Dissect - ATLiens by OutKast | LAST SONG STANDING (E2)

Episode Date: July 16, 2024

Our journey to crown OutKast's greatest song ever continues with the duo's sophomore masterpiece ATLiens. Cole and Charles debate its best songs, quiz each other with trivia, and provide some context and history around this seminal release. Hosts: Cole Cuchna & Charles Holmes Producer, Guest: Justin Sayles Audio Engineer: Kevin Pooler Theme Music: Birocratic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome everyone to Last Song Standing. I'm Cole Kushna. And I'm Charles Holmes. And in this third season of Last Song Standing, we're diving deep into the discography of one of the greatest rap groups of all time. That's right. Cole and I are debating our way through Outcast's entire catalog in an effort to decide what's their greatest song of all time. On our first episode, we tackled Outcast's fourth album, 2000 Stankonia. And on today's episode, we're traveling back to 1996. We're going to outer space We're going to the dirty, dirty south

That's right, baby, Cole You finally get to talk about A.T. aliens. All right, Cole. So let's recap. First episode, we had a blast. Yeah. Covered Stankonia. Our picks, I honestly, like, the listeners probably already knew. Yeah. The two songs, I picked Boms Over Baghdad. You picked Miss Jackson. So I'm a little bitter that you got Bombs Over Baghdad. I try to play it cool on the episode, but... You thought about it? You thought about it when he went back to a hotel. I just love that song so much, and it would look so good on my list. But, hey, props to you for getting that half point. It's crucial. So we already teased it on last episode, but I think A.T. Elians were probably in agreeance that, A., after doing all, prepping for this season, our favorite Outcast album, number one spot. I think so. Right now, yes. Also, I think this episode is going to be a little bit more difficult because there are, some of the songs that I picked aren't my personal favorites off the album. Like, I think, like, I was like, should I go objective?

should I go because now we're battling against Ms. Jackson and B-O-B. So part of me was like, does this personal favorite of mine, can it go toe to toe with this historically, even though when I'm listening to the album, there's certain songs I gravitate to awards. When you're going back for this album, did you have that same problem? Yeah, I mean, I showed you the list that I, we didn't want to reveal each other's picks to each other beforehand, but I showed you like my kind of larger pool of picks. And it was like nine songs deep. It's like over half the album that I could have been comfortable picking as nominating for the best song on this album. And I did kind of land where you did where it's like, yeah, if you're thinking about the shadow of Miss Jackson, B-O-B, there's not a lot of songs that can compete to that level. So I ended up kind of towing the line a little bit, doing a little bit of both, as you'll see.

But this album, more than stangonia, top to bottom, is just you push play and you don't hit skip. and it's just from start to finish, just such a beautiful, concise album from start to finish that just, it's so cohesive, there's no big dips. It's a true no skips album. I disagree on this. What?

Really? I disagree on this. Okay. I think there's a part in the album where the, like, all the songs are good. I'm not saying, there's no bad song on ATLians, but I do think that if I was going to make the case that a queminize a stronger album,

I would say that a queminize a stronger album, I would say that a Quem and I rides way better, front to back. At AT Elians, there is a point, and I want you to guess it later in the episode where I'm like, oh. I might have an idea, but it might also be like my favorite part of the album, so we'll see. All right. For those that have forgotten, here are the rules. Each episode of Last Song Standing covers one album where we are both forced to pick the best song off the project, aka the last song standing. Then in our season finale, we'll have our Royal Rumble,

where we'll bring the songs we've chosen from each album and duke it out until we both can agree and one is the single greatest outcast song of all time. All right, before we get into this, let's go to a really quick ad. And when we get back, we're going to talk album facts. Justin's going to go into his time machine. We're going to make fun of him for being old to shit.

Cole is going to talk about album themes. Make sure you stay tuned. All right, guys, we're back to talk about one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all. all time. AT. Elion's outcast, sophomore album, released on August 27th, 1996. The 15-song album spawned three singles, Elevators Me and You, A.T. Lien's, Wheels of Steel, and Jazzy Bell. I mean, ATLions and Wheels of Steel are technically two songs, but they were both A-side-B-side. And then the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 350,000 copies in its first week.

Honestly, when I saw that, I was just like, bro, we are not. moving albums like that anymore in 2024 but you want to know who would know better than any of us in this room we have to go to quite honestly my favorite corner we love these olds i wish we could have like music we love these old can we maybe spice some things in i think that can't get to some just did can you uh walk the listeners through 1996 where outcast was where hip hop was was, I was only, what, four or five at the time, but even as I was growing up, I remember this album in terms of, like, what my cousins were listening to. So I think a lot of our younger listeners, if they're listening, they're like, why are you guys calling this futuristic? Why is this so much different than Southern Playalistic?

So, yeah, it just walks through it. Yeah, I mean, younger people like yourself or Cole, who's all of, like, you know, what can't do. Like months younger, yeah. Hi, listener, if you don't remember me, I am Justin. I am the producer, and I am apparently the oldest man who's ever been born. So when we talked about Stankonia, I said I was just starting college. That means when this album came out, I was just starting high school. I had to, I didn't drive myself to the CD store to buy this one, to the record store.

My mom drove me to the mall, and I bought it. Wait, did you have to explain to your mom? I'm like, Mom, Outcast, one of the greatest rap duos is dropping their second album, drop me to the store. When do you think my voice dropped? I don't know why I thought freshman Justin said stuff like that. But anyway, continue.

Yeah, I mean, I think the most uncomfortable thing, if there are any listeners out there who bought the CD, was opening it up and seeing the physical CD. Do you guys know what the physical CD was? Oh, no. Oh, yeah, I remember this. Yeah, so every outcast album, up until Speaker Box the Love Below was basically

some version of a naked woman. And I, and... Remember that now. Stankonia I bought and then opened right around my parents. A.T. aliens, I bought and opened right around my parents. The A.T. aliens one's actually kind of insane because it's a, you guys should pull it up, but I will describe it to the listener as you pull it up.

But it is a naked woman on her knees looking up toward the sky as some kind of alien. Oh, yeah. Well, listener, if you are not of age, do not Google this, but if you are, it's kind of like, Like, I will, I have the perfect description. Imagine a thick Egyptian goddess being showered with acto cooler high sea. You remember ecotocular high sea, the nice green one? I honestly, if I have this question for your parents, what were your parents' thoughts on thick, voluptuous black women? What?

What? I want to know. This is what the listeners want to know. I think in a general sense pro, but I don't think, I don't know if their opinions went more nuanced than that. They were pro, I think. Let's not explore that too much. I grew up in Rhode Island around a lot of Italians, okay?

What were their feelings on jungle fever? Back to the music. So, 1996 is probably, I was trying to figure out if 1996 is my favorite year for rap. And it's because I was 13, 14 that year, it may have been, right? This was the year where Tupac, released his, he got out of prison, released his post-prison album,

all eyes on me. And this is the year that the bad boy, death row, the media like to call it the East Coast, West Coast beef, really boiled over. And Outcast actually fit into this where the year before

at the Source Awards, the source being the hip-hop Bible at that time, every year they would do an award ceremony. And in 1995, this is where the tension between Bad Boy and Death Row really started

boiling over. You had conflict coming up on stage. You had Shug Knight getting up there and being like, you know, if you don't want your producer dancing all on the video, you know, just taking shot straight at Puffy. For the wrong reasons. You know, I think history has proven that I think history has proven that, uh, did he deserve to get clowned as much as possible. Yeah. She, you know, sometimes there's an imperfect messenger. In this case, it was Shugnight. Jesus Christ. Yeah. Oh, my God. Um, and then you had like Snoop getting up there, can be like, can't death row get no love?

But in the middle of this, the best new artist award comes up and Outcast wins. So in the middle of this, Outcast gets the award for best new artist. And here's who they were up against. And I want to know how familiar you are, you guys are with these groups. Bone Thugs and Harmony. Of course. Of course. Smith and Wesson.

Yes. Vaguely. Okay. Boot Camp Click. Des Shining was the album that they had that came out in 1995. Absolute Classic. Ill Al Scratch. Do you guys know Ill Al Scratch?

Ooh, no. Okay. They had a single called Where My Homies? Okay. They were very big on like BET, but like they weren't even getting crossover love. So Outcast beat them off the strength of Southern Playlistic. And I think the crowd really wanted Ill Al Scratch or Smith and Wes Ind to win. Oh, wow.

Outcast was kind of like the Dark Horse. because Bone was like enormous at that point too. Bone was also not a new group at that point. That's crazy. But Andre gets up there and there's this like, there's this booing, there's all this noise from the audience. And Andre kicks off his acceptance speech by saying, The South got something to say.

But it's like this, though. I'm tired of folks, you know what I'm saying? Close minding folks, you know what I'm saying? It's like we got a demo taping on nobody want to hear, but it's like this, the South got something to say. That's all I got to say. So this was really, you know, we talk a lot about like the Kendrick Drake stuff.

We talk about like Jay-Z. Nas. This to me felt like the first time, being 13, 14 years old at that time or like, I guess 12, 13 when that happened, that like the drama of rap really came into it. Like I was like too young when like NWA was going on. Like I listened to the chronic. I had no idea who Easy or Tim Dog were. Like I didn't know any of that stuff.

But this was the first time I really remember that boiling over. And it really like, I don't know. I remember getting obsessed with rap at that time. Like, this was like the drama of it all kind of sucked it in. It's funny. And like, I think today, like, I wonder if that's happening. I think so.

Kids watching the Kendrick Drake, right? They're picking their sides. Yeah. Um, this is, this is really sad, just like, why is it sad? I don't know, man, it's just like, you didn't have to pick size. You're from fucking rode out of, bro. They ain't claiming you. Brooklyn's not claiming you, you know what I'm saying?

Well, anyways, it's a great year for rap music, a great year for rap. Let's go over some of the albums, reasonable doubt. Well, I want to do what I did last time. I want to go through my theoretical six disc changer from 1996. Oh, okay. Okay. A.T. Allians is in there. Once upon the time

Not long ago When to play it from the point You didn't have no flow A nigga hit you Jay Z, reasonable doubt Murder is a tough thing to digest It's a slow process And I ain't got nothing with time

At that time That was probably my favorite album ever at that point Like immediately Reasonable Doubt Ghost Face Killer's Iron Man That's two episodes we've done Where Ghost Face Kill has come up to

Ooh Showing up with the bank and thrust Who know it because Jamie's someone All eyes on me. I got a shout that out. I did listen to that a lot at that time, even if I was riding with my guys in Brooklyn. Mob deep's hell on earth.

Okay. Hell on earth. Who's next are going to be first? The project is front line. And the end of me. And then the last one was Red Man's Muddy Waters. Give me room like the Hyatt while I run this jungle habitat. snap, get that monkey off my back.

