Outkast - Aquemini

Once again the invite arrives to take a look at the nativity of the group Outkast.

Many times I’ve been curious to do so, but only now does this come at a time where I am sat at my desk with a direct hit of adorable curiosity and sufficient snack supplies.

Just in writing the word Outkast, in my opening sentence, I am taken deep into memories about such songs as ‘Ms. Jackson’ and ‘So Fresh And So Clean’ and it reminds me so much of my childhood growing up, as well as how much substance there actually is behind Outkast’s music, as a rap duo: Andre 3000 - Andre Benjamin, and Big Boi - Antwan Patton.

It is impossible to not mention Organized Noize or Goodie Mob when talking about Outkast because they were a part of a greater group of artists representing southern Hip Hop, more specifically known as The Dungeon Family in Atlanta, Georgia, who were a foundational part of Outkast’s development and rise to stardom.

This family was a collective who would gather at Rico Wade’s mother’s house - in the basement that they called ‘The Dungeon’.

As a group of peers they were friends, co writers, artist managers, visionaries, poets, smoken-word specialists, rappers, drill sergeants of freestyle battles, producers, DJ Turntablists, and audio engineers who were addicted to the same creative audio process. They were like a family of friends who gathered in the basement of a musical home, and why they called themselves the Dungeon Family.

“I’d go to work, my daughters went to school, we would come home… from the time I wake up in the morning, it’s music! Time I go to sleep at night, music! So we got immune to it, we could go to sleep. It didn’t bother us.”

★ Beatrice Wade - The Art Of Organised Noize

The entire fam’ contributed to Outkast’s debut Album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (Southern Playalistic Cadillac Muzik) with Organized Noize being lead in not only management but as a visionary within their potential as an individual duo.

Organized Noize went on to produce music for the first four Outkast albums, and were responsible for timeless entries like ‘So Fresh & So Clean’ ‘Two Dope Boyz’ ‘Mainstream’ ‘ATLiens’ and of course ‘Player’s Ball’.

At the beginning, Outkast’s plight to the scene faced all odds and this struggle felt significant to southern States of the United States of America, but their motivation was never doubted in their friendship and passion to create and gather as a group to support one another’s abilities, and therefore, Organized Noize were the backbone of supporting and recognising their true potential.

“We all slept on those floors and then in the beginning of Outkast, we were all outcast, because these two young brothers personified all of our dreams, hopes, and aspirations, we put everything that we had as a collective into that, and a manifestation of that is the success that you see now… and they are some of the biggest rap artists in the world, you feel me? They bigger than rap music!”

★ Ray Murray - Inside The Music

While making this post I was sad to learn that Rico Wade - the lead founder of Organized Noize - had passed away on April 12th 2024. Partly in shock to learn this, and lost for words, I feel like Big Boi said it with the coldest reality and warmest heart and so may he rest in peace and be recognised…

“Without Rico Wade, Pat Sleepy Brown, and Ray Murray there would be no Outkast, you know what I mean? They believed in us, and they put all their you know? Blood, sweat, and tears into making our first album, and inviting us into the house. Rico Wade’s mom, and sisters, and him lived in that house, that was called The Dungeon… so we were like; maybe ten of us with like sleeping bags packed, we slept on a hardwood floor with no beds, was some raggedy sofas, but if it wasn’t for Beatrice Wade - that’s Rico’s mom - letting us into the house there would be no Outkast, Goodie Mob, nothing! No Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls, none of that, you know what I mean? So definitely got to pay homage to the Wade family.”

★ Big Boi - Hip Hop

For the sake of this post I will keep focused on Outkast as the duet Aquemini, and while I ruminate on their birth data I want to continue to explore more foundations of this group.

Off the bat through pop culture, I’m aware that Andre 3000 is a Gemini-Sun, an energy which I know well in my radiant Aries-Sun experience.

I feel Gemini-Suns follow me around in life and I enjoy their energy as they like to converse and rabble back and forth with my rambunctious-cardinal-flaming-Aries-ramblings. I know that Big Boi is an Aquarius-Sun only because they released an album called Aquemini - quantifying their duet to one essence of being, or implying that they were in unity to one another while both being distinguishably unique individuals (Gemini-Sun & Aquarius-Sun). Such stars being two Air-Sun-Signs, sounds like two howling tornados of rhymes, within the intellect that they shine.

