blogging, and mainstream artists proclaiming their own declared canons.
For examples of this, see: Rolling Stone editors and Joe Levy, 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, New
York: Wenner Books, 2005. Also listen to: Eminem, “’Till I Collapse,” The Eminem Show, 2002.
138
songs “Return of the ‘G’,” “West Savannah,” and the title track,
“Aquemini.”
The word “Aquemini” is derived from the combination of the
astrological signs of Big Boi and André 3000 (Aquarius and Gemini). And
as the Beatles began to experiment with new stories, lyrics, and sounds in
songs like “Eleanor Rigby,” “Norwegian Wood,” and “Tomorrow Never
Knows,” so did Outkast begin to tell stories with “Da Art of Storytellin’
(Part I)” - the tale of a neighborhood girlfriend who died of a drug
overdose; they infused innovative rhyme schemes into focused lyric ideas
in “Synthesizer” - addressing new age topics like the repercussions of
twentieth-century technology; and they created wholly original sounds for
hip-hop with the thickly distorted lead vocals in “Da Art of Storytellin’
(Part II).”
In the title song “Aquemini,” the listener is told of the solidarity in
friendship between Big Boi and André 3000. The song, and the entire
album, primarily shows the camaraderie of the duo through the changes
that they were already going through, “Nothing is for sure, nothing is for
certain, nothing lasts forever, but until they close the curtain, it’s him and I:
Aquemini.”104 However, a closer examination of the record shows distinct
differences beginning to emerge between the two artists.
The markings of divergent styles and themes between Paul
McCartney and John Lennon, the primary songwriters for the Beatles, is
easily heard on Revolver, with Paul utilizing imagined narratives and
innovative harmonies, and John utilizing biting, off-color lyric references
and mixed meter. The same divergence begins to clearly show itself in the
lyrics of Aquemini, with André consistently focusing his lyrics for each
104 Outkast, “Aquemini,” Aquemini, 1998.
139
song on a singular subject, often a social issue, and with Big Boi continuing
to focus on his gangsta lifestyle and boast about his dominance as an
emcee. Even in songs where one definitive social issue is established in the
chorus, like technology in “Synthesizer,” Big Boi continually references
himself and his lyrical cunning, while André specifically addresses the
definitive topic. That being said, these stylistic differences between the
two friends are not blatant in this album, just as is the case with Revolver,
and these issues do not become prominent until the next album, Stankonia.
On Stankonia, listeners begin to hear some of the past and present personal
differences between Big Boi and André 3000.
Antwan and Andre
Big Boi and André 3000 have had a widely evolving relationship,
similar to the one between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Big Boi
(Antwan Patton) was born in the projects of Savannah, Georgia in 1975,
growing up, like his father, dealing drugs through the ghetto, and moving
to the poor neighborhoods of east Atlanta as a teenager.
André 3000 (Andre Benjamin) was also born in 1975, and was raised
as an only child by his single mother in southwest Atlanta. Andre and
Antwan met in high school and began to perform in the clubs of Atlanta.
Their first release was “Players Ball,” on a LaFace singles compilation; this
song gave them exposure as a hit on the Billboard R & B charts and paved
the way for the production and release of Southernplayalisticadillacmusik,
and their subsequent albums with LaFace records. Like John and Paul, as
140
Big Boi and Andre began to blossom, each artist began to take differently
to their immense popularity and success.
Big Boi is known for his gangsta lifestyle - being a big fan of soupedup Cadillacs, “chronic blunts” of marijuana, color coordinated sports team
outfits, gambling, and pit bulls.105 Big Boi can be recognized for his fast,
aggressive style of rap and his colorful word play. Some of his other
pseudonyms refer to his drug dealing, others show his inventiveness; they
include Lucious L. Leftfoot, Daddy Fat Sacks, Billy Ocean, and Francis the
Savannah Chitlin’ Pimp.
Antwan Patton, aka “Big Boi”
André 3000 is known for his inventive style and flamboyant
clothing. He is a vegetarian and, in a move that is most notably out of line
105 Outkast, “Crumblin’ Erb,” Southernplayalisticadillacmusik, 1994.
141
with nearly every gangsta rap artist, he stopped drinking and smoking on
Outkast’s second record because his “brain was that fried egg I might
need.”106 Andre is a multi-instrumentalist, a frequent employer of
metaphor, and often sings on their albums. In Outkast’s early records, he
refers to himself simply as Andre, eventually changing his name to André
3000 on Stankonia, to match his changing sense of self. His other
nicknames include Possum Aloysius Jenkins, Ice Cold, and New Kid
Blossom Gang the Third.