Fugee's the score. Fuge's the score. Not in your disc changer. It was a great album. De La Sol stakes is high. Great album. Just missed the cut. I'll have a conversation about the root someday.

It was written, Nause. This was actually the toughest one, right? Like, this is, Nause, it was written is great. I just, like, I put it a level below El-Matic. And no stakes is high, De La-L-Sull. Yeah, UGK's riding dirty. This was, This is, what would be to you the year that best competes with this year?

Because this year is like actually unimpeachable. That's what I'm saying. Like there's also other ones like Tupac had a second album. You had Little Kim Hardcore. You had, um, Tribe Quest had an album. Buster Rhyme's debut album, The Coming. Like, this is like such an insanely good year. Another great MOP album, second episode where I'm bringing up that MOPP.

Um, 1995, when I think of 95, I think immediately that Mob Deep, the infamous, Jizz of Liquid Swords and Ray Kwan, uh, Only Built for Cuban Links came out that year. Old Dirty Bastor return to the 36 chambers. 1995 was a great year. In 1994, just Illmatic and also Me Against the World from Tupac came on in 1995. 1994 was illmatic and ready to die. And just like it was the year that like Wutang blew up.

I think that like 94 to 96 period is the true like 88 gets called like the golden era like of rap. Like that was like rap's first true great year. But to me that 94 to 96 era is actually partially because of when I was born. But that to me is like the pinnacle of that era of rap. Like the first 25 years of rap, that is, it does not get better than that. And I think 1996 is very interesting because things are starting to get a little more commercial then. The next year you have you have Puffy with no way out, right? You have like, it really kind of boils over.

It kind of like hits this tipping point where rap truly becomes mainstream. But 1996 was this year where it was very popular, but it was still kind of in this like liminal space between the two. And Ditty comes and then you're going to get Master P. Then you're going to get all the no limit shit, all the cash money shit. And that's in our Stankonia episode, that is kind of like the end of that era where they're just like, this shit is whack. And it's funny. I think we did a good job positioning ATLians where it is. And that's why I kind of want to go to you, Cole, where it's like AT Aliens is an album that comes out post source.

Right. And almost feels very, very indebted to how Andre and Big Boy consider themselves not only within the firmament of, like, hip hop, but the South. Right. Yeah. I think it's right in the title, right? Atlanta aliens creates this portmanteau of AT aliens. They said, Andre said, quote, the aliens is for our. status in the hip-hop game. So just flat out, that's what it was. He also said this, I thought,

is interesting. Being an alien is just being yourself when people don't understand you. We're just trying to let everyone know there's a place for everybody in this world. You just got to find yourself and be true to yourself. So what's interesting about this as artists, musicians, and as people, it's like they were teenagers when they made Southern Player. And there was a huge success of that album. They essentially travel outside of the South. for the first time in their lives. And they both credit this seeing the world type of experience as a coming of age experience and led to a certain maturation, which then funneled into their music.

Big Boy said, we are maturing and coming of age then. We're going from being a teenager to being 20 and looking at life differently because you're having different experiences. Big Boy becomes a father at this time. Also his Aunt Renee dies, who was like a mother figure to him. And you hear him actually rap about these things on Babylon, he says. People don't know the stress I'm dealing with day to day, speaking about the feelings I'm possessing for Renee. Andre, for his part, broke up with a girlfriend of two years.

He also goes celibate. He goes vegan. He goes sober at this time. Because they all went to, except Big Boy, all of them had this transformational. I mean, all of them, it was Andre. I think a lot of members of the Dungeon family have this, like, transformational trip to, like, Jamaica, yeah. Yeah. And Big Boy was like, they came back.

He was, his Aunt Renee died, so he couldn't go. And they have dreadlocks. It's like if Southern Playalistic is all about them, like, smoking and shit, like, Andre comes back. I'm like, I'm not smoking. I'm vegan. And that's probably. Not probably.

That is the startup. I think Andre branching off aesthetically and stylistically. Yeah, I mean, he starts dressing different. Andre is definitely starting to blossom that we know today. And he wraps about this, too, like on the album, no drugs or alcohol. So I can get the signal clear as day, put my Glock away. I got a stronger weapon. So it is really this transitionary period.

We see that in the lyricism, where it's less about the party player aspect that you heard on the previous album, and really balancing that with some real reflection and vulnerability. And again, you know, they're going against the grain, as we're going to see with essentially every album is a reaction to what's going on in the mainstream. Andre said, it's like everyone's talking about sipping champagne

and being big time, so we just took it upon ourselves to do something new. I want my children to say, Daddy really said something. He wasn't just trying to brag on him. And remember, these guys are 1920 having these kind of thoughts, which just seems so ahead of the curve. Production-wise, we also get this kind of alien theme not only of being different from what was going on to mainstream, but like a literal kind of space age environment created with like tracks that are just drenched with echo and reverb, like literal space in the production.

There's a lot of like washed out synthesizers, like the harmony on the album. You know, there are samples, but they're like very subdued. And so, like, what really cuts through is, like, the drums on this thing are absolutely incredible. And the vocals are able to shine, like, are super crystal clear and they're just surrounded in this space-like environment. Oh, and also, I need to definitely point this out. Outcast begins producing for themselves on this album, which I think is, you know, very important to recognize. They do five of the 15 cuts, the other tenor done by organized noise still. But two of those five cuts that they produce are the biggest.

songs from the album in the first two singles, Elevators and AT aliens, they produced themselves. Which is, like, they're just literally buying their first drum machines, and then literally the first thing they said they produced themselves was elevators. Which is insane. And it's also funny that the label

hated it. The big boys has been very clear. And for example, he's like, yo, the label did not want to put this fucking shit out. I mean, it's absolutely. We'll talk about that song more, I'm sure, a little bit, but it's pretty incredible that at their first at bat, they're creating. I mean, I mean, this is obviously organized noise, took them under the wing and was mentoring and teaching them how to use these new instruments.

But to create something like that quality, I feel like goes a long way in their confidence of like, from this point on, every album subsequent is produced more and more by Outcast until, you know, Stankonia's vast majority. So it's definitely a turning point for them as people and them as musicians. So how do you feel like this album has aged compared to stanchonia? Because the interesting thing for me is I think ATLians historically was never my favorite, not because I ever thought it was a bad album, just because I was like, young kid, it was just like you tend to gravitate towards the things that you heard first. Right.

And it's only been as I've gotten older when I listen to ATLians more, I'm like, oh, not only is this more of a complete body of work, than a speaker box a love below and idle wild, a stankonia. This one is fascinating to me because it is that record. Every genre has those records where I'm like, oh, there's a before and after

where A.T. L.E.N. has like one foot in the past of hip-hop and how it sounds and then one foot in the future. And that to me is so interesting to listen to because I think Aquamini kind of takes that idea and completely refines it. And A.T. Elian still works as an album, even as they're figuring it out in real time. Yeah. To me, it's aged absolutely beautiful. Did you want to say something, Justin?

I just, I think it's no coincidence that this is often the, like, the true boom bap head, this is their favorite outcast album, full stop. Like, this is because it is progressive enough that it's like just impressive to just experience, but it also feels traditionalists in some way. Like it's futuristic while also feeling traditionalist. Right. I mean, for me, it earns the, you know, timeless is thrown out as a cliche a lot, but I feel like it does earn that title. Like when I,

it doesn't sound of its time to me when I, when I, there's something, the quality of it for whatever reason doesn't, I don't think 1996 when I put it on. It kind of transcends the era it came out of to me in a way. And it does, yeah, it's like, compared to stankonia,

I think it's aged much better than stankonia. even though it doesn't have maybe those high highs that might strike you as a kid. Yeah. As you mature, this is the one that I, if I'm going to put out an Outcast record, it's usually like I'm going to be grabbing this one first.

Yeah, it's like even, I was even surprised because like in the beginning of researching this, I would just throw on whatever album that like would, I was just like, you have months to do this. So ATLings was the one I kept going back to and I thought it was,

at first I was like, nah, Qem and I, Kwemini. And this to your point, when you hear the title track, when you hear elevators, when you hear all these songs, I'm like, they were fucking 20. Yeah, it's insane. It's insane. And Justin, I'll pose this question to you. Like, in terms of just the rapping, does it feel like a big jump from Southern player or is it partly the production that's like maybe allowing them to shine a little bit more? You know what it is to me?

It was the first time that me, like, experienced them in real time, right? because I bought Southern Playylicic. My mom bought me Southern Playyllistic when I was 11 years old, like when it came out. It was the first time that I started to see the contours of each of these guys individually, though. It was the rapping started, you started to see this kind of like real distinctiveness

in their two styles and personalities start to grow. And I do think there was more so than maybe in like the technical rapping because I find the rapping on Southern Playalistic while raw to be like, very, very, very, very technically proficient beyond their years. But the writing really took a step up here, right? You have songs like Jazzy Bell that they couldn't have pulled off.

You even have songs like Babylon. You have songs like growing old, just songs that they couldn't have pulled off a year and a half before that they're now doing. But also, you start to feel Andre and Big Boy grow into the personalities that we would know them as. And you see it on the cover too, right? And we were kind of joking about the cover, not the, not the CD with the, the, you know,

lupcious woman. Thank you for helping me. But the cover is, you know, it's got Andre and it's like a turban, right? And it's got big boy and like, you know, letterman jacket. And they are cartoons and they're about to fight all these, you know, whatever.

You're the comic book guy, I don't know. Aliens, I guess. Aliens. I don't know what they are. But like two years before that, on Southern Plalistic, which is just an awful cover for a great album. But it is like the most, like, we cut this out and we took this to Kinkos.

It's like, it has it. But it's so funny because that album is a classic, nobody ever really brings up that you're like, when you stare at the photo, you're like, how is this classic album have this kind of just not terrible, but just like, ugh? I mean, like, you think about like a Run DMC cover where you like, yes, it was just pictures of them, but like it looked good. Like, what is, what is this? This was LaFace Records.

They just put out T. Like, what is going on here? I mean, I also think this was probably because Lafay's at this point. Like, until the numbers came back, I don't know if Lafay's really believed in Outcastling. Right, right, right. Like, yeah, they were like, we're Tony Braxton and TLC business. We are not. Yeah.

There was like organized noises little pet project. Yeah. So, but you see that right there on the cover of A.T.L. These two guys growing into what they would become. And between that and the writing, I have a lot of affinity for the rapping here. And I think it's like the last time where they felt very close to each other, but also felt distinct enough. Like by the time you get to a Quem and I, it's like, oh, these guys are artists that work really well together, but they are just two clearly, like, very different types of musicians. Yeah.

