The road to the release of Sir Lucious Left Foot was not smooth for Outkast’s Big Boi. The ATLien had to undergo some complications, being shelved and switching labels but all of that led to the unveiling of one of the year’s most acclaimed projects, including a 4.5 rating from HipHopDX. Recently, the Stankonian spoke on this and more with New York Magazine’s Vulture.
During the interview, he spoke on the label ordeal.
“I was stuck in a space where I’m making this music that Jive did not understand. They were telling me my album was a piece of art. They told my manager they didn’t know how to market and promote that. They were talking about just doing an online limited release of my record,” he said. Later, he says Jive specifically asked for a song similar to Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop,” which Big Boi was surprised by. “That kind of shook me up,” he noted.
AD LOADING...
Aside from this, Big Boi says Jive gave him an ultimatum.
“It was, ‘Okay, if you don’t put out the record with Dre on it [the song “Looking For Ya”] first, then you can take your album elsewhere. I was like, ‘Really? Okay, cool!” He quickly contacted L.A. Reid, the man who signed Outkast to LaFace Records fresh out of high school, and who is now the chairman and C.E.O. of Island Def Jam. “L.A. was like, ‘Meet me in Miami the day after tomorrow.’ Met him at the studio, played him one song [“Fo Yo Sorrows”] He was like, ‘Let’s go.’ Like, ‘Have they heard this?'”
For more on the interview, a tour of Stankonia Studios can be found at Vulture.