“Even the sun goes down, heroes eventually die. Horoscopes often lie and sometimes Y. Nothin' is for sure, nothin' is for certain, nothin' lasts forever, but until they close the curtain Y'all know, It's him and I, Aquemini.”

★ Outkast - Aquemini

Or for those of you who still didn’t quite catch that…

“Cause Aquemini is Aquarius and the Gemini runnin’ shit like this, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.”

★ Outkast - Aquemini (Big Boi)

So… ahead of the birth data, what do I feel and think Outkast’s Human Design Aura-Types are?

I enjoy exploring themes that I find in Human Design BodyGraphs that flow into Astrology Natal-Charts as a method of discerning birth time. So with this being said, as always, I also want to look at their Astrology Natal-Charts - not just their BodyGraphs, and I am expecting some Mars in Aries or Mars in Aquarius sort of vibes, the latter alike to myself, as I do resonate with the flare of their delivery a lot.

Given the album name and title of this post ‘Aquemini’ it feels especially apparent to double down on this Astrological-Horoscope in rendering potential birth times and data.

Human Design wise… most likely in the Projector-Aura / Generator-Aura dance of Aura-Types. Both do have a recognisable honest temperament, however, Andre 3000 seemingly beholds higher keynotes of this as being ‘anger’ so maybe a Manifesting-Generator-Aura as I don’t quite feel the impact of the anger, while it has some genuine charisma to it, and perhaps sparking out of an Emotional-Wave as if bottled up in frustration curing over time, responding in truth.

I certainly feel there is some strong Aries warrior energy in Andre 3000 as his rhymes are passionate and bold in his poetic bravery.

“Softly as if I played piano in the dark.
Found a way to channel my anger now to embark. The world's a stage and everybody gots to play their part. God works in mysterious ways, so when he starts, the job of speaking through us, we 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 out of ammunition, so I'm ready for war, okay.”

★ Outkast - ATLiens (Andre 3000)

His use of the word ‘war’ here is rather Mars-Martian ‘ATLiens’ of Andre 3000 - to which Mars is a planet often associated to a spectrum of conflict and manner of aggression and assertiveness, and occasionally why Aries placements takes the rap as being a horny warrior of a planet. The continuum of this Aries like vibe being exampled with such Aries-AF lines stated in their track ‘Babylon’…

“They call it horny because it’s devilish…”

★ Outkast - Babylon (Andre 3000)

A Sacral-Being for Andre 3000 makes the most sense to me, in seeing him in the acting world as well as being quite a busy person throughout his career. I would guess Andre 3000 may have - say - The 20-34 Channel Of Charisma, or even the 15-5 Channel of Rhythm perhaps, and naturally I am picking up on some Second-Line calling and projection field of a Hermit, and then I could also see some Third-Line in Andre 3000, so maybe this attitude is that of a Third-Line who experiments a lot, or that this is a Sixth-Line Role-Model - with lots of experimenting in the first half of his life? So maybe a 6/2 Profile?

This might explain the aloof flute albums that we are seeing in his greyer years?

I would definitely say Emotional-Authority!

So 6/2 Emotional-Authority, Manifesting Generator-Aura? This is my pre data guestimation for Andre 3000.

I do not have as-much play into what Big Boi’s profile could be. I find myself saying anything in the upper Trigram, so, Fourth-Line, Fifth-Line, or Sixth-Line for his Personality-Consciousness and that I feel more so confident that a Projector-Aura is likely in Big Boi, and if so it would be interesting to refresh my memory on the dynamic of their connection and looking at their G-Centers based on who and how they found one another.

Big Boi is a few months older and maybe was more so the guiding elder brother figure to Andre 3000 and seemingly their flow between one another is epically unique, as while Hip Hop has seen some legendary masters of ceremony duets, no one did it quite like Outkast.

This for me is the greater truth of a title like an album called Aquemini as it settles the debate of who is the better rapper between the two, because we only got one because the other was right there next to them, coming in on the next line of the rap. It’s the same way there are always two sides to a coin but the word coin will be singular, not plural.

While this is perhaps cliché to say, for me, they both have differences in rapping styles and while Andre 3000 was more so progressive, popular, and alternative, Big Boi is not someone you can just easily discredit in such a title as best MC - as his delivery and his aura was as recognisable and distinguished on a mic as his comrade. There was a particular catch to Big Boi that was quite literally a hook and partnered with an equal talent as Andre 3000 - they complimented one another so relevantly.