Yeah. So with that, I think it's time for my second favorite named segment of Last Song Standing. we're going to our album trivia corner, aka... Spotty Audi Quizlicious. All right. Spotty-O-Di Quizlicious is where Cole and I attempt to stump each other with little-known facts about the album. Whoever gets the most questions correct will get first pick

in the last song standing segment at the end of the episode. Can I go first? Cole, you want to go first? Yeah, because it has to do with the artwork, so good segue here. So question, and I'm going to give you multiple choice for this one. the comic book inspired cover art for ATLNs was almost scrapped entirely when the first draft of it was turned in

what was the main issue and how was it resolved? Oh, I already know this. Come on, I do my research. Can I give you my multiple choice because I made up, I think, some good... All right, please. All right. A. The color scheme was originally

rainbow colored, which didn't fit the tone of the album so they recolored it green and blue. B. Instead of cartoon depictions of Andre and Big Boy in the center, the cover originally featured actual aliens with hats on that were supposed to represent them. C. The depiction of Big Boy's face was originally unrecognizable, so they covered half of his face with an Atlanta Braves hat as the solution.

Oh, it's safe. Come on. This is rap lore. Okay. Actually, now I want to go, because I didn't do this before. I want to stare at the cover because... Oh, it's so obvious that they've tacked on the hat afterwards. Yeah, it's like, once again, we talk.

about this on the Stanconia episode where I think album covers are similar to hit songs where it's like you hear a hit song enough and you don't really pay attention and I think ATLians is a perfect example of like once you know that they just put the hat on you're always going to notice yeah all right so that's one point for you nice job so I also had an album art fact for you okay you probably already know it so I'm going to make it even harder. Or maybe not. Can you name the original artist that they wanted to go with and then can you name the real artist that it got past? I don't know the names,

but I know the first one was the lead guy at, they were like a fan of his work. And I forgot his name. Was he at Marvel at the time? At Image. He was at Image Comics. Okay. writing one of drawing and writing one of the biggest superheroes of the 90s.

I forget. But then they went to another guy who was recommended by that guy who was at DC at the time is now at Marvel, but I don't know their name. Todd McFarlane, creator of Spawn. Okay. Was who they originally wanted to go with. And he was like, eh, I don't got. And at this point, if you're just like, Todd McFarlane didn't want to draw an Outcast cover,

I'm like, at this point, I'm pretty sure Todd McFarlane, after Span. after Spawn was like a millionaire. So you just like, I don't have time for this. And then we get Frank Gomez who, shout out Frank Gomez, he's not Todd McFarland in terms of just history. But they went with Frank Gomez. But now I'm just like, can you imagine?

Because like, here's audience, you probably know what Spawn looked like in the 90s, but can you imagine the Spawn cover for Outcast? Like what that would have looked like if it was drawn? It would probably look a lot thicker, if I'm going to be real. I almost wrote down those names, and I was like, ah, we don't need to know that. All right, next.

Hit me with the next question. Okay. As part of the promotion for the album, Outcast's record label LaFace teamed up with Blockbuster Video Store, where customers could enter to win a big grand prize. What was this prize? Oh, shit. I did not read about this. I can give you multiple choice if you want, but I'll deduct half a point.

Ooh. All right, I'm just going to guess. Okay. Because after going back and watching the music videos, I think I might know what it is. Was it an outcast comic book? No. Damn it. There was, I guess there was actually a comic that came with the, do you remember that, Justin?

Did it come with a comic book fold out? And then every single had a comic book that told the story? I didn't have any singles off the record, I don't think, except for elevators. And that was a cassette single, so I can't speak to that. But the CD booklet had, like, comic book. imagery in it. Right, okay. Because no, in which, in which music video, is it the ATElean's music video?

It's the little kid. And I was just like, was this just for the video or was this like promo shit that was in the 90s? Yeah, I don't know if they actually had an actual comic. It was just the artwork booklet for each single and the album had. It was a continuous story. So if you bought all the singles and the album, you'd actually get the full story. They used to, they cheat us now. I know.

Back then, dog. even towards the when once CDs were phasing out that was my biggest beef people stopped giving a fuck about the book I know they did not give a shit but anyway okay so I'll still give you half a point if you can get it

that's not that's not the answer so A is an A a Cadillac B all expense paid trip to Atlanta and dinner with outcast C a custom AT aliens boombox shaped like a spaceship I'm going to go with what was probably the least effort which is

dinner with Outcast and a trip to Atlanta? No, it was an A actually a 1970s Cadillac you can win. Really? Is that crazy? That's when You could tell that was when the music industry was flush with the cash. They didn't do it next in fucking 2024.

All right, my last question for you, this is a toughie. Okay. Around the time of ATLians, Outcast gave an interview to Spin magazine. In it, Big Boy said after high school, he was planning to go to what school

and what was he going to study so I will give you a full point if you can get the major or if you can get the university you said big boy or Andre big boy so you can get two points off this one I have literally no idea so for the school

I will say this on the east coast and in the big apple NYU NYU. Okay. Can you guess what he was planning on studying? This is very funny, but it's very big boy.

It's not in the arts, is it? It's not in the arts. Okay. Very big boy. Damn. Is it like biology or something? Close. Child psychology.

Oh, dude, I read that actually. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And which makes sense because he had a kid, he had his first child at this time. He's like, yo, kids are so amazing. So all right. You got a point.

point, okay. Half a point. So we tied. Okay. Whoa, I got a full point. Oh, yeah, okay. Damn, you won again. Fuck, man. You're killing me. Hey, man, I'm doing my research. Come on, bro. All right. So now that we've set up the history and themes of ATLians, we've gone through all of the quiz questions, it's time to move on to the next segment of the show, the nominations. And the Grammy goes to the Love Below Outcast. So love and those. I'll care. Remember, the goal of each episode of Last Song Standing

is for Cole and I to determine the single best song from an Outcast album. The songs we select over the course of the season will then duke it out. In our season finale, the Royal Rumble, where we'll be forced to agree on the last song standing, aka the greatest outcast song of all time. Right now, we're getting into it. Nominations. Cole, do you want to go first? Here's what I'm thinking.

Okay. I have one song on here that is actually my favorite. Okay. One of my favorites. Not my favorite off the album, but he's way more problematic than I realized. I know exactly what you're talking. If you want to get into it, are you going to pick it? I'm going to pick it.

I'm going to pick it. Okay. Okay, okay. My first nomination is Jazzy Bell. Wow. Holy shit. Oh, yes, I love her like Egyptian on the description. My Roy, Your Honest.

Plus, that's when I bust that can't be no modest. Went from yelling quickest and crows, bitches and hoaxed queen things. Over the years, I've been up on my toes. And yes, I sing things like that. Holy shit. All right, here's the thing. Guys, produce by organized noise. This is a classic.

I'm going to watch you dance right here. I'm interested in this. This is a Hotep classic. All right. The beat is so fucking good. Yeah. Where I think that was 50% of it, where it's just like every single time I throw on this song, I'm just like, all right, this is a perfect beat.

And then if you don't listen to the lyrics, that motherfucker's spitting. Yeah, I know. Spit and spit in. Yeah. But before we get into what I love about the record, let's open it to the floor. Am I a piece of shit?

I'm not getting Jesse Bell. Well, I'm glad that we just are going to go here because it is, I had it. It's so funny that you picked it because I was like, you know, I had my two locks. And I was like, what's the third one? And I wrote down a few.

And I started doing the research on Jazzy Belly because I just loved the song. I wrote down some of the best rapping on the album. And then I started digging into the lyrics, which I don't know why if I, maybe it was just hypnotized by the beat and the flows. But I just didn't realize that it just has aged. It's not until, no, I know their verses,

but it's not until you read the lyrics. And it's like, it starts out so great. Oh, yes. I love her like Egyptian, want a description, my royal highness. So Andre's laying out like, No, that's when here's a thing. I did it twist like so fast.

Here's a thing. Guys. Why did you lay, okay, for people that don't know, maybe just spell it out for him like the problematic. So right off the bat, it sounds so good when Andre says the opening bar. Right.

Oh yes, I love it like Egyptian, want a description, my royal highness. But already, I've been in a lot of barbershops. Once that shit starts going on any rap song, anybody's just like,

I already know it. You hear Egyptian and you're like, we're cooked. It wasn't just Egyptian when he doubles down on my royal highness. I'm just like, oh man, we are.

And from there, you kind of start understanding, I think, even though I think this verse on a technical level, flow-wise, is one of the best on this entire album.

I think why Jazz Bell, why it's going to have a really, really tough time as we talk about these other songs, is that Andre's done a version of this better, where talking about women, talking about his relationships with women, and Jazibel, obviously, he's like a play on Jezebel, and between Andre and Big Boy, it's this song, I would say it's a women-shaming song, like a promiscuous, like, oh, like, we don't want any women that are sleeping around. On the same album, at least Big Boy is talking about all the women he sleeps with. So it's kind of this contradiction.

But here's the other thing. That's very funny. If you go back and you're reading all the profiles, you're reading all the interviews, at this time people are talking about Outcast. Like, oh, they're not like the rest of these rappers. Well, okay. This has been a longstanding thing of mine. And it took me until I got to a certain age to realize this.

But like, quote unquote, conscious rap, like your qualis, your comments. Yes. You listen to that stuff. That stuff is super misogynistic. Like, it's almost like the Dr. Dre Snoop Dogg, chronic doggy style misogyny is like, yeah, it's not great. But it's like so cartoonish and over the top that it's not as problematic as like getting these views out there that are like very, very like. I'm not even going to repeat the worst. Like, because I was just like, how can one of Andre's best verses of all time basically like, or it's songs like end?

with him saying the thing about what happens to all the women that he went to high school with. Does it feel like they were trying, like it's, it feels to me in the era and at their age at this time, again, 1920, still super young. Does it feel like this was actually them trying to do, like it feels like this is a quote unquote conscious song or attempt at it at the time where it's like we're going to be all about women that are pure, not these, you know, S words. Like that feels like that to me feels like them trying to be feminist in a way. Is that, does that? No, because, and this is what I want to make a quick distinction about as we go through a lot of these outcast songs, which is like, I'm not what, you have to, to your point, you have to really contextualize where a genre or where music was at a point. And that's not me saying, oh, we can't tell. I'm like, this song is misogynistic.

And if you read it, you're just like, ooh. But I do think to your point at this time, comparatively to everything that else is being released in rap. and then what in popular music was deemed conscious and what was deemed as really progressive in the way that you talked about women

now we look at it to Justin's point and this shit is just as bad if not worse than everything else that was happening in hip-hop but to your point even the way that they're rapping

and this is what makes the song work for me they're rapping like they are the good guys This is just like very funny. Yeah. Which is like, they're not like, Andre's like, I'm about to drop some fucking knowledge about you.

So when you, all right, before, like, we kind of talked about what makes it not great. But you seem like you love this song too. Why do you love Jazzy, bro? I mean, for a song without a chorus, you know, it's still super catchy. It's just that woman's voice doing the melody. The beat is awesome. I don't have anything like smart about it, but it's just a great, great groove. And again, to me, it just goes back to the rapping.