Andre Benjamin, aka “André 3000”
These different styles had clearly worked in harmony with the
cohesive success of Outkast’s first three albums. Just as the Beatles had
established their place in the history of the pop charts once Rubber Soul and
Revolver were released, by the time ATLiens and Aquemini went double
106 Outkast, “A Life in the Day of Benjamin Andre,” Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, 2003.
142
platinum, Outkast had established themselves as a force in southern hiphop. They had hit the national charts with all of their albums and singles,
they were playing to packed concert venues all over the country, and they
had developed a unique musical sound. In a move similar to that of the
Beatles creation of Apple Records, Andre and Big Boi created Aquemini
Records in 2000 for the release of their new album, Stankonia.
Stankonia
The similarities between Stankonia and the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s
Lonely Hearts Club Band are intriguing. Just like Sgt. Pepper, Stankonia is
based around one central theme; and while Stankonia was not Outkast’s
most successful commercial album, it is often considered to be their best
collaborative work. Just as Sgt. Pepper is not intended to be musically
connected, in a traditional music theory sense, but, rather is based around
a unifying concept: a concert with a stadium rock band, Stankonia is also
not musically connected, but, rather is based on the concept of a journey to
a surreal underground locale. Also like Sgt. Pepper, the notion of the
“concept” album is immediately established with an introductory song
that sets the scene for the entire record, taking place “live,” in the present.
Also, just as the return of the Sgt. Pepper theme song is the penultimate
song of that album, connecting the conceptual theme from beginning to
end, the Stankonia concept is primarily held together by interconnected
sketches that take place throughout the album, also providing thematic
continuity where there is no definitive musical continuity.
143
Sgt. Pepper begins with, “It was twenty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper
taught the band to play. They been going in and out of style, but they’re
guaranteed to raise a smile. So may I introduce to you the act you’ve
known for all these years: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”107 So
does Stankonia begin with a similar introduction: “Live, from the center of
the earth. Seven light years below sea level we go. Welcome to Stankonia.
The place from which all funky things come. Would you like to come?”108
The accompanying sketches that are interspersed throughout
Stankonia are mostly commentary on the various songs that they precede;
and they all end with the same group exclamation, emulating a sports
team leaving the huddle, yelling “Break!”109
This is the conceptual glue that holds this “concept album” together.
Like Sgt. Pepper, there is little evidence of intended musical continuity
through this album, in the sense of a tonal Western harmonic outline or
key center, though, just as scholars have done with Sgt. Pepper, one could
certainly be imposed upon it. I will not attempt to impose such a
harmonic outline here, as hearing the interludes provides ample evidence
for the intent of a broad based concept album. Also like Sgt. Pepper, the
musical themes on the album are diverse and the style of each song can
vary greatly. For instance, as the trippy third track of Sgt. Pepper, “Lucy in
the Sky With Diamonds,” is placed up against the funky fourth track,
“Getting Better,” so is the seventeenth track on Stankonia - a frenetically
fast 6/8 club-jam that contains only one verse, no chorus, and lasts less
than a minute a half, placed next to the eighteenth track - a creepingly slow
4/4 groove, in alternating verse/chorus form with distorted vocals and a
107 Beatles, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1966.
108 Outkast, “Intro,” Stankonia, 2000.
109 Listen to tracks 1, 3, 7, 9, 13, 16, 19, and 23 of Stankonia.
144
catchy melodic hook. Lyrically, Stankonia is in the tradition of Aquemini,
with exploration of personal issues; but goes a step further than Aquemini
by directly addressing greater racial, moral, and social issues like Black
America, the inner city, unprotected sex, the hawkish press, and rampant
capitalism.
This is where the listener begins to hear a difference in the
viewpoint of André 3000 and Big Boi. Just as John and Paul began to make
dissimilar lyric choices on Sgt. Pepper, from Paul’s jaunty “When I’m SixtyFour” to John’s psychedelic “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” Big Boi and
André began to show distinct differences on Stankonia.