“Big Boi became that great mc, and Andre became a great producer.”

★ Rico Wade on Aquemini Album - VH1 Driven

What also made Outkast pioneering as a duo, was that they were representing the southern States, whereas Hip Hop in The United States of America at the time was very much focused on a east - to - west coast sound.

“As I sit in my b-boy stance,
With flip-flops and socks, and sweatpants,
I'm finna enhance your brains, check it out”

★ Outkast - Wheelz Of Steel (Big Boi)

Before cracking this data wide open I do want to touch on one more aspect that has made Outkast stand out in my heart and that is the use of instruments, over using samples, which is not super obvious, as every track on their first few albums (especially) has a hallmark mise-en-scne to the classic east coast Hip Hop sound, layered with proud funk and soul instrumentations that could easily go under the radar of appreciation as ‘just samples’.

At the time in Hip Hop cultural sampling was a huge part of Hip Hop’s sound, so hearing this was a quality that also made them appealing to record labels, and helped elevate them as an investment to higher executive publishing.

This also meant the musicality in the songs was always surprisingly apparent or magical within the raw influential sound of undeniable Hip Hop, which was of course served up with an eclectic southern twist.

Their musicality exfoliated into their fourth Album which was the product of some of their biggest songs ‘So Fresh and So Clean’ and ‘Ms. Jackson’ to which for anyone born in the 90’s would have remembered this 2000-era of music and society - perhaps as fondly as I.

To reminisce - and for those who were still wondering what was actually said after Andre 3000 says ‘You can plan a pretty picnic but you can’t predict the weather, Ms. Jackson’…

“Ten times out of nine, now if I'm lyin; fine. The quickest muzzle throw it on my mouth and I'll decline. King meets queen, then the puppy love thing, together dream bout that crib with the Goodyear swing. On the oak tree, I hope we feel like this forever.

Forever, forever, ever, forever, ever?

Forever never seems that long until you're grown. And notice that the day by day ruler can't be too wrong Ms. Jackson my intentions were good, I wish I could, become a magician to abacadabra all the sadder thoughts of me, thoughts of she, thoughts of he. Asking what happened to the feeling that her and me, had. I pray so much about it, need some knee, pads. It happened for a reason one can't be, mad, so know this, know that everything's cool, and yes I will be present on the first day of school, and graduation…”

★ Andre 3000 - Ms. Jackson

‘I’m sorry Ms. Jackson’ - “ooooh” - also had a strong blend of Pop and hard street Hip Hop not just musically, but in their lyrics, as like all good storytellers they shared about the way of their experiences but often went beyond the context - as for example while the story is very much about the young families that they are raising themselves and the women associated in this experience, the song is also riding a scale of direct and indirectly going out ‘to all the baby’s mommas mommas’ of the world.

On the flipside of the challenging realities to these lyrics about letting someone’s daughter down, they were adorably romantic, sophisticated, and poetic about life, and this is perhaps why not only this song has billions of plays today, but why they thrived in the mainstream later on in their careers as they stood out for being unique and experimental. Many would have never thought the following mantra would quite literally be said a trillion times…

“I'm sorry, Ms. Jackson, ooh, I am for real. Never meant to make your daughter cry, I apologized a trillion times.”

★ Outkast - Ms. Jackson

Reflecting upon the song now, for some hardcore Hip Hop heads I would guess that ‘Ms. Jackson’ was perhaps perceived uncomfortably because it was so Hip Hop yet so far removed from underground Hip Hop culture, that it was perhaps more intimidating than appreciated, to some Hip Hop artists? While of course widely welcomed by a majority, as it took a concept so raw and vulnerable to apologise, which was not exactly a typical theme of the genre’s lyrics.

By this point of their fourth album Stankonia, Outkast were ascending to the pique of their already successful careers and I am sure many in the scene were lost in trying to imitate their advancements, or too proud in ways of the past to accept the music for what it was. Over time this phased out and there is often little dispute that Outkast are everlasting as Hip Hop Hall Of Fame members.

‘Ms. Jackson’ was my conscious entrance to their music. I had never heard anything from their first albums prior, until much later in my life, and past the really raw street ethic and moral of their first album, I love the production quality and blend of musical instruments. ‘Crumblin’ Erb’ being an electric early example of the musicality layered into their songs but also the creative imaginations they spoke to - as the Dungeon Family collective - as they did not let the backdrops of their lives dampen out the sounds they were interested in expressing - and this modality continued to mutate throughout their careers..