I mean, the flows on here, the pockets that they hit. If you just listen to the cadences and those type of things. And even some of the, I mean, the wordplay's great too, even if it's, you know, problematic. Again, it was one of my favorites. It's still one of my favorites, but it's like, I'm not going to nominate it because, one, it's not going to go very far, just given the problematic elements of it. But it is a really technically, I think, a really great song. I didn't want to, here's the thing.

I'm not going to bemoan Jazzy. The reason I also picked it is like, I feel like Cole is going to pick the ones or nominate. You knew I wasn't going to pick this one. Yeah, basically. I was just like, I'm going to go out on a ledge. Okay. So how about, I think there are two, I might be wrong. I think there are two songs off this that have a similar Miss Jackson bombs over Baghdad feel,

which is like these are pillars of just outcast in Southern music and popular music. Give me the one that you think that I didn't pick. Okay. Which one is it? I have two. Or do we just get the big ones out of the way? Let's not get the big ones out of the way. Okay, no, okay.

Because I don't want to overlap again, and I know you love that. I'm debating between two and I was going to see what your move was in this. Can I pitch you on the two songs that I was going to pick over Jazzy Bell and see if you. Yeah, okay. Let's do that. So these are my personal, like, there's one song in these. I think these two songs are better to me personally. They just didn't go as far.

Two dope boys. And then Wheels of Steelies. Insane. Those are my exact two I'm looking at right now in my notes. Oh. It's like so. Wait, so wait, well, can I pitch you on one? So I think Two Dope Boys is just the vernacular, what it's meant to hip hop, the entire song.

I love Two Do Doe Boys. But Wheels of Steel is insane. It's insane. It's so good. From a just like, yeah, because Two Dope Boys just has the iconic chorus and it's like in this exercise of trying to find the song. I think an outcast to me has to have that catchy hook that's such an outcast thing to have in a song. Where, I mean, like, Wheels of Steel has a hook

and it's great, but it's more of a, it's not as catchy, it's not as sing-songy as two dope boys. I love it for that, actually. I love Wheels of Steel for like that. We actually get Andre and Big Boy trading bars within the verse. Not only, so the first verse, they split it in half and pass off to each other, but then the second verse, they go back and forth multiple times,

which is like, feels rare, actually. So that's, so when I was going back and listening to that song, what I loved about that is that's what I mean about this record has a foot in the past, right, and a foot in the future. Because to your point, we don't get, like, as the years go on, we get less and less of that, oh, this rapper, they're going back and forth. That's something that you can only do when you're in the studio.

Right. And that is what, honestly, what I miss about hip hop where I'm just like, oh, y'all are just emailing fucking verses. Oh, man. Yeah, exactly. I'm just, I mean, I'm glad we're just kind of, we're essentially just talking about both because they're both so great. I don't even know if it, I can just nominate one.

All right, why you nominate one? Because I, all right, my pitch to you is two dope boys is the more iconic song. And I think it is probably the correct choice. Wheels of Steel to me is the better song, even if it's not as iconic. It's so hard Justin can you weigh in We'll steal two dope boys Two dope boys

Damn you didn't even have to think about it Can I Can I say my one beef with wheels of steel Alright get it out man The name I think like Hearing a lot of Boombap heads refer to the turntables as wheels of steel

It's just kind of taken on this like kind of corny thing to me and like it's a great song it's a great song it's it's no beef with wheels of steel the song you're a hater bro yeah well isn't it isn't it the circle of life though too i think i think i don't think Justin's wrong i think you have to go with two two dope boys all right okay god i'm just now i'm just looking at the first verse andre's first verse on wheels of steel where he says the pope and his folks got us under a scope God damn We don't contribute to your clandestine activity by soliloquy

All right Let me let me phrase this in another way You're me You're 13 years old right You go to the store You take this home you just got done listening Southern Playlistic You put in AT aliens

The intro comes And then Fucking two dope boys drops And it just like blows your head Like you have to think of the impact on how that hit and how that was their reintroduction as new artists to the world. I don't know, man. I love both these songs.

I love every song on this album. But here's the thing. Every song on this album. But I prefer to do it. All right. But here's the thing. The wheels are still when they get to their bridge when Andre does the one time for the boy doing shit. Two times legit and they don't quit.

Three times for my folks in the drop top. Four times outcast and it don't stop. Oh, man. That could have been the hook, actually. Yeah. All right. You guys aren't. It is two dope boys.

You're convincing me it is. Yeah. Because two dope boys like, it's like a rocket. It is just when it drops on the album, you're like, oh shit. It reminds me of gasoline dreams in a way. Because like they don't, it feels like they don't ever reach the level of the intensity of the hook ever again on the album. Because Andre comes in like pretty aggressive comparatively to everything else on the album. Like the way that he recites the hook.

And then, yeah, let's just, okay, let's lock it in. I'm going to go two dope boys as my. my nomination. It's got a really great occasion. This side niggas's dust and that side niggas' lacin. But in the middle of each they calm, we just trumped on. Asking where we come from, South Coast Slams. Just two dope boys in a Cadillac. It's got a really great sample, which feels a little bit rare in an outcast song to have such an overt sample. And then I was trying to think, like, revisiting the hook with the source awards context, or actually, do you have it pulled up, Charles, you've, Who them boys that be having it crank every occasion? The side niggas dusting, that side niggas lacing. But in the middle, we stay calm. We just draw bombs.

Ask it where we come from, South Coast. There we go, beautiful. Beautiful. Okay, is this... I say, obviously, like, the play is, like, dusting and lacing, like, you know, people doing these different drugs, and then they're in the middle, just, like, playing and cool, kind of speaking to their sound. But am I dumb?

Was this always an East Coast West Coast? thing. It's like the side people over here, these side people over here, the East Coast and the West Coast, we're actually staying in the middle, and we're just going to drop bombs, we're just going to drop great music. And then they shout out South Coast slums. Do that work for you guys? Am I reaching there? Or does

that seem right? Actually, usually you know how hard it is to get me on your side because you're not wrong. I do think, I do think actually opening, because here's a thing. I was going to talk about this a little bit later, but we should get into it now. AT aliens is a deceptively angry record, which is why when I was like going back and really doing a deep

dive, that's why I almost, I agree with this dissection because I did not realize how much the source awards or the feeling of them being booed, the feeling of the South not getting enough respect loom so large. And there are so many songs of like, it's not just that they went on tour for the first time. It's like, we went on tour for the first time, not that much about our lives has changed and we're not getting the respect that we feel like we deserve. And two dope boys, like that hook, I don't think it is a mistake for them to be like, we're in the middle and y'all aren't coming as hard. Because I think there's a quote where essentially, I don't know if you've read it yet. Big Boy says it in Rock's back pages where he goes,

they ain't really give a fuck about what he was doing. If he wasn't from New York, they was like, fuck it. But it's like, we put all our goddamn time and effort in doing our albums. And it really don't make no sense for them acting like that there. And he's talking about the source awards. And I'm just like, two dope boys, why I think it's a good choice is like that to me is a perfect example of like Big Boy being like, no, y'all don't sequence albums like this. Right. Y'all aren't thinking about concepts the way we're thinking about concepts.

If y'all are on this side and y'all are on this side, we're dropping bombs in the middle. Y'all can't fuck with us. Yeah. And then you noted how they kind of expressed multiple times on the, the album how much fame and fame didn't lead to fortune actually there's more than one song where they talk about this and here on the opening track when they're kind of bragging about their position if you listen to andre's second verse it's all about exposing the fallacy of fame and fortune where he says now tricks be looking at me like i'm they weigh up out of the projects can't put you

on my payroll and i ain't got no Rolex or no diamond at the exit with a sign saying we'll wrap for of food. My face is balled up because I ain't in a happy mood. And my partner got the squeegee and the windex. So on the opening song, on this kind of almost braggadocio song, we're still getting that reflection and that vulnerability in this kind of anthem, which I just love Andre's honesty about that specific aspect, because they're coming off of Southern player, which is all of them about being players and riding in Cadillacs and kind of putting on this persona and already on the second album, he's kind of putting the chinks in the armor. and really exposing.

I mean, he goes at the actual record label later on the album. So that's super interesting to me that... I mean, it's also not surprising because if we think about it, organized noise, works with TLC. One of the big things about TLC is they were

one of the biggest, if not the biggest pop groups and financially just getting fucked. So it's like, it is very funny. Like, AT aliens isn't just, to like, we're mad. The East Coast and the West Coast, it's just like, yo, we're rappers.

How much did Southern Playalistic sell? It wasn't like a gangbusters, but A.T. Lians was a leap forward, and they're still like, bro. I know. That's sad. I wish I have changed, but unfortunately, we're in the same situation, I think. I like this. Any other things on our first nomination?

No, I think that's good. I'm glad that we covered and gave love to Wheels of Steel because that's that was a tough battle for me, but I think we accomplished both. All right. So for my next nomination, I think I'm going to go with the song that I'd argue is the best song off this album. Okay. If you don't have it, I'm going to judge her a little bit. Self-titled ATL wins. Yep. Yep. Do you spy Outcast? Yep. Well, it's the M.I. Cricket Letter. Ain't no one better. And when I'm on the microphone, you best to wear your sweater because I'm cooler than the polar bears toe nails. Oh, hell. This song of that shit, bend corners like I was a curve.

This song, I know, once again, we're going to get into cliche territory here. We already said about B.L.B. A.T. Elians to me, it's amazing how much it sounds like the future, while still retaining that classic boom-bap feel. And if A.T. Elians, the album, is about outcast positioning not only how important they are in the South, but how that importance makes them outcast, makes them different from everything else in the music. Landscape at that time,

I think AT aliens does the best job. Because even in the hook, you have the alien vocals, but then you have the classic hip-hop refrain. Now throw your hands in the air. Which is like, how is that not cliche? It is cliche, but it doesn't sound like it. It doesn't sound like it,

and then they flip it and they do this. They do this out. And if you like fish and grits and all that pimps shit, It bridges, yeah And wave them like the shit Stunk A-Yer And if you like fish and grits And all that pimps shit

Everybody let me hear you say, oh, yeah. It bridges, yeah. It bridges so many layers And when you just say it out loud, it sounds way cornyer. And to your point, when I listen to it, my mind is playing this thing

where I'm just like, this shouldn't work and still this hook fucking bangs. And it's the sand Oh, is... Well, let me just... Okay, because I got to do it at some point.

I actually broke down the sample chops. Oh, please. Because I had to, because this is outcast as producing for the first time for themselves. And they're just knocking it out of the park as if they're veterans. So we have this sample of so tired

by the Chamber Brothers, 1967. Here's what that sounds like, unadulterated. Oh, I sampled the song once. Really? Yeah. What, did it sound as good as AT? Wait, I didn't realize I sampled this. You did it?