André frequently strives for the most optimistic and utopian world
possible, speaking out against those critics who think “hip-hop was only
drugs and alcohol…You can’t discrimi-hate cause you done read a book or
two,”110 berating the violence of the streets, wondering “What could make
nigga wanna fight a whole night club, figure that he oughta be a pimp
simply cause he don’t like love?”111 And proclaiming his preference for the
less “Sisqó-like” ladies, saying, “naw, I don’t wanna see your thong, I
kinda dig them old school cute regular drawers!”112
In contrast, Big Boi is still content to bluntly warn his listeners of the
dangers of scandalous women, reminding the listener of how a ”bitch is no
good, like lesbians with no tongues, you fucked around and knocked her
up and now you say she the one? Nigga, you dumb, you shoulda pulled it
out and squirted it on her eyelash…now she’s after your ass…I told ya’ll
110 Outkast, “Humble Mumble,” Stankonia, 2000.
111 Outkast, “?”, Stankonia, 2000.
112 Outkast, “I’ll Call Before I Come,” Stankonia, 2000. The singer “Sisqó” released “The Thong Song”
in 2000 and it reached #3 on the Billboard singles chart with its lyrics championing women underwear
and bikinis.
145
niggas about…them hoes…they ain’t gonna do nothing but try and get all
your motherfucking cheese,”113 and proudly proclaim to his detractors
how Outkast is “shitting on everybody talking that bullshit.”114
This is not to say that Big Boi is disingenuous with his raps; on the
contrary, his life growing up in Savannah and the poor neighborhoods of
East Atlanta leaves him with helpful experience to share, and he is truly
passionate in his advice against money-grubbing women and player
haters. Big Boi does not seem out to inspire, rather he is out for the truth
and to explain reality, enlightening the mother of his “baby’s momma”
about his dedication to his own self, along with his dedication to children
and his respect for women, in the hit single, “Ms. Jackson,” saying that
“her grandchild is a baby and not a paycheck. Private school, day
care…medical bills, I pay that…She never got a chance to hear my side of
the story, we was divided…despite it, I showed her the utmost respect
when I fall through.”115 In a similar way, André’s heightened lyrics could
possibly seem fabricated against the gritty realism of Big Boi, but André is
as consistently honest as Big Boi, continually showing that his optimistic
message comes from experience, as does Big Boi’s realism.
However, while Big Boi does intermittently reveals his inner
conscience and raps about greater social issues on Stankonia, André mostly
withdraws himself from talk of drugs, shit talking, and slurs against
women. This separation is most noticeable in the track “We Luv Deez
Hoez” - where Big Boi sardonically raps alone about the loveable traits of
113 Outkast, “We Luv Deez Hoez,” Stankonia, 2000.
114 Outkast, “Red Velvet,” Stankonia, 2000.
115 Outkast, “Ms. Jackson,” Stankonia, 2000.
146
“hoez”;116 and in the track entitled simply “?”, where Andre raps alone
about the foolishness of men’s machismo.117
Not unlike the mixture of thematic and lyric choices between John
and Paul (along with George Harrison) on Sgt. Pepper, it is fair to say that
the balance between André’s new-age optimism and Big Boi’s street
realism is what makes Stankonia a quintessential hip-hop album: It is
grounded firmly in the truth of their life history, while, at the same time,
striving for the greatest heights of future possibility. Combine that with
the addition of systematically cohesive material throughout, with the two
artists working together on separate ideas, and one can see Stankonia as a
prime example of the fruits of collaboration between two individual
artists.
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
However, those different styles on Stankonia left Big Boi and André
with different focuses, and those differences seemed to manifest
themselves on the next album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, as André
began to take a sharp (Paul McCartney-like) turn towards the dramatic,
and Big Boi stayed strong with his gangsta lifestyle. The differences were
so strong, that Outkast made Speakerboxxx/The Love Below as two separate
albums, Speakerboxxx by Big Boi and The Love Below by André 3000.
This is easily what could have happened had the Beatles divided
each record of the The Beatles [White Album] into the works of each
116 Outkast, “We Luv Deez Hoez,” Stankonia, 2000.
117 Outkast, “?”, Stankonia, 2000.
147
composer. As with the White Album, the separate artists sometimes
contribute to the other’s songs, but primarily create a singular voice of
their own, creating a less-collaborative, more-disjointed album.
As examined in the earlier chapters of this book, André creates The
Love Below as a full-fledged dramatic concept album, replete with named
characters, an overarching theme of Love, while displaying his multi-genre
abilities, showing the stylistic characteristics of artists from Prince to Nora
Jones to Rage Against the Machine. André’s fabricated stories and
heightened dramatic scenes like “Dracula’s Wedding” and “Good Day,
Good Sir” are very similar to the dramatic creations of Paul, like “Rocky
Raccoon” and “Honey Pie.” The 60’s rock throwback and nonsensical
lyrics of “Hey Ya!” are strikingly parallel to the parlor music throwback
and nonsense lyric of “Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da.” André utilizes parody and
pastiche in songs like “Love Hater” and “My Favorite Things” in a similar
fashion to how Paul does in songs like “Back in the U.S.S.R.” and “Martha,
My Dear.” And the connectedness of the entire album is reminiscent of
Paul’s hope to make Abbey Road an entirely musically connected album.118
It would be incorrect to strictly equate André with Paul and Big Boi
with John, when, in fact, it is primarily André that begins to take on the
later musical characteristics of Paul, while Big Boi primarily stays true to
his earlier musical ways.