Finally before the data is explored… now I’ve set the scene even further… I am not exactly sensing the 61-24 Channel Of Awareness between these two, maybe more so collective wisdom from their own logic and consciousness, and or circuitry. I feel like Andre-3000 will also have an Open-Head-Center.

So let’s do this, no more adorable Aries-Rambling… (Warning may continue to behold adorable Aries-Rambling)… Starting with Andre 3000… And as stated by Momma-3-Stacks…

“André Lauren Benjamin was born on May 27th, 1975 in Atlanta Georgia.”

★ Sharon Benjamin Hodo - VH1 Driven

We see my canny prediction as one of the outcomes, being a 6/2 Emotional-Authority Manifesting-Generator-Aura with an open Head-Center. I can also see that his Moon-Sign changes from Sagittarius-Moon to Capricorn-Moon, so I could look into this detail as a way to look closer to the potential truth.

34-20 Channel Of Charisma all day long and in both his Personality-Consciousness and Design-Unconscious. I would want to lean into that 6/2 Profile and this seems to span the first six hours of the day, so to take the middle of this time, as a starting point perhaps?

Astrologically we do see below in his Aries zodiac: Mars, Jupiter, and Chiron, and starting at approximately 03:30am he is an Aries-Rising which also gives him Mercury in the Third-House which the latter feels thematic to his style of conversing and rapping, and he does aesthetically remind me of another Aries-Rising I have known fondly.

Andre 3000 certainly has an Aries look to him, with a; forward visionary face, grinning dandelion eyebrows, huge impeccable smile, and adorable mannerisms.

With Aries being ruled by Mars, maybe this is why in the song ‘Roses’ the golden calculators equates that ‘real guys’ go for ‘real, down to mars girls’?

I see Andre 3000 as brave, his confrontation on stage at the 1995 Source Awards is often overlooked given the other drama that unfolded that night, but Andre 3000 represented with no fear and asserted himself in a warrior stance, while accepting an award for ‘Best New Group’ alongside boos and disagreements from the crowd in contrast to the results.

“It’s like this though, I’m tired of folks you know what I’m saying? The close minded folks you know what I’m saying? It’s like we got a demo tape but nobody wants to hear it, but it’s like this, the south got something to say!”

★ Andre 3000 - 1995 Music Source Awards

This also puts his Capricorn-Moon directly on the midheaven being his highest potential and that it being in the Ninth-House also speaks to his personal journey he went on, in higher learning and spirituality. His impulsivity to share from his emotional state in response to the boos and the bad vibes him the Dungeon Family received that night, on stage, seemed to have come from a long felt frustration that the group were not being taken seriously because they came from the ‘south’ - and what ignited was a fiery emotional response that had perhaps lived out an Emotional-Wave reaching an authentic response of assertion, which coined the now infamous ‘South got something to say’.

It has been noted that this was something that had particularly frustrated Andre 3000 for some time, and it was not just an instance of that evening and very much a well earned award also, and perhaps a long Emotional-Wave providing clarity in a response to the award and contrasting reception.

The southern Hip Hop culture was seen as insignificant to the more so elitist north-western dominance, that was in rivalry already, with the infamously smug west coast scene that flaunted a ‘cooler’ place to live with its beaches, palm trees and popular media industry. Outkast’s arrival to the scene was powerful because it put southern Hip Hip on the mainstage representation that didn’t depend on being either side of that rivalry.

‘The south got something to say’ was no joke, or random statement.

If not for the climate of the Hip Hop scene at that time being violent, but respectably what had already been ‘said’ on their first album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik - because the style of rhymes and raps on this album make it one of my top five Hip Hop albums - and I am sure those who had not heard the album, and saw them win the award, went out and bought it - and I am sure there were some who had already bought the album, and after seeing them win, went home and listened harder and started taking notes. For me this is their best album which is saying a lot, without even to mention what was to come in the following decades. The south had already spoken and now it was being heard in this moment where Andre 3000 had nothing left to do but remain true to himself.

“In essence, if you gain everything but lose your Self, then you have gained nothing. And if you lose everything but gain your Self, then you have lost nothing.”

★ Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati - Nada Yoga

In the years to come, Outkast charted more like the Best Music Group because their reach breached the rules on how to rap, or be a rap group, and in this way as a group, were beyond pioneering. In this moment of genuine real response to life, fuelled by perhaps some abundant adorable die hard Aries warrior energy, Outkast set out on a pioneering path to unfathomable stardom.