No, hold on. Maybe we could, let's splice in your version of it. Do you have Spotify? Can you play Spotify right on there? I can, yeah. All right. Google symmetry dusty pickup. This is crazy. Symmetry dusty pickup. Yeah.

Okay, there we go. Okay. All right, Justin. Not as good as ATL. No, it's not as good at ATL. I didn't realize we flipped the same sample, but that's kind of... This is a little sacrilegious now.

I know. But this is better than I thought it would be. It sounds good. Yeah, I was a good... I used to do this. I was... I come from this, Charles. Streets are out.

Sorry, sorry for that little segue. I had no idea. I learned something from this. I didn't realize I flipped the same sample as them to worse effect. Do you remember how you found it? Yeah, record. Okay. Just great digging.

All right. Sick. Very cool. All right. All right, so let's hear a better version of it. Yeah. Yo! God damn!

Sorry, Justin. Wait, how old? How old were you when you chopped that sample? Like 24. You were 40 years older. I was four years older than that minute. All right. This is why I'm a podcast producer, not a rap producer for a living.

Sorry, we haven't heard my music yet, so you're okay, Justin. Okay, here we go. Original sample again. Great ear, Justin. I mean, it's perfect. So they chopped this right there, too, and then here's what they do with it. So good, dude.

Yeah, they murdered me. Yo shit didn't sound like this, Justin. And all they add to it is drums and bass. They chopped it. It's so good. And they put it through that, they put it through that, like, flange. Oh my God, that high pass filter. Oh, my God.

Just that alone is, oh, my God. I mean, it's just so good. Also, isn't it weird how, like, that part, that sample is so good? It feels foundational when I hear it. I'm just like, oh, this is what hip-hop sounds like. Where, you know what I mean? Like, there's some beats where you're just like, oh, if you're just like, what's a hip-hop piece out of that point to that, I'm just like, I don't know what it is every single time I hear it. It's literally like one, play one second.

Like, I know what you're talking about. You hear it right there. Like, oh, that's going to be great. So, oh, then, fun fact, actually. The bass line, did you read this? What the bass line originally was in this song? No. It was a tuba.

They had a live tuba player come in the studio and lay down the bass track that you hear in the song now. And apparently the tuba didn't cut through and it was a little too slow changing from note note. But again, in my mind, I'm like outcast, 19, 20 years old, trying to put a fucking tuba on this trip. Like, just speaks to their experimentation in there that, you know, trying to take things, be different, take things to the next level. So the production, obviously, is just fucking perfect. And then here's another thing I didn't discover until I did

some research. Fish and grits. Does he say fishing grits or fish and grits? What do you What do you hear? If you like fish and grits, like fish and, not saying and, fish in grits. Like you're fishing for grits? No. Like fish and grits, like slang, but. N, the letter N, grits. So I think that-

Fish and grits and all in a pimp shit, yeah. Okay, did you know, I didn't know this obviously until I researched it? But grits, apparently, in, uh, the south is an acronym for girls raised in the south. So he says, you're fishing grits like he's chasing women. That's why he says all that pimps shit afterwards. I'm going to have to do a fact check. I've never heard about this. I'm not from the South.

Fact check? I'm very clearly from the emails. We've established that, so I can't say anything. Where did you get this? Now I'm trying to remember it. I can't remember where I... If we have any Southern listeners, please, like,

tap in and be like, here's the thing. I'm not from the South. I've never heard this acronym. And that's what's funny. Like, you can't really fact check this old slang, too. I mean, maybe it's still around, but like, now we're asking, like,

pretty much the over 30-year-olds at this point if they remember, unless it's still going on today, I don't know. Anyways, I thought that was cool, a little clever twist. And then, okay, we got to talk about the opening lines of each verse. Big boys, opening on this song is why I'm just like, no, big boys, one of the greatest rappers ever. But he says, well, it's the M. I crooked letter. Ain't no one better.

And when I'm on a microphone, you best to wear your sweater. Because I'm cooler than a polar bear's toenails. So good. What makes this even better is if, remember when artists used to annotate their own lyrics on genius, Big Boys verified annotation for this is polar bears clearly have claws, but you know. This is why you're the fucking greatest big boy. Never let the truth get in the way of a solid bar. Big Boys flow on this opening verse is still.

one of the greatest rap verses. It's everything that he's doing on this. He's in his 20s. And he's rapping better than people have been doing it twice as long. I think... Does Big Boy... This is going to be my hot take.

Can I give you a hot take corner? All right. Once again, Andre's verse on here, his second verse, very, very good. But opening your bar with now my oral illustration be like littoral stimulation

is tough it's so good it's really hard to get over that bar it's pretty is am I being a hater or because it's like what did you hear it in the context of the song

I'm like whatever but when you pull it out I'm like oh yeah man this was this was the peak of the hoot happiness to the female gender

to the female gender He's insane. See, I kind of like it. Let me know when it's wet enough to enter? No. Oh, my God. Man. My oral illustration.

Be like clitoral stimulation to the female gender. Ain't nothing better. Let me know when it's wet enough to enter. If not, I wait because the future of the world. Big boy is just like, dog, have y'all ever thought about some polar bear's toenail? And then Andre's just like, bro, guys, let me tell you about clitorial. Just the rhyme scheme does Awesome

The rhyme scheme But that's the It's the jazzy bell And the flow And the flow is so neat Like Andre is wrapping his ass off To the point where When his shit comes on

I'm like I don't care if it's problematic Keep talking that shit Dre The alienators Because we different Keep your hand to the sky Like sounds of blackness When I practice what I preach

It don't lie I beat the baker And the maker of the beast Of my pie Now break a break a tin fo Can I get some reply And everybody say And I didn't even know

Did you know What Am I Cricid letter meant Or do you still, I never knew what it meant until I looked it up actually. Mike? So it's MI Crooked Letter, apparently, in the South is S. So I can play you an excerpt of a song called Mississippi, made famous by Ella Fitzgerald.

By the M.I. Crooked letter, crooked letter I, Crooked letter I. So people thought, people thought, he had to explain this like for the, I think it was the 20th anniversary of this album, he did an interview about, they asked him about this or came up. And people thought it was, am I crooked letter meaning miss, meaning misfits, which was the original name of Outcast. So everyone, even if you look on genius now, people are still interpreting as essentially referencing their first name misfits. But he said, he's referencing Mississippi, referencing that song. And he's like, it's because he's flowing like the Mississippi River. So, look. little known fact there. I like that. I was dissected. Can I,

can I discuss? We've already kind of broached probably my favorite portion of this song. Okay. Verse 30, verse four,

big boy Andre going back and forth. Yeah. I think Andre's second verse is not only way better than his first verse. It's like in contention for probably one

of my favorite verses of the entire album. That opening, you're talking about softly softly as I play piano when the dog, found a way to chenel my anger now to embark.

And then the pocket he gets into no drugs of alcohol so I can get the signal clear as day. But when he does the put my Glock away, I got a stronger weapon that never runs out that in an ammunition so I'm ready for war. Okay. You heard the A.G. Allie and so back the hell up off. Softly as if I play piano in the dog.

Found a way to channel my anger not to involve. The world's a stage and everybody got to play they part. Guard works in mysterious race and when he starts the job of speaking through us. We'd be so sincere with this here. No drugs or alcohol so I can get the signal clear as day. Put my Glock away. I got a stronger weapon that never runs down. Once again, what to me separates like Southern Playalistic,

which is like great rapping from something like ATLians, is pockets like that where like they'll get moments. Big Boy and Dre where I'm just like, oh no, this is kind of teasing just how phenomenal they will get in just a couple years. By the age of 25, they're just like what we know them as. But there's moments on like ATLians where I'm like, oh no, y'all have uncovered something artistically. at some point in the season, I'll probably try to break this down.

It's always so hard to break down rhythm for me with rap verses, mostly because I don't rap and I can't reproduce it. But to your point about the pockets, it's like they're so unpredictable. A lot of times if you just look at the lyrics for, especially Big Boy most often, but even Andre, it's like you'll go to the end of the bar. Look at any rap lyrics, 99% of them.

Go to the end of one line, look at the next line, you'll get the rhyme. At the end of the second line, you'll get the rhyme to the rhyme, right? It's like standard and rhyme cadences. You go to like to Big Boy especially and try to find the rhyme scheme.

It's like, and if you just read the words out loud, sometimes you're just like, where does this actually rhyme? And then you listen to the verse and it's like, oh, he's rhyming just these hyper rhymes back to back or like, and he's just finding these little grooves.

But then he'll like, both of them, they'll find a groove, but then pivot away from it because the word scheme or just the words that they're wanted the rap takes them away from it then but then they find it it's like a jazz player kind of like improvving like just finding little pockets and going off just almost stream a consciousness style and it's just like

to your point like it's hard again it's hard for me to explain but you know i'm talking about if you go to so if you go to big boys first verse just think about how much he changes the flow within the opening so it's like it's like well it's the m i crooked letter ain't no one better and when i'm on the microphone you best to wear your sweater. He switches, because I'm cooler than a polar bear's toe nails, oh hell, there he goes. Then he goes, and we can play this.

He changes it once he gets to talking that shit. Then he elongates, curve, nerve, serve, and then he changes it again. Because I'm cooler than a polar bear's toe nails. Oh hell, there he go again. Talking that shit. Ben, corners like I was a curve.

I struck a nerve, and now you're about to see the Southern Flay and serve. I heard it's not where you from, but where you pay. We're only halfway through the verse, And he's already changed his flow three or four times, which is like, even if you look at modern rap right now, rappers don't really do that. Once they establish kind of their rhyme scheme, whether they're ending on the last B or they're doing even some internal rhyme, usually that structure stays the same. That's a very modern construction in terms of just like, A, we know that the hook and everything is more important.

We have ad libs. we have all these things. Back then for big boys, like, bro, within the first eight bars of this 16 bar verse, I'm going to hit you with so many fucking flows. And all of them are fucking good.

Yeah. And it just feels organic. It doesn't feel forced. It feels just very of the moment, spontaneous, but very well-crafted, calculated, beautiful. I think we cover,

I mean, anything else on this song? Let me see. Do I have any more hot takes? No, I think. So we both had AT aliens. Yeah, I had AT aliens. Can I guess? Oh, come on.

Can I guess what it? That's obvious, right? We got to take a break, I think, right? Oh, guys, let's take a really, really quick break. And then, I think, unfortunately, Cole and I are getting on a little thing called an elevator. We'll see you very soon. All right. We are back.

And before we get into the last song, Cole, I want you to guess. We teased it earlier in that episode. This might be a little. There's really not as many hot takes on this because I think Outcast is. Just I'm not that much of an asshole. So I'm just not going to do that. But one of my hot takes is ATL E.T.E.N. to me, falls off a cliff

and never regained momentum. And when I say falls off a clip, this is still a classic. I just don't agree that it's in no skips. Can you guess where I feel like the album takes a dip quality-wise? I would guess track either 9 or 10, either Waylon or mainstream. It's around there.