On Speakerboxxx, Big Boi does displays minor characteristics of John,
primarily in his brazenly honest lyrics and his continued drug usage;119
however, those characteristics create a less compelling stylistic
118 Mikal Gilmore, “Why The Beatles Broke Up: The Inside Story,” Rolling Stone 1086 (2009): 36-42,
77-78.
119 Everett, The Beatles as Musicians, 1999.
148
comparison, as in the case of André and Paul’s similar use of fictional
dramatic situations.
Some John-like qualities can also be seen in André 3000’s writing on
The Love Below (and perhaps, in his personal opinions and lifestyle),
primarily in his forward expressions of Love as an excellent remedy for
what ails the individual and the world.
Most importantly, the album comparisons can be clearly seen
between the White Album and Speakerboxxx/The Love Below in the general
lack of collaboration and the separate artistic expressions.
Another striking similarity between the Beatles and Outkast at this
point in their careers is that both groups had completely quit touring. The
Beatles stopped touring before their great collaborative success of Sgt.
Pepper, hoping to find room to grow musically in the studio, instead of
limiting their sound in stadium concerts.120 Outkast stopped touring after
their great collaborative success of Stankonia, primarily because, as Big Boi
explains about André 3000 on Speakerboxxx, “My nigga wanted to do a
little acting.”121 Like the Beatles, Outkast had come up playing the local
clubs and perfecting their skills on tour, so stopping their live
performances seemingly separated them from their original source of
musical connection.
The artist differences on Speakerboxxx/The Love Below did not seem to
have as dramatic an effect on Outkast as it did with the Beatles on the
White Album. Big Boi appeared with gold chains and Cadillac rims, next to
André dressed in Indian headdresses and pink sashes. Their most
prominent duet, on the song “Roses,” even parodied their supposed break
120 Mikal Gilmore, “Why The Beatles Broke Up: The Inside Story,” Rolling Stone 1086 (2009): 36-42,
77-78.
121 Outkast, “The Way You Move,” Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, 2003.
149
up with a music video imitating a West Side Story-style gang fight between
Big Boi’s Speakerboxxx thugs and André’s The Love Below nerds.122 And
Big Boi playfully appeared with (many versions of) André in a music
video for the single “Hey Ya!” as Outkast all at once successfully created,
and spoofed, a modern version of the Beatles’ original appearance on the
Ed Sullivan show, establishing the most palpable connection between
Outkast and the Beatles.123
When “The Way You Move” overtook “Hey Ya!” as the number one
single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Outkast became the first group since
the Beatles to replace themselves on the top of pop singles chart.
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below quickly became Outkast’s most successful
commercial album selling over 11 million copies to date. Outkast became
the first hip-hop group to ever win the Grammy for Album of the Year.
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below also received the top honors at the MTV Music
Video Awards, the American Music Awards, and the Village Voice Pazz
and Jop Poll. However, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below fueled questions as to
whether or not Outkast would ever again make another album together.
Idlewild
After the disjointed compositional process of the White Album, the
Beatles attempted to find common ground by returning to the roots of
their work, playing together live, and they decided to make a movie of the
process. Amazingly, Outkast also addressed their separatist issues by
122 Bryan Barber, “Roses Music Video,” Arista Records, 2004.
123 Bryan Barber, “Hey Ya! Music Video,” Arista Records, 2004.
150
making a movie of their own.124 The question of how Outkast would deal
with their differences was momentarily answered with their first fulllength movie and accompanying album, Idlewild, in 2006. Here is where
Outkast truly embodied John’s message that “All You Need Is Love,”
because instead of trying to shove their differences aside, like the Beatles
did, Idlewild accentuated them, by celebrating their differences. The film
takes place in the South during Prohibition, with André and Big Boi
playing characters close to their own personalities.
The trailer for the film clearly plays on Outkast fan’s knowledge of
the differences and commonalities between André and Big Boi, as André’s
character, Percival, narrates, “That was the day me and Rooster met. Piano
was my thing. Rooster preferred singing and gambling. We were from
124 At this point, one really begins to get the feeling that Outkast may actually be, literally, taking
their career model from the Beatles.