Mars and Jupiter in Aries screams passion and in focus that Andre 3000 was not only one half of the best rap duo ever, he showed the world what was up while being extraordinary in his flamboyant expression having many mutations of fashion and flex while never losing status as one of the best to ever do it. A true pioneer.

Outkast were important idols to many in the southern States, who loved Hip Hop but had no recognition of a sound - or that they had equal potential - artists like Ludacris and 2 Chainz will never hesitate to pay respects to Outkast for paving the way for the south to speak their culture into musical history, and that Outkast truly put the south on the map in the eyes of the Hip Hop world, and commanded that the south be heard.

Outkast did this with a cool confidence that popularised them dearly in all kinds of households and they were quick to break beyond average Hip Hop audiences - because they were eclectic and cool, while being so well branded as outcasts.

“And we are... The coolest motherfunkers on the planet. And my, my... The sky is fallin' ain't no need to panic.”

★ Outkast - So Fresh And So Clean (Andre 3000)

Moving onto Big Boi’s birth data now…

“February first 1975 it happened, was born in West Savannah way before I started rapping…”

★ Outkast - West Savannah (Big Boi)

Thanks B! We can also verify this from Momma-B too, as from the source herself, Mrs Patton also confirms this birth date…

“Antwan Big Boi Patton was born February 1st, 1975, in Savannah, Georgia.”

★ Rowena Patton - VH1 Driven

We see a stable outcome of an Emotional-Authority Projector-Aura led by the 39-55 Channel Of Emoting a Channel in the Individual-Circuitry as well as the 18-58 Channel of Judgement.

Taking this 02:15am time places Mercury in the Third-House - which would mean both their Mercury-Placements were in the same Third-House, also pairing their Third-House Mercury-Zodiac with their Third-House Sun-Zodiac, and maybe where the buoyancy of their flow to float between each other’s rhymes was in synchronistic tow of one another, and how, consciously and intellectually they were so equally unique and talented to express life with harmonised enthusiasm from unique perspectives.

These hypothesised times give them both Chiron-In-Aries as well as both having Fourth-House-Venus also!

02:15am also places Big Boi as a Scorpio-Rising which to me fits the theme of his Libra-Moon, and in Human Design his 18-58 Channel Of Judgement & 39-55 Channel Of Emoting when considering the delivery and potency of his lyrics.

Anyone who shouts out Sade in their music is deeply wise in their judgments by my books…

“Sade is in my tape deck, I’m movin’ in slow motion, boi.”

★ OutKast - West Savannah (Big Boi)

Seeing his Libra-Moon certainly speaks to the sharp cardinal energy of a Libra in his lyrics that would also be heightened in Gate-39, and in theme with his 18-58 Channel of Judgement and potential Fifth-Line and or even Second-Line ‘projection field’ - this hints to the mic drop effortless vibe that was so important to Big Boi’s roll in Outkast.

Maybe the 5/2 Profile makes most sense for Big Boi?

Libra is a particularly influential archetype and so the fact this rules his emotions and then that he is an Emotional-Authority in Human Design terms, makes for an admirable surrender to his emotional values. He seemingly does balance the group as a Hip Hop sound with a very direct delivery which gives Andre 3000 more room to be progressive and popular. In an Outkast feature by VH1 - during a series called ‘Driven’ - the aspects of being socially diverse and adept are shared to have came easily to Big Boi as spoken by his peers which all sounds very strong Libra / Second-Line vibes to me.…

“He was a young amusing kid… He always had thousands and thousands of friends, black, white, green, purple, whatever… He liked school and he did well in it… Teachers loved him, he was always a smart kid… Straight-A-Student… He just had that thing, it clicked for him… In the middle school days Antwan was into every type of music you could think of, from Hip Hop to eclectic Pop… He was really really into Kate Bush… Not what everybody would expect, no little black kid’s going to be listening to Kate Bush, everybody thought he was crazy.”

★ Peers of Big Boi On Campus - VH1 Driven

I feel like it makes sense that he has this potent Definition in the Individual-Circuity when played in example of the song ‘Ms. Jackson’ I can feel the melancholy in the essence of his input to this track, and in this song I also feel like their definitions in Gate-28 come out strong in the melancholy of the song, which Gate-28 that is apart of the 28-38 Channel Of Struggle. ‘Ms. Jackson’ is very much the duo’s woes and struggle of embracing a family life.