Okay. This is going to be a hot take. I think elevators into over the woods is, is, is, it's, you just, because like, you can't put, you can't put over the woods next to elevators. You just can't. But Babylon doesn't get you right back? Almost. Oh, it's just, it's, it is a difference. It is, am I, as, as the old head here, Justin, am I totally off base that over the woods kind of stop some of the moment?

I think it's like any other album Over the Woods is fine I think it's just that the first five or six songs, the first six tracks here intro into elevators are perfect. They're just perfect and they just keep the momentum at such a pace and it just

it does, it's a shift in the album and I don't think there's a bad song here but I think there will be times that I put on this album and after elevators I'm like I'm good for now. Because there's the thing I like If we're going through AT aliens, I like Babylon, you know, I like growing old. It's just, what about ET?

I almost, ET was on my short list. I like, I like E.T. When I was 14, I loved Millennium into E.T. Yeah. That whole, Millennium E.T. 13th floor growing old to me is like great. Yeah, but you have to think about it. The first six songs, because they're so perfect, because, like, even if we're just talking about sequencing, the back half, I'm just like, oh, this is...

It's just a little bit front-loaded. It's front-loaded, which is weird, because Equeminide, to me, if I was going to ding Aquimini, I'm just, like, coming off of A.T.L.E. I'm just, like, Equimini does not have that initial, like, five, six-song stretch where you're just like, oh, no, this is perfect. But if I can go one more hot take because it segues nicely... Okay. you guys are going to kill me for saying this it's one of my picks it is one of my picks not a big

elevators me and you guy huh not a big not a big elevators guy what i'm putting it in here because of what it means to their discography i like elevators i know it's one of those songs where it's like it's like i know that this is good i know that i'm wrong i'm i can like if you ask me to like talk We are going to talk about why elevators is important. But if I'm in my whip, sometimes I'm like, I'm like, I'm going to listen to elevators. Charles. Just listen to this. I know, I know it's good.

I know it's good, guys. Watch. I picked it. Watch. What the fuck are you talking about, dude? No, it's a classic. Everything about it. That doesn't just give you like a, a, you.

Oh, my God. How dear. I don't do. What the fuck? What, I literally have said, I've said, this is a perfect song. It is objectively one of Outcast's most important songs. It's one of the best songs off this album. And still, I would take two dope boys and wheels of steel before I would take elevators.

That's my hot take. I would. I'd like two dope points of wheels and wheels of steel better. I'm sorry, guys. What do we say to this, Justin? I don't get it. Wait, but this is why we do it. Because here's my issue.

right this fucking whole entire season would be boring as shit yeah the singles and all the ones y'all love are the best of all time i'm here i could argue that i would rather no i will say it flat out i would rather listen to wheeled stills two dope boys way more that elevators me and you i'm gonna be honest see i might want i i think i want to listen to this the most elevators where are you at justin on that that hierarchy think this is the best song on the album yeah better than eight yellions yes all right i think it's the best song on the album it was oh it's also wow because it was the first single and the first thing they ever produced it's fucking crazy this is a song that i've been going back to for

god awful to say out loud 28 years it's god it's i know absolutely insane you know i was talking to our boss sean fantasy today and i just said hey we're recording the eightie aliens episode What's the best song on F. A.A. Aliens. And you know what he said without blinking? Probably Elevators. It's A.T. Aliens, but Elevators is a close second. It's so good. I don't even, yeah, I'm not going to try to convince you because... Well, you guys are acting like I said it's a bad song. I literally not once said Elevators is a bad song. I'm just like, it's not my favorite. It's not even in my top three. Okay, fair. So objectively, you understand subjectively. Subjectively, objectively, whatever, I understand everything you're about to say. I'm about to gush about this song as well. Okay, great. Okay. I mean,

we got to start with the production. I had to go back and double, because I was like, I read that there, it was the first thing they ever produced for the record. I had to go back and check me, like, did they, like, co-produced this, or it's like, but they literally get all the credits, drum programming, keyboard, like, I was really specifically wondering about the keys. Keyboard program, they are credited on mixing production, song, writing vocals. The only person that plays on it is the bass is a live bass. Preston Crump,

plays a bass. The snare drum. on this thing is one of my favorite sounds and all of music. It just gives me a dopamine rush every time I hear it. That's why I played the intro for you, Charles, because like the mood that this creates, this atmosphere, it just washes over me. As soon as I hear it, I'm just like, literally transported to another place.

This is also one of those songs that just sounds like hip-hop, where it's like there is not, there are certain beats and certain, like, to your point, if you play five seconds of this to someone, they're just going to be like, oh, yeah. And contrasting with B-O-B, we were talking about B-O-B being a song that not any rapper could hop on.

I feel the same way in the inverse way about this song, which is very slow, very subdued, very atmospheric. I don't think a lot of rappers could do it to the level they did and create a catchy hook on it. I think that we kind of take the hook for granted over this production,

but it weren't, It works beautifully and it has a kind of weird sing-song quality to it. It's hypnotic and it also puts Big Boy in the more melodic seat where it's like, that was also what was interesting about that. This song where it's, I'm pretty sure Elevators is the most commercially successful off of this album. And Big Boy kind of anchoring it is also very, very interesting because as they progress, we think of Andre as being that one that is a leaning more on his pop inclinations to sell a song. Right. Did you have something, Justin?

Okay, going to the time machine and just... This song now to you sounds like hip-hop, right? It's impossible to overstate how different this sounded in 1996 when this would come on Rap City. And it would sound so different than everything else you heard. Because you have to keep in mind, there wasn't a lot of non-New York or L.A. or West Coast stuff being played. on MTV Raps, on YomTV Raps or be it, MTV Jams or the thing then, or commercial radio, or any of these places. And a couple years before that, we had Players Ball, Southern Playlists to Cadillac music,

Get Up, Get Out, that was the third single off Southern Playlistic. Those songs sounded like a different thing, but you also hear, like, the synthesizer, the West Coast synthesizer a little bit in some of those songs. You also hear on a song like Get Up, Get Out. This sounds a lot like traditional like East Coast production song This song sounded alien when it came out Yeah

It sounded totally different from everything else So the fact that it's become a staple And the fact that it became this Despite being They were really the first Southern group to pop off Like really in a true sense Like we could talk about like two live crew Being from Florida and like what that means and all that

But like in terms of where they were from The part of the South they represented They were the first ones to do that And the fact that this song was the one one that kind of signified this shift in them developing their own sound. I don't know, man. This song is really special. And this song is,

it is really different. It was really different in the moment, even if it sounds very, like, traditionalist and very, like, golden error for lack of a better phrase now. But that's interesting because I'm just like, that speaks to kind of the timeless quality of, like, yes, this song when you first heard it sounded so otherworldly. And now I'm just like, oh, this sounds classic now.

because a bunch of fucking rap sounds like this. Like Future owes a lot of his just entire thing, for lack of a better word, to a song like elevators. But what I really find interesting about this song as well is how the first half of Outcast's career is so much, at least in the BPMs, so much slower than what we would know them as. Like, it's not as bright. It's not as cheery. this is a very I don't want to say it it feels almost like a dower beat

for something that was a hit like it's just like this beat isn't like Rosa Parks you know yeah it's not an obvious hit especially at that time to Justin's point I mean it makes me think of this funk flex interview that I came upon on researching this episode maybe we can play a little bit

of it elevators this had to be 96 Outcast is probably looking at me on this screen going why the fuck are you talking in him because he didn't play the motherfucking record

and they're right I didn't play it not that I didn't see outcast as being authentic I didn't understand it Funkflex is this very influential East Coast DJ had a lot of power

influence and he didn't play elevators and he talks about he admits in retrospect that he just didn't understand it he'd have all these people coming up to him saying I love this new outcast

and he just said it went over my head and he just didn't play it even though he was hanging out with outcast he still wouldn't play elevators on the radio also we have to we already kind of talked about it Andre's verse on this not his first one the last one the last one holy shit it's so good it's so good talk about those flows we're talking about just listen to that verse and you'll understand it's silly and it kept asking me what kind of car you drive i know you paid i know y'all got boo-cook who coo from all them son that y'all and made and I replied that I've been going through the same thing that he has true I got more fans than an average man but not enough loot to last me to the end of the week I live by the beat like you live check to check if you don't move your feet then I don't eat so we like neck to neck yes we don't come a long way like them slim ass cigarettes from a genia this ain't gonna stop so we just gonna continue they were only in their 20s and already they sound so fucking fed up with the music industry it is like I did not realize because ATLians I think so

sonically is a little bit more subdued. You don't realize as much until you're really paying attention to the lyrics. How much like Andre especially, I think at this point, is really, really getting done with a lot of things in his life, whether it is not just materialism and rap, but people that just think by virtue of him being a rapper and being signed that he has all this money and all this stuff. And it's like...

And maybe he thought that himself before, right? And then experienced the reality of still living. checking to check, you know. Which is also, by Equimini, all this stuff will change. But it's funny thinking about we're always like, oh, ATL Eons is a perfect, no skip album, it's a classic, whatever. I'm like, when they were making it, that was not the case. Like, outcast as a group that was going to last the test of time.

Yeah, not proven yet. Was not proven yet. And I'll also be real. If I was working at LaFace at the time, I probably would have heard elevators too and be like, this is what you're going with? Right. I would have all, because Big Boy has been like, no, we had to go to the radio stations. We had to be like, yo, this is the one we believe in.

I don't know if I would have heard elevators and been like, oh, no, people are ready for something that's this fucking. Well, that's as the story goes is that L.A. Reid, the owner of LaFace Records or co-owner, reject, like, they cast pitch that Elevators was the first single. he thought it was a bad idea. And I can't, I don't know, I can't remember how exactly it became the first single, but it did. And it worked. And from then on, L.A. Reed said, I allowed Outcast to pick the first single from, from every album since, because elevators did work. And they had a pulse on something that a major record company couldn't have their, you know, they had their finger on something that, that others didn't.

And so I think, I think that the success of elevators is super important to the subsequent trajectory of their career. But to go back to that fourth verse, I mean, I love storytelling and rap, which I feel like we have gotten just less and less and less of over the years. And him telling the story of going to the mall and kind of this like clout chaser, someone claims that he knew him in high schools, like asking for a handout. And like to me, so potent when he says, I've been going through the same things that he has. True, I got more fans than the average man, but not enough loot to last me to the end of the week. I live by the beat, like you live check to check. If we don't move your feet, then I don't eat. So we like neck and neck.

It's the best line off this entire project. It's like, and the way flows with it is just beautiful. And it reminds me of another line in Over the Woods where he says, everybody want to get signed, but I'm here to tell you record companies act like pimps getting paid off what we made when we're the ones that was fly like blimps but ain't no good year. Which is just speaking to the same theme of like, we made it. But financially, we're still struggling, which is just... I mean, what's interesting, too, is that you have to think about it around the time of ATLians.