151
two totally different sides of the track, with one common ground:
music.”125
The film was more of an extended music video than a full narrative,
with character and plot development taking a backseat to well-made dance
sequences and exciting cinematography; the accompanying album is
disjointed and pales in comparison to their earlier works. This is not
unlike the results of Let It Be, the release of which was held off in an effort
to change what was seen as unsatisfactory material. Like Let It Be, it will
be a sad ending if Idlewild is Outkast’s last project together; however, with
Idlewild, the two members of Outkast showed that they were able to get
past their differences and find a way to “Come Together.”
The Future
This leads us to the Beatles swan song, Abbey Road. It remains to be
seen as to whether or not Outkast will take another attempt at an album
together and, in doing so, possibly create the greatest album of their genre,
as the Beatles did. Big Boi has taken to making tracks with the Purple
Ribbon Allstars and fostering his pit bull breeding company “Pitfall
Kennels.”126 André 3000 has taken to film and television, appearing in the
films Four Brothers and Revolver, and creating his own cartoon series on
The Cartoon Network entitled Class of 3000.127 The signs of Outkast’s
125 Bryan Barber, Idlewild, Forensic Films, 2006.
126 For more on Antwan Patton’s newer exploits, see: www.PitfallKennels.com and
www.PurpleRibbonAllstars.com
127 For more on Benjamin Andre’s newer exploits, see: www.FourBrothersmovie.com and
www.imdb.com/title/tt0365686 and www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/classof3000
152
permanent break-up are palpable: On the Purple Ribbon All-Stars first
album, Got Purp? Vol. 2, Big Boi’s closest compatriot, Killer Mike, repeats
over and over, “All I know is: Big here, Dre gone, moved on, changed
names from Aquemini to Purple Ribbon.”128 The premise for Class of 3000
is a pop music superstar who gets tired of the business, so he retires and
teaches music to kids.
Though the signs look bleak for the future of Outkast, Antwan
Patton and Andre Benjamin have always worked together while accepting
their differences. Big Boi addresses those questions in the number one hit
“The Way You Move,” from Speakerboxxx, opening the song by declaring,
“Outkast is everlasting, not clashin’, not at all, but see my nigga want to do
a little acting. Now that’s for anyone asking.”129
Andre possibly alludes to the partnership on “Hollywood Divorce,”
from Idlewild, by reminding the listener that “All the fresh styles always
start off as a good lil' hood thang. Look at Blues, Rock, Jazz, Rap. I ain't
even talkin' about music; everything else too. By the time it reach’
Hollywood it's over. But it's cool, we just keep it goin' - make new shit.”130
In interviews with periodicals, online magazines, and in radio
interviews, Outkast primarily discusses how they are seeking new
directions apart, however, they stress that they have no plans to break up
entirely. An interview with Vibe Magazine for the release of Idlewild
quoted Outkast’s members, with André saying that he was “kinda hating
making music right now,” and corroborated that Outkast had not
“recorded an album in the same room since…Stankonia.” But Big Boi
reminds the Vibe readers that Outkast is still tight, and always will be:
128 Purple Ribbon Allstars, “Dungeon Family Dedication,” Got Purp? Vol. 2, 2005.
129 Outkast, “The Way You Move,” Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, 2003.
130 Outkast, “Hollywood Divorce,” Idlewild, 2006.
153
“Outkast ain’t breaking up. Outkast growing up. I am [Andre’s] son’s
god-daddy. Just like Dre’s my daughter’s godfather.”131
One need only think of “Hey Jude” to be further reminded of the
bonds of friendship that stay strong through the differences between
partners.
The careers of Outkast and the Beatles are strikingly similar, and
thus far, Big Boi and André have been able to utilize their differences into
common success. But questions remain: Does a music group have to be on
the brink of a break up to produce a level of genius such as that of Abbey
Road?
Will Outkast follow the Beatles example with a swan song that will
permanently impress a new anxiety of influence upon the world of hiphop?
In “Hey Ya!,” André 3000 wonders, “if…nothing is forever, then
what makes Love the exception?” Although the Beatles disbanded in 1970,
the work of the Beatles has most recently been exalted by that very thing:
Love.132 Which seems to answer André’s question by saying: “It’s easy:
All you need is love.”133
131 Matthias Clamer, “Back to the Future,” Vibe Magazine 7 (2006): 98-105.
132 The new Cirque Du Soleil show, Love, showcasing the Beatles’ music, is currently in an extended
run at the Mirage in Las Vegas. For more information, see:
www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/showstickets/love/intro/intro.htm
133 The Beatles, “All You Need Is Love,” Magical Mystery Tour, 1967.
154
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