Myself having four activations in Gate-38 their music energetically makes totality in the energy of my own struggles and this song never stops to give me chills. I’d say their music is drenched in melancholy and while modern examples like ‘Roses’ or ‘Ms. Jackson’ had a colourful upfront take on this, there was still profound sorrow behind it all, not to mention that the dust never settled on the lows that were reached in their first 3 or 4 albums, never mind the mutational depth to such songs as ‘Ms. Jackson’.

“The thing to recognize about the individuals is that they need to be able to live out their sadness in peace - not to have somebody to say to them: “why are you sad?” or “you should be happy now”. These people have to recognize that sadness is simply a chemistry that doesn’t require a reason. It is here in the sadness part of the emotional wave where the true creativity lies in the individual’s process. Sadness is simply a space. It can be a magnificent space, if you don’t turn it into the enemy and make a problem out of it.”

★ 55/39 The Channel of Emoting - Rave BodyGraph Circuitry

Even in ‘Hey Ya’ there is an emotional stagger to the envelop of its popularity as while melancholy is sad, and sometimes a cold deep freeze of low realities, there is genuine love and warmth that is often baked creatively from such moods, and this is theorised in the mutative quality of the Individual-Circuitry.

A track like ‘Me & You (Elevators)’ - was the first single from their second album ATLiens - and this too enthuses the cold touch of melancholy from the minute it begins.

‘Elevators (Me & You)’ drops with an uncertain whimpering synth that gets in-between your arm hair and awakens you to something you probably ought to hear. The reverberated snare scatters stardust across the horizon of our minds and melts away into our hearts, cut short by some trim scratching on the turntable, as the boys then proceed to do what they do, and so much so in this song - Andre 3000 opens the song directly to the moment it all began when the late Rico Wade saw in them, the potential as they rhymed to songs in a parking lot.

“One for the money, yes, sir, two for the show.
A couple of years ago on Headland and Delowe
Was the start of something good…”

★ Elevators (Me & You) - Outkast (Andre 300)

It is well known that Big Boi wrote the chorus hook for ‘Elevators (Me & You)’ and it’s worth repeating to show the influence of Big Boi’s talent with in the group, as the track itself was an obscure choice to be the first single of their second album, ATLiens, and this did not ‘match’ the momentum of success form their first album.

Ricdo Wade, Ray Murray, and Sleepy Brown of Organized Noize shared on the Questlove Supreme Podcast how this was the first song that Andre 3000 and Big Boi had produced the beat themselves, while Organized Noize were the lead audio engineers and producers, the tone and vibe of this track was the pure synchronicity of the young hungry duo.

The popularity of that chorus concreted the success of the group infinitely as this was an instant street hit and all the scene needed to hear, to know, this was no fluke song or legacy on the rise.

In this interview I also learned that the way this track made it to be the first release was that they intentionally ‘leaked’ the song to college radios in the area, as at the time this was the only way they could get their Hip Hop aired. Rico explains it ‘took off’ form this exposure and while it was 80 BPM (beats per minute) which was pretty slow for 1996 - it was so ‘street’ armed with a catchy chorus hook, that the pace of the song did not matter.

The song was so prolific that it overthrew the demands of the high profile label they were working with - LA Face - who wanted ‘up-tempo’ for the next single. If you listen to the album’s title track ‘ATLiens’ and how epic the flows are, and then consider that this was eventually the second single they released, this further demonstrates the talent of Outkast through the song “Elevators (Me & You)” and the flavour of melancholy in their work, and further highlights the genius of Big Boi’s writing abilities too - as that hook claimed fans for life - and sealed the deal to Hip Hop audiences around the world.

To be able to lead with ‘Elevators (Me & You)’ as a debut single of the album, and follow up with ATLiens - is crazy - because ATLiens could define Hip Hop, it’s that good, and not only this its also the title track of the album, and yet ‘Elevators (Me&You)’ remains a perfect hybrid of Pop-Hip Hip even though somewhat non-sequential in the line of their discography and catalogue of singles.

“Big and Dre, it’s their first single they produced… Big Boi came up with this incredible hook, and we produced it in terms of we put Deborah on it, we made it sound like a big song… so they wanted to put it out, I looked at it as a setup record, it’s a street record, LA and that like nah you got to give me an up tempo… since we were in control… In the spirit of Hip Hop, we New York now, we Atlanta, we powerful a little bit… fuck it, we gonna leak it… shit took off, took off!”