He's rapping about someone from his hometown, a black man meeting him in the mall. And basically, you know, it's all there in the verse. And it's so funny by the time we get to stankonia, now they're worried about, wait, now we have white fans. Like, during ATLians, it's just like, who is this fucking dude who says he went to school with me? Fuck off. And by stankonian speakerbox love below, they're just like, now we got to deal with white folks. Like that's also what makes this song so funny because like even, even that early in their career, they're over it. And I'm like, I wish I could have went back at time and be like, Andre.

It's going to get so much worse. At the chorus, I mean, I mean, there's all songs about them like experiencing this change, elevators, of course, being this like metaphor for them ascending in the music industry or as musicians. and stuff. But I love the like the communal aspect of the of the chorus. We're saying me and you and your mom, like we're going to bring everyone with us. It's not us, not just us on the elevator. It's all of us in quotes. Obviously talking about their community in the South. But I just love that perspective, just the kind of like kaleidoscope of perspectives that we're getting here. It's like optimistic and that we're on this ride, but not, but not lying about where we are right now, even though to some people it looks like we're super successful. We're not actually where we want to be yet. I think that is kind of a metaphor for, again, the chorus speaks to a larger thing happening in the community, right? And I mean, Andre spoke about it when he was talking about, like, stanchonia and this idea, I think it is a through, like a through line.

We keep seeing in the work. The incension is like, how can we ascend not only as a genre, but as black people and as the South? And it's funny how around this time, even though this is like a deceptively very, like, angry record, like 20-year-olds realizing I got sold to like, you know, not the greatest bill of goods. It's still funny that they still have this hope that, oh, through music, through like, and it was on Southern Planoisting, get up, get out, like this feeling of like, oh, if we have a positive enough message that we can all ascend to this more utopia, like, place. And I don't, like, if you asked Andre 300 in 2020, 24 if he still felt that way, I don't know if he,

void. It reminds me of early Kendrick in that same trajectory in a way, you know, where it's like when you're young 20s, you have these ambitions and you, I'm so depressing to talk about, but it's like, because it's like kind of the experience of like growing old for everyone where it's like you're younger and have ambition and hope and that kind of gets beaten out of you over the course of time. And it's hard to hold on to completely and especially as you saw it as a youth, you know. And so much of that useful optimism is just naturally ingrained in these early records, you know. And yeah, you forget that, you know, they came on the scene when they're teenagers in high school. And we get to experience a la Tyler the Creator is a now modern example of someone that we've followed since high school, maturing in front of our eyes, musically creatively and as people.

We get to see that journey. that's one of my favorite things about the season so far is just kind of watching that trajectory over time. And, you know, there's some universal elements of growing older and fused just naturally because they're artists that are speaking about what they're going through very honestly on record. And so kind of reliving that and going back to the, even the eras I've been talking about, just been really enjoyable. But elevators, I think it is my favorite song on the project. And I think it's the best one. And I think it's the most important song historically. So, once again, we agree on two of our nominations, elevators, AT-Eleans,

then I picked as my personal fave, Jazzy Bell. You already regret it. I don't regret it. I don't regret it. You may never know. Hey, we got to pick which song is going to go to the Royal Rumble. I might pick Jazz Bell. And you picked up for your personal favorite, two dope boys.

Now that we made a case for what songs from AT aliens are in contention for outcast best of all time. Each of us must choose our last song standing. The song we're bringing with us to the season finale, Royal Rumble. And I believe since I won the quiz, I could choose first. But I'm not worried.

You know what guys? Actually, you have a tough choice. You know what guys? Take us through your train of thought here. I don't have to. Okay. I'm going with the best song off this album that I've always believed in.

Jesse Bell. You're going with Ellen. Elevators? You're going to. You're snake. Are you fucking. I'm just like just like just because y'all. Just because y'all little fucking bitches were coming at my neck because I was just like not my personal fave.

I'm picking it. Fuck off. The next quiz next episode is going to be fucking impossible. I was like, I was like, here's the thing. As a single man, I don't want to be broadcasting that I picked Jesseville as the best song off this project. So I was like, okay, if I can't go with that one, which one can cause the most damage to my friendship with Cole? I'm picking up.

Dude, that's fucked up. That is gently some troll shit right there. Holy shit. Okay, I mean, good curveball because I was... I saw him doing it in real time. I saw him doing it in real. When he said my favorite song, I'm like, my personal, always been my favorite. I'm like, this motherfucker.

I'm just mad looking at the online image now in my head. showing our picks. You're going to have B-O-B and elevators. You're going to win the online battle. You know what's funny? We're closely getting to a scenario where it's like you guys are doing opposite day with these things.

Oh, next couple episodes, I got your number, Cole. Trust me. All right. All right. This is my favorite subplot of this season. Okay. I thought it'd be tough,

but I actually think, I think the obvious choice. I mean, I love two dope boys. We talked about it. Why? But I think I just have to pick A.T. Jezzybell. I'll pick E.T.

If I wasn't worried about judgment, maybe I'd go with E.T. No, I got to go A.T. aliens. For all the reasons we talked about, fucking. Your favorite song. So I get, how does this make sense, dude? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, we're playing. I'm thinking about the graphic. I'm thinking about, because here's a lot.

thing for the people who are just looking at the graphic. I'm looking like the basic. That's what I'm saying. It's like opposite day. I can't wait until Cole ends up with like Rosa Parks. Oh, hey ya. Ooh, hey ya is in contention. All right.

All right. So, guys, Cole, you picked your favorite song off this album, A.T. Aliens. I picked my favorite song off this album. Elevators. Now we need to remind listeners, not only do you get a fan vote, But Justin, you got the coaches challenge.

Right. So we have the fan vote that people will yell at us for the songs that you guys missed. Yes. And not me because this is. But the songs that you guys miss, people can vote. And then one of those songs goes into the finale. Right. It's going to the Royal Rumble along with your picks.

I also get one coaches challenge throughout the season where I'm basically like, uh-uh. Like we cannot leave this episode without this song going into the finale. And again, second episode in a row, I don't have one. that needs to come out of this. Oh, really? Yeah, and I think I know what album I'm saving it for because I think I know what album because I only get one throughout the season.

So if I pick one off AT aliens, that means if I don't get one off of like speakerbox a level below or like, you know, the second best song on Idol Wild. I can almost guarantee it's going to be something off Southern Playalistic. You think so? I actually think it's going to be something off Equamini. Yeah, it's not a second.

Really? I think Equimini has so many great songs. And here's the thing about Equamini. we'll get to it in a future episode. But I just, I think that there are so many different kinds of great songs that I think it's going to be, I think that's actually low-key going to be the most difficult episode. And I don't have one off AT aliens. Like, I mean, let's shout out some of these songs real quick.

You know, Cole has been doing, has been mentioning E.T. a couple times now. It's a great song. You know, I personally love Millennium, but that's not going to make it. That was on my short list, too. Every song on this album is great, but if we're talking about a song that could realistically be named Outcast Best Song,

it's not Babylon, which I love, it's not mainstream, which I love. If it's coming off AT aliens, it's elevators or it's the title track. All right, you feeling good, Charles? I'm feeling really good. Are you feeling like it? I actually not feeling good.

Cool, honestly, is this going to be the season that makes us part ways like Outcast? Oh, damn. could be man what's our coachella what's our coachella yeah we started out unified you know we started out unified and now splintering over the course of time

over the course of this season I don't know we'll come back in 15 or 20 years when we can talk about connier we're like guys we're finally doing the concierge all right we have some people to think before we leave this episode yeah thanks to Justin sales of course Kevin Pooler on the ones and twos

thanks to bureaucratic for the theme music Charles, should we reveal who we are doing next week? What album? Oh, actually, I forgot what I'm doing next week? Wait, let me guess. Because we haven't in a sheet, but I haven't looked at it in a while. It's not a Quemini. That's the biggie.

And we're not doing a big boy, the big boy or Andre episode, speaker box below yet. So it's Southern Player. Yep. Southern Players next. All right, Justin. Justin's going to be big on that episode. It's your time to shine.

I have some hot takes about Southern Player. Listen. Uh-oh. All right. See you next week. All right. We're back. Cole.

Do you want to remind the audience about what the cultural exchange is? The very, this is honestly where our friendship has. Really blossomed. Yeah. Really blossom. We exchange things that are important to us, media, music, shows, things that are essential in our childhood. Maybe some things that I miss because I'm not from a certain culture. Maybe the same things that you miss because of the same reason.

So I gave you, I'm taking you on a journey to my forever abandoned radio head that went through a lot of stops as I was growing up. I assigned you first with Blink 1282, take off your pants and jacket, which came out essentially just a few months after stankonia. Like Outcast, I forgot to say this last time, like Outcast, Blink 182 went through a similar trajectory where you had Tom DeLong, Mark Hoppis, starting out unified, slowly splintering over the course of their careers. and eventually eventually going off into their separate ways until recently were they reunited for a cash grab tour. But I gave you take off your pants and jacket, which is their 2001 album. What did you think?

Locked the fuck in. Really? Oh, hell yes. So here's the thing. Here's the thing. I knew like the hits. I've listened to like first date before. Like I knew like the hits off this record.

Yeah. But just playing it from back to front, oh, man, I was jamming. That shit was, it was an experience. Like, I, like, this is my shit. All right. Did you anything jump out? Like, does it sound dated to you? That was my thing when I returned to it, where it's like, I can't tell because it's

so, like, I actually have very, like, nostalgic music. I don't have a lot of it. But this is my peak nostalgia where I just, I can't see clearly because, it brings back so many memories and feelings for me that I don't even know if it's good or not. I don't know if it's aged well or what because I still actually really like it. But again, it's nostalgic for me. So timeless. Okay.

Oh, wait. Also, to be fair, I grew up in the Blink 1182 era. So even though I wasn't like playing the CDs, I'm the wrong person to ask because I know all the, like, I know the big songs. I've watched the videos. and to me just going back to the albums was just like, oh no, they just had it. Like this, it does, if you played this for your daughters,

I don't know if they would think this is dated. They work as songs. Like, they still sound good. Like, I wouldn't say they sound futuristic. They don't have that outcast quality to them. I'm like, these are just really fucking solid rock songs. Yeah. And also, I say this every time I talk about blink

because every time I revisit the records, I'm just blown away by traffic. is drumming. It's fucking, I mean, he saves the band in a lot of ways. There are songs on here that I think are just not as good as others, but... Which are the ones where you're like, no. All the Mark Oppas songs. Like, literally all the Mark Hopper.