★ Rico Wade - Questlove Supreme Podcast

Big Boi is perhaps underrated because he stands by Andre 3000 which ought to be the pinnacle of his success as a loyal member of Outkast, as I feel many would have walked away from Andre 3000.

What makes Big Boi - bigger in this sense - is he never turned his back on Andre 3000 who was not only noticeably different in fashion and approach to life from the scene - but extremely talented - and so easy to criticise in the tabloids and industry. The album Aquemini was an embrace of their differences and was deviant in its openness within the rap genre, which is more often idolised as misogynistic and violent, rather than shamanistic, occult, or say esoteric. Not all rap groups would idolise this but perhaps speak about this, and or offer poetic insights into other philosophy and perspectives of life, and Outkast were a genuine modern mix of hard street, prolific philosophy, and family time pop.

“Aquemini is like the pivotal point for them, it’s the place where they raised their flags, their individual flags about who they are.”

★ Ray Murray - VH1 Driven

There was something about the way Big Boi showed up not only in life but in a musical sense that was intentional and not messing around. In an interview for GQ I heard Big Boi say he would often ‘get meticulous with his pen’ because he wanted to spend the time to sign his signature. He mentioned that the way he writes will be on the spot, as well as having a diligent writing process depending how he feels - it might take him a day or a month - and for example, how he would come up with lines like ‘sipping milkshake in snowstorm’.

“First I started with the long legal notepad, the yellow one, I need a super long one, cus sometimes I might scratch lines out or whatever… I write on the spot… You know I put a lot of thought into it, sometimes it might take a day, sometimes it might take month’s to do a verse… it just depends on how I’m feelin’… Freestyling you know that’s just something we do, just for play play… But it’s got to be potent when you sippin’ a milkshake in a snowstorm… You got to really think about that for sho’.”

★ Big Boi - GQ

While he can and does freestyle some songs would make him recognise the requirement to go away from the envelop of the process and wait on the tightest delivery he knew within himself. He was said to have carried around a pen and paper from a young age and its not always obvious to say but practice pays off, and or seemingly to note, his emotional context would also depend on his keen tenacity to be potent and successful.

“The 39/55, the channel of moodiness, is the channel of sometimes being happy and sometimes being sad. But it is also much more than mere moods. Everything about the emotional side of individuality has a deeply creative potential. It is full of music and poetry. It is expressed in the 12th gate, which is about articulation. All individuals face a classic dilemma. They can have such difficulty in expressing their uniqueness, and yet by design they attract nothing but attention. Individuality attracts attention.”

★ 55/39 The Channel of Emoting - Rave BodyGraph Circuitry

Perhaps in his own Projector-Aura way he sought to be efficient about the invitations he connected with and so when he arrived on songs he had processed the invitation of the beat, to rhyme. It was adorable that he called it an invitation to ‘The Dungeon’ in one of my opening quotes, as a Projector-Aura. this must have felt real to him, and allowed him to feel recognised.

It’s widely debated who was a ‘better’ rapper, and in my eye’s mind harmonise more with their narrative as evoked in the quantum of the alias ‘Aquemini’ as what this was saying at a foundational level was they were one source in harmony, and that one didn’t exist without the other in relation to their popularity.

“First ya’ll were pimps, second album you was space Genies, now ya’ll some weirdos.”

★ Rico Wade - DJ Vlad TV

In their upbringing the duo had as many differences as they did similarities. The comforts and importance of the home and family seem to be dense in Big Boi’s lyrics as well as his life story. The family was prevalent to Big Boi growing up in a house of ‘50 in a three bedroom’ as his sister once shared on VH1 Driven, which was in contrast to Andre who was a confined duo with his mother, as his father and mother never wed and they left his father when Andre was young.

Big Boi’s father was absent in his childhood as he was in the military and service of the country so being a father was shared by family observations as incredibly important to Big Boi, as he wanted to be a father to someone in the way he did not have a father around.

In Big Boi’s Fourth House - using my time of 02:15am we see Jupiter, Venus, and fortune in Pisces. The abundance of family and the harmony of Venus here being key to the balance of his strong Libra Energy, and the cuteness of him becoming a father, with Jupiter speaking to the vast size of this family themed Fourth-House.