This is where the splintering, like, because Tom on this record is trying to be serious. We got, it opens with Anthem Part 2, Story of the Lonely Guy. All of Tom's songs on here are very serious. And then he still have Mark talking about, like, sucking his stepfather off and, like, making these dick jokes and, like, Just being really immature, which is how they started. And so you have Tom trying to be serious. Mark's still kind of stuck in the past,

and that's really what starts to break them apart creatively. So I gravitate to all the Tom songs. But even on song like Happy Holidays You Bastard, which is just not the greatest song. Like, just listen to, like, you could still listen to that song because of how good the drumming is on there. So I'm glad that you liked it. Just my favorite song on here, just for people,

I like Anthem Part 2. I like Reckless Abandoned. I think those are my favorites. Oh, hell, yeah. So why don't you talk about what you assigned me? Because I did watch. So on our Drake and Kendrick, you know, episode, Civil War episode, we realized that you had never watched anything related to Nathan Fielder,

even though you have the spirit of Nathan Fielder. Which I'm now having watched, I'm a little, I don't know how I feel about that. Well, Nathan Filder is a hero. He's a national hero. This is a compliment, Cole. Okay, okay. So I gave you one of my favorite. favorite episodes from season one,

Gastation. You gotta just walk us through this experience. Yeah, so I started with the episode one, season one, just to like, okay, just to, you know, take it back to the beginning. Okay, it was not clear to me until, so I went from episode one, season one, to episode, season three, episode...

Smokers allowed. Smokers allowed, which is a little bit... So I didn't realize it was a... I thought it was a mocking, where the people in it were not real, but just actors on the first episode of season one. Because you see that all the time now. It's such a standard that I just assumed that these are just acting. But then it was so clear to me and smokers allowed that it wasn't, that the bartender was definitely real.

And so then I had to, once I did a research quick, is this real? I googled it and I figured out the premise of the show, which is it's not, you know, these are real people. then I was like because the first episode I was like I don't quite get this I'm not really laughing smokers aloud is fucking so good and then I got to what's sorry what's the gas station gas dude what the fuck yes let's fucking go that was so good and like weirdly emotional at the end so the premise of this episode is like he tries to save this gas station by offering a dollar 75 gas but you have to turn in a rebate that's at the top of a mountain

and people actually go, which I couldn't have predicted, people actually take this bus to the mountain, hike, spend the night when they set up the campsite. I was like, what the fuck? And then he did the prank with the whipping cream or whatever. The shaving cream on this poor 70-year-old ladies

sleeping at night. And all of them, to be clear, I haven't watched this in a while, but when everybody like starts bonding together. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's like, you're just like, this is TV magic. Because it's like, who are the, who are these people that would actually do this for, because they kept showing on the screen every time something like, they would say $15, they would show $15 rebate. So it was just reminding you that they're doing all this for $15. Like, who has this kind of time? And it's exactly the kind of people that you would think would have this kind of time and that would do this. But then it is like kind of sweet. And then my favorite moment actually of that episode was when he goes, because Justin, you pointed out like he never breaks. character. So I was kind of like looking for that. He actually breaks character when he's talking to the gas station guy at the end. And he's like, yeah, this guy was, was drinking his own pee, like one of the guys that. His grandchild's pee. That is why I gave it to you, because if you

watch enough of Nathan for you, he is so good at not breaking. And that is the rare moment when you can see on his face. He's like, I can't believe this guy is actually telling me that he drank his grandson's pee. Like, you can see the genuine amazement in shock. I have, okay, the, the two in the past decade, the two times I've laughed the hardest are that and when you said let's listen to something good after I mean.

Well, the one that the episode you gave me was the part where he kept saying, so essentially he's like training these actors. I can't explain everything. It'll take too long. But essentially like he's coaching this actress saying I love you. And just has her keep repeating it,

repeating it, repeating it so awkward. Oh, yeah. So I'm a fan. All that to say. So I'm a fan. For our next cultural exchange, would you like me to give you another Nathan Fielder? This is deep end, like not Nathan for you. Okay. The thing that got him.

I would say into a tour area. Oh, really? I think I know what you're going to say. I hope is what you're going to say because he needs to do this before he moves on to something else. I was going to say he should do the rehearsal for first episode. You don't think you should do Finding Francis? Do we have enough episodes of this show for him to do Finding Francis? Yeah, are you trying to do Nathan Fielder this whole season?

No, I was just saying you enjoyed it so much. I was just like, because here's a thing. It's either Nathan Fielder or it's an MCU classic because what we realized is you haven't seen a lot of MCE. You know what? I'm going to do in every other episode thing. So MCU, let's go with MCU. All right. Give me a brief background of.

There's a brief background. If you listen to the episode, if you're still listening, you were like, Oh, Charleston knows a lot about comics. He's talking about spawn comics on a fucking Outcast spot. What's happening? I host The Midnight Boys, Pugh, Pugh, which covers a lot of comic book nonsense. So this is what I do. You have only seen one MCU movie, I think, Black Panther, which, Solidarity, thank you for being down for cause.

I mean, it's a Kendrick thing, though. Come on. Oh, damn. You're right. Well, that too, but yeah. Never mind. Yeah. You've never, so I've been racking my brain.

I'm just like, what Marvel movie A will you understand? and B would be the funniest. And I'm like, he should watch Infinity War. You should just like watch the last one. Like, actually, you know what? That's what I'm getting. Just watch Infinity War. Okay.

Because I want to start you at the end. I don't want to prep you. I just like, this is one of the highest grossing movies of all time. That's just like an automatic turnoff for me for whatever reason. I don't even want to start you on like, oh, these are like the best ones that you'll understand. No, this one you would have had to do a lot of fucking homework. I just want you to watch at the end and be like, I either enjoyed it or I had no idea who anybody was.

Okay. So, well, one, do you like this movie personally? I cried at this movie. Oh, wow. Okay. Because you should, like, people should know. Like, you're like the antagonist a little bit on Midnight Boys. The heel.

Where it's like you're not into these movies as much as some people are, and you're kind of there to shake out. I've only done this with, I've actually done this with another music, a music friend of mine, white friend Elias where for Rolling Stone, I did a movie marathon where I was stuck in a movie theater and I had to watch all the MCU movies for like two or three days and I was going insane. And at my lowest, I like was like, I need someone to tag in and I had him watch Infinity War and he's never watched any superior movies. And he's like, bro, what is, he's like, I was waiting for when Wonder One was going to come in.

So I'm like, you know more. Okay. You've seen Black Panther. Black Panther's in this one. Oh, wow. Okay, so this is all the characters coming together. Yes. Can I say clarification?

Wonder Woman is not even Marvel, right? Oh, my God. Did you know that Wonder Woman's not Marvel? Wait, what? Dude, I literally know nothing. Absolutely nothing. Do you know who, give me, who do you think are the DC heroes? Batman, for sure.

Who else? That's the end of my list. Superman? Wonder Woman, Green Lancer in the Flash? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Silver Surfer? Silver, oh my gosh, Silver Surfer is the fucking. Marvel Universe.

Aquaman? We found Charles triggers. Is DC, Justice League. Aquaman wouldn't be on the fucking Avengers. Yeah, that's what I was saying. All right. Affinity War. Okay.

Wait, no, no, no. Actually, and we're, I'm doing, you know what, fuck this. Now because you were sassing off, both of you were attacking me, I'm making caveat. You both are fucking watching Infinity War. Get the fuck out of here.

No, no, no, no. If you, you want to talk about your fucking six dischanger and shit. You and Cole are now suffering the same. Both watching infinity. Yeah, because Justin, you're on the same page. You don't really watch me. I've only ever seen Black Panther. Okay. As an ally. As an ally. I haven't seen any of them, but I did say it. Everyone told me I was supposed to see it. The black people? No. No. Working at the ringer, everyone's like, oh, Black Panther, that's going to be like the fucking, that's Citizen Kane part too. That's part of the Citizen Kane's cinematic universe.

All right, so Justin, Cole, you both are watching Infinity War. All right, so I'm going to move on from Blink One 82 in my journey to my Forever Band Radiohead. But first, I'm going to show you, this is my gift to you, Charles, is that I had my mom send me a picture. Last episode, I said that when I liked Blink One 82, I dressed exactly like them. I knew all the songs on guitar, all the songs on drums. I was obsessed. This is what I do. So my mom sent me a picture of me.

I think I'm like, I must be sick. 16 or 17 in this photo. And I'm going to show it to you live on air and want you give your reaction. It's me at Disneyland with my family, but here you go. Describe it to the audience. Holy shit.

Yo. This is one of the greatest photos I have ever born witness to. Guys, I'm going, are those black? Air Force Ones? No.

Those got to be, yeah, black etonies, skate shoes for sure. All murdered out etneys, all right? Now, the shorts. The shorts. The short situation. This is the air- I didn't realize those were shorts until you just said that. Oh, no, no, no, no.

These are shorts. They're cut off dickies. Cut off-off Dickies. But cut off at like the Capri level, I guess. The fucking the hair situation. All is, did you dye your hair all black? It was all black hair. And I think there's like, I don't know what, I don't know, I can't remember.

Maybe it was bleach before and then I died it black because you can see some bleach in there. There's some bleach in like the bangs area. But the rest of it is just jet black. Oh. The famous Stars and Straps T-shirt, of course. Oh, man. This is, would you actually post,

you have to post this for the episode. Okay, I will. Yeah. You have to, no, guys, all right, listeners, you guys have listened to a lot of seasons of dissect.

You have never seen Cole in this. It's a crazy thing. Cole, you were out here. Yeah, I was high school. Give me a break. Okay, but see, I are matured quickly because after Blink 182, I got to be like 18 at this point, 18, 19. What broke me out of the spell of Blink 1882 and opened my horizons was a band called At the Driven.

Do you know At the Driven at all? No. Do you know the Mars Volta? Yes. Okay, the Mars Volta was Cedric and Omar, the guitar player and singer of Mars Volta, their first band was called At the Drive-In. This it's like indie rock, a little bit

mathy, really abstract lyrics, the singer sings, has a really unique voice. It's like very musical. They're all very talented musicians, especially Omar on guitar. And so I'm going to give you at the drive-in. I'm going to give you, if you have time,

scroll through the catalog, but I'm going to give you relationship of command, which was an amazing fucking record. Yeah. Their last album, I think it was produced by Iggy Pop. but there's some there's some fucking great songs on here One Arm Cisard was the big single big for an indie band

so I'm excited that you haven't heard of them and this is going to be brand new to you 100% because I'm so interested to see if you're into this or Oh I'm Wacked here I'm gonna listen to this tonight I'm so fucking pumped

I'm gonna I'm gonna probably gonna mute am I watching Infinity War or Endgame Infinity War Okay I'm probably gonna mute it Guys respect Infinity War. Okay? All right. All right.

So at the drive-in relationship of command and Infinity War, our next cultural exchanges. Beautiful. Guys, we'll catch you next week.