Even as a successful rapper living in a mansion, Big Boi revealed in an episode of MTV Cribs, that he still went to his mothers house for dinner, and this would most likely have just felt familiar to him as his immediate family growing up in many households under one roof.

The passing of his aunt had a profound impact on his musical career and sense of self to continue following the dream she had so long supported, and was an undeniable character in who he was, as well as a musical role model to him within his family who recognised his ability as a songwriter and believed in him. Andre 3000 is said to have taken time with his friend in this grief and supported him through the process of losing such a key influence to his life.

“People don't know the stress I'm dealin' with, day to day (Day). Speakin' about the feelings I'm possessin' for Rene. Mopin' around and wonderin' where she stay, saw her last that she lay. "Give it another day," I say, but the Lord, he taketh away. Now give it back, Lord, 'cause that's like backboards without the rims. Me and my auntie was tight like southwest before the pinks moved in”

★ Outkast - Babylon (Big Boi)

He was also raised by his ‘uncle(s)’ and this is where he was a part of his life where he was exposed to organised crime at a young age. In this upbringing Big Boi represented the rap culture effortlessly but was also intellectual and so successful in anything he applied himself too, and what drove him to tear away all his free time to make music ‘work’. His relationship with his uncle also exposed him to many different people in contrast to his school and mainstay home life, and positively opened him up to different types of people and life’s experiences which was noted in his behaviour at school as being inclusive of the activity of an experience, while socially versatile.

Big Boi however did not get the same type of early education Andree 3000 did, as Andre 3000 was part of a program that was to diversify the schools - and so the school Andre 3000 attended was on the ‘other side of life’ - being raised in Atlanta. This is said by family members where Andre 3000 developed his eclectic sense of fashion.

”He would always say I want to look like the music, the music is beautiful and colourful, I want to look like that.”

★ Rico Wade - VH1 Driven

When the two met at a young age - they were first challenged by one another - but quickly became friends. While Andre’s early educational experience exposed him to another side of a life, this was still something Big Boi aspired towards in his life, even though he didn’t get as much exposure to it, he still had the guts to be open about this amongst people who didn’t understand him - which is perhaps in part why Andre 3000 became such a close friend but also why Big Boi never flailed on Andre 3000 for being different as this was something Big Boi had become comfortable about, in standing out with his own interests and expressions - especially musically.

“When he was getting flack from the stuff that he wore, Antwan was always you know? Right there by his side.”

★ Rowena Patton - VH1 Driven

It was this sort of openness and curiosity to do what they loved that made them unique as a duo, that undoubtedly caught a lot of slack Big Boi’s way, for how different Andre 3000 was. They have remained allies long into their careers often with vast spanning differences or time apart, but most importantly a mutual respect and trust for one another.

Seeing that together they complete the 22-12 Channel of Openness with each other I see this as a reflection of their acceptance for one another’s differences, recognising each other’s true potential, but also their ability to recognize the people around them who would develop them into the next steps. They certainly embraced adaptation and pushed the boundaries of what being a rapper was about and the album Aquemini stands tall in this history, as it was also a part of their departure from their peers to reach even new levels.

“Openness in Channel 22-12 is dependent on the ebb and flow of the emotional wave or mood. It creatively voices or acts out the moodiness, melancholy, passion, romance, and drama of the Individual emotional wave. There is a quality of restraint in the 12th gate that governs the 22nd gate’s openness, limiting it to social interactions with people who appear to have the most mutative potential.”

★ The Channel Of Openness: 22 - 12 - The Definitive Book Of Human Design

Later in their careers Andre 3000 entirely retracted form the industry, and this was part of the reason why I had suggested Sixth-Line prior to looking at his chart as he became rather aloof when his career progressed, which very much diminished Outkast’s presence in the industry, and now while we are heading into his Chiron-Return, we may see him come back ‘down from the roof’ and once again be amongst the media and industry, but in terms of Outkast ever getting together it does not seem to be something on the cards, or in Andre’s heart regardless of whether he ‘has nothing to rap about’ these days or not, the un natural glare of the industry seems to deter his desire to be famous.

“Being famous really sucks man, like it’s so unhuman. I can’t remember their name, but there was a classical pianist who said its actually unnatural and actually detrimental for a human to have that much admiration.”

★ Andre 3000 - GQ

@acousticmutation

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BodyGraph and Natal Charts:

Bcurio.us & Astro-Seek.com

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